German Masters 2011 - the final
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| 2011 German Masters champion - Mark Williams |
As you all know, this year’s German Masters tournament champion is the Welsh Mark Williams, who succeeded in beating Mark Selby 9-7 in a very tight battle, where talent and luck came together. It was so nice to see them play as they are both gifted players and with Selby into the game, you already know this is going to be funny all the way through :-)) With four re-racks performed, the final was one of the most exciting finals ever, the public playing a huge role in this case, as they were sooo into snooker, applauding every beautiful shot and cheering for their favorite player.
It all started at 1:00 pm (UK time), when "The Welsh Potting Machine" and "The Jester from Leicester" were ready to play, carefully supervised by Jan Verhaas.
The one who broke the ice was Selby, as he hit a 92 break to take over the first frame, Williams responding with runs of 56 and 24 to level up the score and with a beautiful 108 (his 252 century break) to take the lead 2-1. "The Jester" didn’t sit too long in his seat, equalising the result as he hit in breaks of 50 and 49 as the players were entering the mid-session interval. Nice to know that "Women’s Slalom" was broadcasted in the following minutes and we missed one frame of the match. Superbly played EuroSport! Grrrrrr!
Anyway, we had live scoring so it was easy to find out that Williams took the lead with breaks of 43 and 26, but also that Selby’s 63 break brought the Englishman the sixth frame of the first session.
Time was asking for a change, one of the players had to move forward and take the lead, but most importantly to maintain it. That person was going to be Williams who took off and cashed the last two frames of the first session. During the seventh frame, Selby was building himself a nice break, but he was interrupted at 34, as he strangely missed the black out of its spot, so Williams came for a 53 that was stopped by missing a red, still the Welshman succeeding in hitting a 16 and an 18 to win the current frame. To set the score at 5-3, Williams took advantage of the fact that Selby tried to pot a long red and missed it just by a fraction, so he hit a beautiful 105. Top class!
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| 2011 German Masters runner-up - Mark Selby |
Selby needed a frame, he needed one as to build his confidence up and start believing in a smashing comeback. So he took over the second frame, a frame that was strategically played rather than one where big breaks were common (27 being the highest break!). It was a very hard frame that ended up on the colors as the score was reaching 34-41, in favor of the Englishman, him being the one who won it in the end.
But what do you know? Williams was in no disposition as to leave his opponent back in the game, so he hit a 20 and 96 to make the score 7-4 in his favor. (that frame was re-racked one!).
The Leicester boy couldn’t take it any longer! He was just too sick and tired of winning one frame and then to see Williams take the next one, so he stormed out and hit a runs of 25, 25, 60, 37 and 20 to make that long desired comeback! He did it! Selby was now at the same level as Williams 7-7 and the battle was on!
The 15th frame saw Williams starting with a 44 break but he couldn’t continue it as he potted the brown along with the red, Selby coming to the table but not succeeding in making too much use of the chance he was given; so Williams returned to close the frame with a mini-break of 18. He was now just one step away from victory and although I would have very much liked to see a decider, this was not going to happen.
But before anything could happen, the boys re-racked the last frame! :-))))) And like before, this was a true blessing for the Welshman, as he hit a beautiful 82 break to earn the right to lift that shiny trophy over his head! With a 9-7 score, "The Welsh Potting Machine" ended a final that had everything: laughter, drama, tension, pressure, funny moments and so on...it was a genuine victory for the Welshman, who fought like a lion.
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| Willaism giving his first interview after the victory |
Selby confessed that it was hard to make a comeback and that every time he would get near to Williams, the Welshman would take another step further. Still, that doesn’t mean that our beloved Jester didn’t play at his best, for he did!
A few minutes after Selby’s declaration, came Williams` and blimey if I ever seen him so emotional! He tried to say more, but you could read in his way of talking that he was so emotional and so overwhelmed. "I’m over the moon", he said and the cowed just exploded. Such magical moments! You just can’t buy stuff like that! :-)
Then it came the moment of lifting the trophy as the audience was applauding! Williams was the man!
So what more can one say about the German Masters? It was a wonderful event and it showed that Germans love snooker. They are just in love with this sport and who can blame them?! Is one of the most wonderful sports out there! :-)
I congratulate Williams on his winning (very well deserved, especially after the UK Championship final) , but also Selby for a tremendous run and for respecting snooker and taking it all in good spirit. Very nice lads, these two! Snooker is fortunate to have them! ;-)
And here`s Williams song, the one he uses to enter the arena on. Hope you`ll like it :-)
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