German Masters 2011 - the quarter-finals

Selby`s "sharky" way of playing snooker

With the quarter-finals "out of business" :-)), we now have four semi-finalists eager to compete and win a place into tomorrow’s big final. Today has started pretty well for some of the players, and even if we haven’t had any tight matches, this doesn’t mean that pressure and tension weren’t present as part of the game.


"The Jester from Leicester" and "The Chinese Sensation" got together as to fight for a place in the semis, the ref in charge of the match being the Dutchman Jan Verhaas. Ding made a beautiful start and hit a break of 118 points, break that brought him the first frame of the match; unfortunately for the little guy this was going to be also the last one.
Selby didn’t delay in responding during the next frame, that he won, and he also cashed the third frame (a very tight one) - at first it seemed like Selby’s 43 wasn’t going to be good enough as to overcome Ding’s 62, but the little Chinese committed some terrible mistakes, that put Selby in the lead. And like that wasn’t enough, the Leicester player hit in runs of 40 and 69 to enter the midd-session interval with a 3-1 lead.


I always say that after a break the player who isn’t leading, comes more determined to win his way back in the game and you have plenty of proves that this is true. Still, Ding didn’t quite succeed in making that comeback during the second session of the match and it was not because he didn’t want to, but because he wasn’t there, you know? He gave me the feeling that he was playing, but that something was missing.

Unfortunately for Ding, the German Masters ends here

The fifth frame was a scrappy one and Mark wasn’t at his best, to be honest with you, but this meant that Ding had an opportunity to win his second frame ... and he almost did it. Selby started with a 37 break, but Ding succeeded in hitting a 50 one, just before he went missing the yellow ball (as his position was too straight). He was in need of that yellow ball and also the green and the brown! At 43-65 in favor of Ding, Mark came to the tale and pot all the colors and "steel" Ding’s survival frame. "The Shark" of snooker was now just one frame away from victory, victory that came quite quickly in the form of breaks of 60 and 39. Selby was through to the semis, defeating the 2011 Masters champion 5-1.


Three more tables were being used in the arena, and three more players were on their way to the semis. Mark Williams was the first to get there, as the Welshman is potting at full speed. He seems unstoppable; he is on fire and even though his opponent was the fierce and ambitious Joe Perry (who, by the way, hit a marvelous 100 in the first frame), Mark overcame him with a 5-1 lead. This scoreline was also applied in the match that Marco Fu played against Joe Swail, while Graeme Dott was winning 5-2 over his fellow-country partner, Stephen Maguire.


Tonight the semi-finals will kick off and I remind you that the rule is "the best of 11", so good luck to the boys and see you tomorrow for the latest news. :-)


18:00 - 21:00 (UK time) - British EuroSport