Ronnie went out to Ali Carter yesterday evening. He was beaten 5-3. He fought hard, nobody can seriously say that he threw the match away, he was 3-0 down and came back to 3-3 but, eventually it was in vain.

It was a surprise of sorts because of their very one sided “history” but Ali was clearly the better player out there.

It wasn’t the only surprising result on the day though … here is the report shared by WST:

Machineseeker German Masters Day Three

In-form Neil Robertson made three centuries on his way to a 5-2 defeat of Pang Junxu at the Machineseeker German Masters in Berlin.

The Thunder from Down Under won the biggest payday of his career earlier this season, pocketing £500,000 for winning the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters. This week he is gunning for a first ever taste of glory at the Tempodrom.

Robertson is a former finalist in Berlin, having lost the 2020 final to Judd Trump. Before that game Russell Crowe, who starred as Maximus in the Oscar-winning film Gladiator, contacted him on social media to wish him good luck. Following today’s victory he admitted that is not the only example of interaction with Hollywood royalty, having also engaged with Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. 

Robertson explained: “I tweeted him once about playing. In-between matches, I had an R2D2 mug and I said ‘the only way to drink a cup of tea…’ It said R2T2 on the cup and he liked the tweet. That was screenshotted instantly.

“Maximus or Luke Skywalker? Well, there is no such thing greater than the power of the Force!”

Perhaps the only thing greater was Robertson’s break building power this morning. Runs of 108, 100 and 106 helped the Melbourne cueman to victory and a last 16 clash with Indian number one and former professional gamer Ishpreet Singh Chadha, who revealed he has permanently switched the console off to focus on snooker. Robertson empathises with his next opponent, having battled with gaming addiction himself. 

Robertson said: “I read an article on him. I was resonating with everything he was saying. Counter-Strike is one that I never got involved in too much but that’s absolutely mega addictive. For him to be professional and play for a pro team in India he must be absolutely incredible at the game.

“There are millions upon millions of people who play that game and he must be incredibly good at it. His actions per second and his reaction times must be absolutely off the charts. He’s a very talented snooker player as well. I played him earlier this season in China and he played pretty well. He just missed a couple.”

Zhang Anda became the fourth player to craft a maximum break at the Tempodrom after his 147 in the opening frame of a 5-2 win over Barry Hawkins. The win sets up a meeting with recent Masters champion Kyren Wilson tomorrow. 

“Making a maximum at the German Masters is really special, and doing it in the opening frame makes it even better,” said former International Champion Zhang.

“To be honest, I wasn’t really thinking about a maximum in the early part of the break. It only came into my mind later on. I think the crowd already realized what I was trying to do. The atmosphere was fantastic. I really enjoyed that moment.“

Two-time German Masters winner Ali Carter scored just his second ever win over Ronnie O’Sullivan, prevailing 5-3 to make the last 16. He will face Xu Si, who beat Mark Selby 5-4 in a late night epic. 

The Captain now trails O’Sullivan the head-to-head 20-2. The pair have been engaged in a fierce rivalry in recent years, but afterwards Carter was keen to put that in the past. 

Carter said: “We’ve known each other a long time. He’s a character isn’t he? We are fine now, there is no animosity at all. It is all heat of the moment stuff between two sportsmen and he is the best snooker player of all-time. It is great to be on the table with him and competing. Getting the odd win over him is a feather in my cap.“

World number one Judd Trump is yet to drop a frame in the event, having completed a second whitewash win, this time beating Welshman Ryan Day 5-0. 

Day’s highest break in the match was a mere 14, while Trump fired in contributions of 102, 102 and 127. He will now face Si Jiahui, who beat David Gilbert 5-4. 

Tom Ford dumped out World Champion Zhao Xintong 5-3 and booked a last 16 meeting with 2015 Crucible king Stuart Bingham. The Essex cueman beat Scott Donaldson 5-2.

John Higgins beat Zhou Yuelong 5-3 to book a meeting with Xiao Guodong, who overcame Jack Lisowski 5-1. 

I would argue that Mark Selby and Zhao Xintong defeats are bigger “shocks” than Ronnie’s defeat. Ronnie hadn’t played competitively for a long time before this event. It was his choice of course and it has consequences. That said we do not know, and we have no right to know, what happens in the players private life, so I would refrain to “judge”. Mark Williams also lost yesterday beaten 5-3 by Jimmy Robertson.

For me the only real “shock” yesterday was Jack Lisowski 5-1 defeat at the hands of Xiao Guodong. That said Xiao played really, really well, scoring three centuries during the match, including a 141! But Jack, as so often was disappointing.

The conditions at the Tempodrom are often very tricky. It’s freezing cold outside, and often humid too. People get in, wearing coats and anoraks that are wet or at least humid. As you know hot air tend to move to the ceiling. To get a decent temperature on the floor, it is necessary to “push” the heating system. Apparently this combination of factors is prone to generate “statics” and it definitely impacts the table conditions. No matter what the excellent fitters do, it’s far from ideal. But, of course it’s the same for all players but “touch” players may struggle more than those who hit the ball more firmly.

Here are two viseos shared by WST on YouTube:

All the results are available on snooker.org.