2016 European Masters (Day Four)

We are halfway through this inaugural edition of European Masters and Thursday was the winning day for the likes of Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Ants McGill and Mark Davis.

Mark Selby whitewashed Barry Hawkins, 4-0 after a match in which the scoreline doesn't say the entire story.

The opening frame was won by Selby with runs of 28 and 44, but as the second one started, things got a bit more clinical.

Selby missed a red down on 48, this allowing Hawkins to crawl back into the frame, but oh, the irony! "The Hawk" missed a red, on the same pocket as Selby, down on 42, his opponent returning to clear the table with ... a 42 break (strike two!)

Frame number three was a strange one, Selby needing about four times to finish up and go 3-0 up. First he broke down very early in the frame after missing a red to the right middle pocket, then down on 31 after repeating the same mistake, only to change the pocket and stop at 11 the third time.

However, his opponent wasn't there for the taking and so, Selby went on to hit in runs of 63 and 48 for a 4-0 victory and now meets Alfie Burden in the quarters.

The same result was scored by Judd Trump against Andrew Higgins, this time on a clearer note.


Although still struggling a bit and not at his best, Trump did manage to pun on quite a show and hit in breaks of 61, 48, 118 and 94 to set a snooker meeting with John Higgins.

The battle of the Scots was clearly the one featuring the names of Anthony McGill and Scott Donaldson, the lads going hand in hand from 2-1 up, until the last frame.

McGill was the one to break the ice, breaks of 49, 46 and 31 giving him a 2-0 lead, when his opponent fought back and used runs of 29 and 33 to draw level.

Ants cued a break of 55 in frame five, but Donaldson reply came under the form of a 86 break to force the decider, which Anthony won with a run of 46.

As for Mark Davis and Liang Wenbo, the match ended on the same 4-3 scoreline in favour of the Englishman.

Although Wenbo started pretty strong (with a break of 81), Mark's response being a 82, closely followed by a 103 from the Chinese player, things got a bit scrappy afterwards.

The lads went hand in hand until the decider which had an epic end - a break of 103 from Davis.

All that being said, it's only fair to announce that we have some pretty interesting quarter-finals ahead of us, so be sure to keep an eye on the players. I expect some surprises here and there.

Quarter-finals match schedule:

1pm
John Higgins v. Judd Trump

2pm
Mark Selby v. Alfie Burden

7pm
Mark Davis v. Ronnie O'Sullivan

8pm
Neil Robertson v. Anthony McGill

*all hours are Romania time

Photos credit: Lewis Ward