German Masters 2012 - Living the German dream

15:28:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

The first day of February marks the start of a very special snooker tournament - the German Masters. Germany's Berlin is once again opening its loving arms to receive the baize gladiators and for the next five days they will try and give their best to entertain the crowd.

If Martin Luther King said "I have a dream", the snooker players can very easily state that "We have a German dream", for each and every one of them felt the warmth and support received during last year's edition of the German Masters from the packed audience. Such a thrill to play for a crowd like that.

Although the competition itself is not a new one, it was only last year when it was properly introduced into the eye's of the public and transformed into a genuine ranking event.  After last year's edition the conclusion was a simple one: Germans love snooker and snooker loves Germany. So we are going back this year.

But the 2011 edition was a special one also because Mark Williams won the title. The Welshman has a pretty close history with Germany, here happening to win one of his first abroad titles.

Mark Williams is defending champion
However, from that moment on, he hasn't won any other tournaments even if he reached the final of the 2011 Shanghai Masters (when he was defeated by Mark Selby) and the 2011 Australian Open (when he lost to Stuart Bingham).

Surely he'll try to defend his crown and to win himself a nice trophy after such a "silent" times spent away from the winning line. It's not going to be easy, by any means, with such a great line-up of tough players, but if someone can do well under pressure is Williams.

This year's German Masters is starting with no less then eight wildcards matches, closely followed by the first matches from the Last 32 round. So it's going to be a busy day. 
EuroSport's commentators are on duty this week, so we are going to have the pleasure of hearing Dave Hendon and Joe Johnson again, but also Mike Hallett and Mike Smith.

So, let's cut the talking (aka. reading in this case) and see tomorrow's match schedule, shall we?

9am (Wildcard round)

Ken Doherty v. Patrick Einsle
Adrian Gunnell v. Peter Bullen
Yu Delu v. Chris Norbury
Mike Dunn v. Craig Steadman
Liu Song v. Soner Sari

1pm
Shaun Murphy v. Barry Hawkins
Stephen Maguire v. Ryan Day
James Wattana v. Mario Wehrmann (wildcard match - Wehrmann withdrew so Wattana gets a bye to play Graeme Dott in the Last 32).
Paul Davison v. Krzysztof Wrobel (wildcard match)
Tom Ford v. Philip Arnold (wildcard match)

7pm
Mark Williams v. Doherty/Einsle
John Higgins v. Mark Davis
Stuart Bingham v. Peter Ebdon
Stephen Lee v. Gunnell/Bullen
Martin Gould v. Ricky Walden
*all hours are UK time

TV coverage for the UK:
09:00 - 12:00 British EuroSport
13:00 - 16:00 British EuroSport

All matches including the quarter-finals are played under the "best of nine" rule and they can be watched also online at: www.sportlemon.tv

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Snooker in February 2012

17:00:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

We have a new month ahead of us and if you think that January was a busy one, well ... Ferbuary is worse. Which is actually better in my world of snooker-lover, so I'm guessing it will also be in yours.


Right from the very first day we shall need to pack our bags and fly all the way to Germany's Berlin for the second edition of the German Masters. Last year it was a total blast, with the audience that was practically mesmarised by each shot and the player who felt better than ever with such supporting fans by their side.


After five days spend abroad we are returning to Essex (because "The only Way is Essex") for the Championship League's Groups five and six (6-9 of  February), at the same time that week the qualifiers for the Welsh Open kicking off (8-11 of February), only to see the actual event starting on February 13 and ending six days later.


Just one single day to catch our breath (on 21st) and then we are going chaising the China Open "dream"with the qualifiers from 21-24 of February, while from 27 the brand new Haikou World Open tournament is taking us all the way across the planet on the Hainan Island.


1. German Masters

When?: 1-5 February
Where?: Berlin, Germany
Defending champion: Mark Williams
Who's playing?: click here for the draw.
Prize money: winner (50,000 Euros), runner-up (30,000 Euros), losing semi-finalists (15,000 Euros), losing quarter-finalists (9,000 Euros), Last 16 (6,000 Euros), Last 32 (3,750 Euros), Last 48 (1,500 Euros).
Ranking points: winner (5,000), runner-up (4,000), losing semi-finalists (3,200), losing quarter-finalists (2,500), Last 16 (1,900), Last 32 (1,400 and *700), Last 48 (1,150 and *575).
*seeded loser.
2. Championship League (Groups five and six)

When?: 6-9 February
Where?: Crondon Park, Essex, UK
Who's playing?: click here for the draw.
Prize money: For the group phase - £3,000 for the winner of each final, £2,000 for the runner-up in final, £1,000 for the losing semi-finalists, £100 per frame won and £500 for the highest break.                       For winners' group phase - £10,000 for the overall champion, £5,000 for the overall runner-up, £3,000 for the losing semi-finalists, £300 per frame won and £1,000for the highest break.
Ranking points: -

 
3. Welsh Open (the qualifiers)

When?: 8-11 February
Where?: Sheffield, UK
Who's playing?: click here for the draw.
Prize money: -
Ranking points: -


4. Welsh Open

When?: 13-19 February
Where?: Newport Centre, Wales, UK
Defending champion: John Higgins
Who's playing?: click here for the draw.
Prize money: winner (£30,000), runner-up (£15,000), losing semi-finalists (£7,500), losing quarter-finalists (£5,600), Last 16 (£4,000), Last 32 ( £2,500), Last 48 (£1,600), Last 64 (£1,250).
Ranking points: winner (5,000), runner-up (4,000), losing semi-finalists (3,200), losing quarter-finalists (2,500), Last 16 (1,900), Last 32 (1,400 and *700), Last 48 (1,150 and *575), Last 64 (900 and *450).
*seeded loser.
5. China Open (the qualifiers)

When?: 21-24 February
Where?: Sheffield, UK
Who's playing?: click here for the draw.
Prize money: -
Ranking points: -
6. Haikou World Open

When?: February 27 - March 4
Where?: Hainan Island, Haikow, China
Defending chmapion: -
Who's playing?: click here for the draw.
Prize money: winner (£75,000), runner-up (£34,000), losing semi-finalists (£16,000), losing quarter-finalists (£10,000), Last 16 (£7,500), Last 32 ( £6,000), Last 48 (£2,300), Last 64 (£1,550). There's also a prize money for the highest break of £2,000.
Ranking points: update needed.

 

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Barry Hawkins shoots victory in Blackpool

23:40:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

The champion Barry Hawkins
Barry Hawkins beat former world champion, Graeme Dott 61-23 to become the second player to ever lift a Snooker Shoot-Out trophy at Blackpool. 

The road to victory implied beating heavy names from the snooker business, like Ding Junhui, Fergal O'Brien, Stephen Maguire, Mark Davis and Dave Harold.

The proud member of South West Snooker Academy's Pink Army, Hawkins beat the 2006 world champion, Graeme Dott to win his first snooker event this year and the first one since 2010 when he took the Pro Challenge Series - Event 5 title under his belt.

The 23-year-old lad from Kent started his Shoot-Out journey by beating Ding Junhui 53-27, the Irishman Fergal O'Brien 90-0, Stephen Maguire 87-1, his pink colleague Mark Davis 77-12  (break of 76 hit in the process), good old Dave Harold by 56-30 (break of 50), only to set up the final meeting with Scotland's Graeme Dott, whom he beat 61-23 after hitting in runs of 46 and 14.


One very happy runner-up - Graeme Dott
Runner-up Dott goes home with a check of £16,000 and the pleasure of performing extremely well in each match he played. 

Actually the only time the Scottish player wasn't in front of his opponent was in the final, but while facing Alan McManus, Ken Doherty, former 2011 runner-up Robert Millkins, Dominic Dale or Tom Ford he took his chances right from the beginning.

Martin Gould goes home with no less than £2,000 (besides the £4,000 for reaching the quarter-finals) for hitting the highest break of the tournament, a beautiful 135 one during the match against Jamie Jones.

For champion Barry Hawkins the victory itself as well as the prize money of £32,000 means a lot, considering that he is a very good player, but unfortunately a stranger from our TV screens. Hopefully, this title will give him a boost to hit the ball better but also get him playing in the big ranking events.

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Snooker Shoot-Out 2012 - Day 2

01:09:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Happy Lee
The second day of the 2012 Snooker Shoot-Out saw Stephen Lee hitting the first century break of the competition, both Mark Selby and Mark Williams leaving it and a very entertaining "clash of styles" between a very slow Dave Harold and a very fast Tony Drago.

Stephen Lee managed to hit the first century break of this year's Snooker Shoot-Out tournament while he was kicking out Ricky Walden. 'The Bulldog" of snooker ended the match on a 121-0 result, a 121 that was his marvellous century break. A bit overwhelmed and still shaking after this great performance, Lee confessed he just went for everything and that he's happy the century-break-issue is out of the box now.


Dotty is really enjoying himself
Scotland’s Graeme Dott ended his second day in Blackpool with a big smile upon his face. Now, you all know that we don't see Dotty smile very often so one should guess he is really enjoying himself. And after beating the legend Ken Doherty while hitting an 81 break in the process, who can blame the guy?

A very interesting clash of styles was the match between Dave Harold and Tony Drago. A slow player with a very distinctive managing his cue and potting the balls and a fast player nicknamed "The Tornado", were now face to face. What's even more interesting is that this is their first snooker encounter. They've never played each other in the past although they’ve been in the circuit for quite some time now.


A clash of styles: Drago and Harold
The one who broke the ice was Harold, with a break of 30, but Drago didn't give up and although only one minute and 38 seconds were left for action, he retuned to pot the remaining balls. Unfortunately for him he missed a red on 19 and Harold came for a 51-32 victory.

World number one, Mark Selby saw himself in the position of leaving the competition after losing 22-31 to Dominic Dale, the two-time world champion Mark Williams followed his footsteps suffering a defeat of 28-50 from Barry Pinches, while the current world champion John Higgins was also sent home by a very determined Mark Allen, 67-34.

Below you have Day Two list or results:

Last 64 (part two)

Tony Drago 97-0 Andy Hicks 

Ding Junhui 27-53 Barry Hawkins

Ben Woollaston 45-52 Alfie Burden

Ricky Walden 122-3 Liu Chuang

Andrew Higginson 9-74 Liang Wenbo

Shaun Murphy 3-39 Fergal O’Brien

Marcus Campbell 60-13 Xiao Guodong

Ian McCulloch 81-22 Jamie Cope

Mark King 31-39 Dominic Dale

Marco Fu 21-24 Barry Pinches

Dave Harold 64-1 James Wattana

Matthew Selt 66-0 Rod Lawler

Mike Dunn 50-37 Michael White

Stephen Hendry 79-29 Jack Lisowski

Jamie Jones 56-24 Adrian Gunnell

Ryan Day 73-23 Joe Swail

Last 32

Robert Milkins 64-6 Mike Dunn

Ryan Day 81-0 Ian McCulloch

Dominic Dale 31-22 Mark Selby

Martin Gould 56-27 Marcus Campbell

Barry Hawkins 90-0 Fergal O’Brien

Graeme Dott 85-0 Ken Doherty

Stephen Maguire 58-1 Alfie Burden

Mark Davis 79-1 Anthony Hamilton

Dave Harold 51-32 Tony Drago

Stuart Bingham 8-78 Jamie Jones

Mark Williams 28-50 Barry Pinches

Ricky Walden 0-121 Stephen Lee

Gerard Greene 69-30 Stephen Hendry

Tom Ford 63-39 Matthew Selt

Liang Wenbo 0-54 Matthew Stevens

John Higgins 34-67 Mark Allen

 
Match schedule for the Last 16: 

Ryan Day v. Dave Harold
Robert Milkins v. Graeme Dott
Stephen Maguire v. Barry Hawkins
Dominic Dale v. Stephen Lee
Martin Gould v. Jamie Jones
Tom Ford v. Gerard Greene
Liang Wenbo v. Barry Pinches
Mark Davis v. Mark Allen


The last day of the Snooker Shoot-Out is starting from 2pm with the Last 16 matches and continues from 7pm with the quarter-finals, semis and final.


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Snooker Shoot-Out 2012 - Day 1

01:09:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Milkins sends defending champion home
The second edition of Snooker Shoot-Out tournament started today with a very big surprise. 

The defending champion, Nigel Bond experienced an early exit after losing 30-15 to Robert Milkins. The irony is that Milking was actually the runner-up of last year's Shoot-Out.

Legends Steve Davis and Jimmy White followed Bond footsteps and left the competition, while John Higgins, Mark Selby, Ken Doherty and Mark Davis booked themselves a place in the Last 32.

If last year Nigel Bond was defeating Robert Milkins 58-23 to lift the Shoot-Out’s first trophy, this year the situation was reversed and Milkins beat him 38-15 after showing a more stable form and a superior cue style.


Davis is smilling, but unfortunately he's also going home
Minutes after, the six-time world champion Steve Davis was also being forced to leave the competition after Mark Williams hit a break of 66 and ended the match on a remarkable result of 72-0. 'The Nugget" didn't even pot a ball.

"The people's champion" Jimmy White was eliminated, Anthony Hamilton proving to be one hell of a sheriff and forcing Jimmy to "get out of town" with a 71-14 scoreline.

A very interesting match was the one who brought together the 2011 World Championship finalists: John Higgins and Judd Trump. Although many snooker fans had bet on Trump to take revenge, but also because he's a most suitable player for this fast format, Higgins proved them wrong.


Higgins beats Trump once more
The Scottish player ended the battle at 62-16 after hitting a 33 break. Trump seemed not very focus and missed a lot of long pots, which in his situation (he pots the unpottable) was a bit weird.

An all Scottish-affair was going on between Stephen Maguire and young Anthony McGill, with the first named one winning 43-20, but also between Graeme Dott and Alan McManus, Dotty booking himself a place in the next round after winning the cues' battle by 62-33.


World number one, M.Selby in the Last 32
The 1997 world champion, Ken Doherty is also going to delight us with his snooker skills during the next round as he beat Michael Holt 58-6, the Welshman Matthew Stevens saw off "Captain" Ali Carter 60-22, world number one Mark Selby moved pass Joe Perry 104-1, while Mark Davis ended on a 78-16 result with Mark Joyce.



Below you can check Day One list of results:


Robert Milkins 30-15 Nigel Bond

Mark Williams 72-0 Steve Davis

Ali Carter 22-60 Matthew Stevens

Stephen Maguire 43-20 Anthony McGill

Graeme Dott 62-33 Alan McManus

Stuart Bingham 77-22 Liu Song

John Higgins 62-16 Judd Trump

Gerard Greene 36-27 Jamie Burnett

Ken Doherty 58-6 Michael Holt

Tom Ford 50-44 Jimmy Robertson

Mark Selby 104-1 Joe Perry

Mark Allen 46-19 Rory McLeod

Martin Gould 62-45 Peter Ebdon

Anthony Hamilton 71-14 Jimmy White

Mark Davis 78-16 Mark Joyce

Stephen Lee 60-37  Peter Lines



Tomorrow the action continues with:



12:00

Tony Drago v. Andy Hicks

Ding Junhui v. Barry Hawkins

Ben Woollaston v. Alfie Burden


Ricky Walden v. Liu Chuang

Andrew Higginson v. Liang Wenbo

Shaun Murphy v. Fergal O’Brien

Marcus Campbell v. Xiao Guodong
Ian McCulloch v. Jamie Cope

Mark King v. Dominic Dale

Marco Fu v. Barry Pinches

Dave Harold v. James Wattana

Matthew Selt v. Rod Lawler

Mike Dunn v. Michael White

Stephen Hendry v. Jack Lisowski

Jamie Jones v. Adrian Gunnell

Ryan Day v. Joe Swail



18:00 Last 32

Random draw



The event is fully covered by SkySports

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The 2012 Masters - the story in pictures

00:07:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

For those of you that are regular readers of this blog you know that after a big tournament I used to write a personal note about it. Well, this time I thought about something different: to mix a few words with the pictures.


Below you have the result. Oh, and please don't be too harsh ... it's the first time I've done such a thing :-P


Enjoy!




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Championship League 2012 - Fourth time's a lucky charm for Mark Davis

00:29:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Mark Davis wins Group Four
Mark Davis beat Mark Selby 3-1 to win this year's Championship League Group Four. Hence Davis got a place next to Judd Trump, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson in Winners' Group.

Mark Davis was in the Championship League from day one, which also means Group One. He always qualified for the play-offs but he never reached the final. Until now that is. 

For the last two days he beat Matthew Stevens 3-2, Peter Ebdon and Jamie Cope 3-1 and whitewashed Stephen Lee 3-0 in order to qualify on third place for the play-offs.

He faced the 2002 world champion, Peter Ebdon in the semi-final and found no difficulty in hitting a brilliant series of 40, 43, 54 and another 40 to crash Ebbo 3-0 and book himself a place in the final.
Here, another player who has been with us since Group One and also managed to qualify for the play-off each time (always on first place) was waiting for him, Mark Selby.

Selby so close and yet so far away from victory (again!)
Davis took the first two frames with runs of 59 and 40, but Selby wasn't going to give up without a fight so he hit a great 138 to pull back a frame. However, a strategically placed 72 was closing the deal in Davis' favour at 3-1.

Mark Selby along with his semi-final opponent, Mark Allen but also with Peter Ebdon and Jamie Cope are getting a place in Group Five where they'll try their best to qualify once more for the play-offs and this time even win them.

On the opposite corner we have Matthew Stevens and Stephen Lee, both of them not earning enough points to remain in the competition hence leaving it for good. They could only hope to retain their Top 16 spot until this year's Premier League kicks off.

The next groups (five and six) are starting their matches from February 6-9 at the same snookerish location,  Crondon Park from Essex.

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It's shoot-out snooker time!

23:19:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Get your pistols ready!Shoot!
Last year the Snooker Shoot-Out tournament was brought into day light with Nigel Bond starring in the champion's role after three days of seeing the Top 64 players into action. 

It was a breath of fresh air that combined elements from classical snooker with some Premier League rules and a bit of Power Snooker as well.

Now it's time for the second edition, so starting this Friday and ending on Sunday night, the current occupants of the Top 64 will cross their cues in order to get the most of every pot. With the PartyPocker.com to sponsor the event and with the winner taking home a check of £32,000, this announces to be one hell of a ride for the baize's gladiators.

The rules are simple: one-frame that lasts a maximum of 10 minutes, a shot-clock that lets you take 20 seconds to make a move in the first 5 minutes of the frame then being reduced to 15 seconds for the last 5 minutes of it, each player must hit a cushion, the object ball or pot a ball with every shot, fouls result in ball-in-hand (that can be placed anywhere on the table) and if by any chance at the end of the frame the players are on a tie, the blue ball is re-spotted and the first one to pot it wins the frame.


Nigel Bond is defending champion
Although this isn't by far good old fashioned snooker, it has its charm for it represents one of the few tournaments to feature the names Top 64 players. It's the fans' chance to see faces that until now have been quite a mystery but above all these, to see those players in action. 

I personally remember last year's edition when I saw Jimmy Robertson. Never in my life had I seen his face or see him play. So when he qualified a few months later for the Crucible, it was really nice to see a familiar face from outside of the Top 16.

Besides that it's good fun to see the players a bit more relaxed, wearing t-shits (even the referees do their job by leaving their fancy suits at home) and to actually have fun by playing as well as interact with the audience.

So, without any further ado, here's tomorrow's match schedule:

18:00

Robert Milkins v. Nigel Bond

Mark Williams v. Steve Davis

Ali Carter v. Matthew Stevens

Stephen Maguire v. Anthony McGill

Graeme Dott v. Alan McManus

Stuart Bingham v. Liu Song

John Higgins v. Judd Trump

Gerard Greene v. Jamie Burnett

Ken Doherty v. Michael Holt

Tom Ford v. Jimmy Robertson

Mark Selby v. Joe Perry

Mark Allen v. Rory McLeod

Martin Gould v. Peter Ebdon

Anthony Hamilton v. Jimmy White

Mark Davis v. Mark Joyce

Stephen Lee v. Peter Lines

TV coverage:

18:00 - 22:00 Sky Sports
 

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Championship League 2012 - Robertson does it again

00:50:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Robertson cashes one more victory
Neil Robertson beat Mark Selby 3-2 to become the winner of Championship League's Group Three.  

This victory comes two days after the Australian player conquered the Masters crown from Ally Pally.

He seems unstoppable. He's winning matches after matches and takes pleasure in marking one victory after, another. Tonight it was Champions League's Group Three, but what would come up next?

After qualifying in the play-offs of Group Three, Neil Robertson beat Matthew Stevens 3-2, minutes after that repeating the performance and taking down world number one, Mark Selby.

During the past two days, Robertson hammered Stephen Hendry 3-1, beat Matthew Stevens 3-2 only to return on a 3-1 note while facing Martin Gould and Jamie Cope.

"The Thunder from Down Under" has now a pretty comfortable place in the Winners' Group where Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy have previously landed after winning their groups’ finals.

Selby - kind of unlucky
A very interesting fact that I should mention is that Mark Selby, the runner-up of tonight's final, is a very unlucky fellow. He started his Championship League journey right from the beginning of it with Group One and he has always reached the play-off. 

But what's even amazing is that he's always qualified for them on first place. Still, that didn't seem to matter one single bit as the Leicester man got defeated each time.

First he lost 3-1 in the semi-final to Judd Trump, then he was whitewashed 3-0 in the final of Group Two by Shaun Murphy. So when will the sun start to shine on Selby's street? Maybe as he enters Group Four matches?

In a far worse position than him are Martin Gould and Stephen Hendry who didn't get enough points to remain in the competition, hence being disqualified from it.

Tomorrow, Group Four matches are starting and below you can check the schedule:

TABLE ONE
11am - Mark Selby v. Matthew Stevens
12.15pm - Mark Allen v. Stephen Lee
Not before 2pm - Matthew Stevens v. Mark Davis
3.15pm - Stephen Lee v. Peter Ebdon
Not before 6pm - Matthew Stevens v. Jamie Cope
7.15pm - Mark Davis v. Peter Ebdon

TABLE TWO
11am - Mark Davis v. Jamie Cope
12.15pm - Peter Ebdon v. Mark Selby
Not before 2pm - Jamie Cope v. Mark Allen
3.15pm - Mark Selby v. Mark Davis
6pm - Mark Allen v. Peter Ebdon
7.15pm - Stephen Lee v. Jamie Cope
*all hours are UK time

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The Masters (the final) - Robertson masters title

01:23:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Neil Robertson - the 2012 Masters champion
Neil Robertson beat Shaun Murphy 10-6 to win this year's Masters edition. 

The Australian reached no less then six televised ranking events finals and won them all, this one being his seventh.

After closing the first session on a 5-3 advantage, Robertson lost the 9th frame to Murphy, but revenge was coming his opponent’s way under the form of breaks of 101, 76 and another 76. They were enough to get the Aussie four frames on a row and put him just one step away from lifting that sparkling trophy, 9-4.

But Murphy was set to make a comeback, runs of 52 and 86 keeping his opponent in his chair for more than 20 minutes. The scoreline was now 9-6.


Shaun Murphy, the 2012 Masters runner-up
However that didn't seem to bother Robertson as he took the next frame, which was also going to be the last one, with a top break of 70. 

The scoreboard was freezing at 10-6 with an over the moon Robbo that was punching the air in his characteristic style.

His girlfriend and adorable little boy came into the arena to celebrate his victory. A victory of a player that has won each final that he reached, a player that has persevered in reaching his goals even if sometimes it wasn’t a bed of roses, a player that's simply a champion.


"Give daddy the trophy! He worked really hard for it"
As the runner-up we have "The Magician" Shaun Murphy who had a great performance during the Masters and who hopefully won't lose that sparkle of magic because we have big tournaments coming up and he's on the favourite-to-win list.

This, my dear lads and lasses, completes what, for me, was a week of amazing snooker, top class players and great atmosphere. Ally Pally proved to be a wonderful venue for snooker and hopefully I'll be there next year to "try" it for myself. ;-)


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The Masters ( the final) - Robertson leading Murphy after first session

19:37:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Robertson takes the lead
Neil Robertson is currently leading Shaun Murphy 5-3 after the first session of this year's Masters final. 

A genuine tactical battle of cues, with lots of cracking shots performed and a lot of tension going on. Perfectly understandable since both players are at their first Masters final appearance.

The 2010 world champion, Neil Robertson took a scrappy opener to go 1-0 in front, but his opponent, drew level with the first chance he got by using a 65 break. However, Murphy's cue action didn't stop here, the Englishman taking the next frame too by hitting the first century break of this match, a beautiful 102.

Before the interval kicked off, Robbo managed to pull back a frame with a 103 clearance and so the boys entered in the 15 minute break all square at 2-2.

Retuning into the arena, the Australian regain his leading position after hitting in runs of 36 and 25, but as before, Murphy was careful enough as to level the match at 3-3, using a top break of 53.

Murphy has some catching up to do
One more time Robertson was putting his nose in front using a 72 break in the process, with the only difference that on this occasion Murphy wasn't able to reinstall the balance.
A brutal miss stopped the 2005 world champion break at 46, while Robbo was retuning to the table and potting like crazy. 

Tension was rising as the Aussie missed an easy blue on 60, this giving Murphy a life line to fulfil his initial plan and end the first session on 4-4. But it didn't happen because after he potted the yellow, missed the green.

For a few minutes the lads were engaged into a tactical battle of cues on the remaining colours until Murphy left the green on and so Robertson pot it along with the brown and the blue. It was 5-3.

The last session starts from 8pm (UK time), so be sure not to miss who the new Masters champion will be.

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The Masters - Murphy completes final line-up

00:27:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Murphy, happy to reach the final
Shaun Murphy beat current world champion John Higgins 6-4 to get the last place left in this year's Masters tournament’s final, final in which  "The Magician" is facing the Australian Neil Robertson.

A thrilling battle of cues between the Englishman Shaun Murphy and Scotland's John Higgins was almost going to see all the frames being put into action. It would have been the first match to end in a decider for this Masters' edition, but a pretty stubborn pink stood in the way.

The match started with Shaun Murphy practically flying 3-0 after hitting in breaks of 86,101 and 69, while Higgins was all over the place. Still, the Scotsman found the strength to end the first session by pulling back one frame with runs of 25 and 49. 

After the 15 minute break the man with no less than four world titles in his bag won another frame to reduce the gap at just one point (2-3), but Murphy was careful enough to re-enlarge it by hitting the second century of the match, a great 122.

One more time, John tried a comeback with runs of 20 and 59, but following the same pattern Shaun responded by collecting 100 consecutive points off the table to go 5-3 up.

One more frame was needed in order for the "Magician" to land safely in the final, but "The Wizard of Wishaw" prolonged the suspense by taking the 9th frame with a top break of 72.

One pink and Higgins is out
During the next one, Murphy lost position on 55, Higgins managing to get back at the table and hit a 48 brutally interrupted by a missed pink; a very tricky missed pink. The gravidity of the situation was not the Higgins missed it, but that he also felt it on, Murphy returning to the table and potting it into the green pocket for a 6-4 victory and a place in tomorrow’s final.

So, here we are lads and lasses: the last day of this year's Masters tournament is knocking on our door with Neil Robertson on one side (see here how he beat Judd Trump), and Shaun Murphy on the other.

An interesting fact is that both Neil and Shaun have never reached the final of a Masters' event, so this match will surely be a close one.

The final match is being played on the "best of 19" rule, with two sessions, one starting at 14:00 and the other at 20:00 (UK time). Don't miss to find out who the next Masters champion will be!

TV coverage:
13:50 - 16:45 BBC Two
14:00 - 17:00 British EuroSpor 2
20:00 - 23:00 British EuroSport
20:00 - 23:00 BBC Two

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The Masters - Robertson executes Trump for final spot

18:55:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

I'm a winner, hear me roar!
Neil Robertson beat Judd Trump 6-3 after a thrilling battle of cues to grab a spot in this year's Masters final. 

"The Thunder from Down Under" showed himself merciless in front of his opponent, and knew how to handle the pressure of decisive shots.

The part Australian, part English battle of cues started with a very scrappy affair that put Robbo in the lead, while a great clearance of 100 points was turning the scoreline into 2-0 in his favour.
Young Judd used runs of 44 and 76 to win his first frame, but the interval was finding the boys at 3-1, after Robertson's 89 break.

Some pretty thrilling stuff was happening on the green baize as the 15 minute break came to an end, Judd stopping his break at 33 and Robertson missing a tough black on 43. It seemed like a perfect opportunity for Trump to get back in the game, but an incredible missed blue on 19 was leaving his opponent a chance to extend his lead.


Goodbye victory!
And that’s exactly what happened, as Neil cleared the table for 4-1 and won the very next frame also, with a top break of just 20 points. He was now, just one frame away from the victory, 5-1.

But the recent winner of the UK Championship crown didn't give up so easily, runs of 29, 35 and 95 bringing him two consecutive frames. Could we have expected a total comeback from the Bristolian?

Robertson answered that question with a determined NO, as Judd was missing an incredible blue to the right centre pocket on 29. The 2010 world champion came to the table to hit a 59 break and close the deal at 6-3.
As frame ball was potted, Neil offered the audience his classical "roar". He was in the final.

The day is far from being over, though one more semi-final taking palce from 7pm (UK time) between John Higgins and Shaun Murphy.

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The Masters - Murphy lands in semi-final

01:20:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Shaun Murphy gets the last of the semis spots
Shaun Murphy has become the last player to grab a spot in this year's edition of the Masters semi-finals after beating Mark Selby 6-2. 

World number one didn't seem to stand a chance in front of Murphy's magic powers.

Shaun Murphy met two-times Masters champion Mark Selby in the last match of the quarter-finals, match that surely erased "The Jester from Leiceste's" smile. 

It's true that Selby wasn't at his best in the previously played match against Stephen Lee, but he did manage to win it when his opponent's comeback was about to become a reality. Today though, it wasn't going to be his lucky day.

Murphy ended the first session by leading Selby 3-1, breaks of 36, 88 and 52 being used in the process. The Leicester man didn't took advantage of the chances Goddess Fortuna handed to him, but after the break many of us thought he'll perform a comeback, as he is well known of doing it.

Selby's form wasn't a winner
But it didn't happen. A break of 72 and a 65 were putting Shaun 5-1 up, within one frame from victory. 

However, the next frame was won by Selby with a beautiful 112, which in reality was meant to be a maximum. Sadly for him he missed one tricky last red and his break ended soon after crossing the 100 bridge.

Murphy put an end to Selby's misery in the very next frame by using runs of 20 and 48, thus winning the match 6-2. 

Tomorrow the semis are kicking off and with them we approach the end of what has been an incredible tournament. On Sunday the remaining two competitors are crossing their cues and engaging in fierceful battles, in the end only one of them prevailing.

But we still have two more days of intensive snooker, so let's see the schedule, shall we:

13:00
Neil Robertson v. Judd Trump

19:00
John Higgins v. Shaun Murphy
*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:
13:00 - 14:00 British EuroSport
14:00 - 16:00 British EuroSport 2
13:00 - 16:30 BBC One
16:30 - 17: 30 BBC Two
19:00 - 22:00 British EuroSport 2
20:00 - 22:30 BBC Two
00:10 - BBC Two (the highlights)

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The Masters - Robertson sends Williams home

18:27:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Robbo get a place in the semis
The third player who gets a place in this year's Masters semi-finals is Neil Robertson. The Australian beat the two-time Masters champion Mark Williams 6-4 after engaging in quite a tactical battle of cues.

It was clear right from the beginning that this was going to be a tough match for each of the player involved and throughout it the theory was proved more than once. 

Williams missed the chance to be the one who broke the ice, Robertson stealing from him the opener, but the Welshman hit a 78 to draw level. However, the history has the tendency to repeat itself and so Robbo preformed another "special steal" during the 3rd frame.

This time though, Williams was unable to repeat what he had done during frame two and so the Aussie won one more frame after collecting 95 points off the table. It was 3-1 at the interval.

After the break Robertson continued his expansion, but this time Williams was determined to fight back. A 47 and a 68 were brining the Welshman just one point away from his opponent, 3-4.

Not a lucky day for Williams there
The 2010 world champion smelled the danger of a total comeback and decided it was time to get closer to victory after a break of 119 Robbo going 5-3 up.

One more time Williams tried his luck, this time with a 78, but unfortunately for him it was going to be late. A 57 break hit by Robertson during the 10th frame was putting an end to their snooker dispute.

Neil Robertson is meeting a very dangerous opponent in Saturday's semi-final, Judd Trump. Last time these two met it was during the PTC 8 Event, when Robertson hammered Trump 4-1 in the final. Will Trump take revenge?

The last match of the quarter-finals is set to take place tonight from 7pm (UK time) between Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy.

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