One of the better tournaments on the snooker calendar gets played this week as the first major ranking event of 2021 takes place in the form of the German Masters. The players are usually looking forward to a trip to the Tempodrom in Berlin for this competition but Covid-19 means the tournament will take place behind closed doors at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
We’ve already had a couple of qualifying rounds for this competition which the defending champion Judd Trump has come through safely. He will be looking to start his 2021 how he began 2020 by winning the title once again.
Recent Winners
2020 – Judd Trump
2019 – Kyren Wilson
2018 – Mark Williams
2017 – Anthony Hamilton
2016 – Martin Gould
2015 – Mark Selby
2014 – Ding Junhui
2013 – Ali Carter
2012 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2011 – Mark Williams
The Format
The first round, second round and the quarter finals are the best of nine frames this week, with some players having to play twice on Thursday. Those who make it to the semi-finals on Saturday will compete over the best of 11 frames and then the champion will be crowned on Sunday when the finalists face off across two sessions and the best of 17 frames.
Top Quarter
The qualifying event whittled out some of the leading names but it didn’t get rid of Judd Trump and as the number one seed he is in the top quarter of the draw and very much the favourite to progress deep in the competition. Two other top 16 players made it through to the finals stages in this section of the bracket. They are the Tour Championship holder Stephen Maguire and the classy Ding Junhui, who needs a convincing week here just to stop the talk of his demise for a little while.
There are five other players in the quarter, one of whom in Joe Perry who will be looking to finish the season strongly and look to qualify automatically for the World Championship later in the campaign. The other four players have the chance to do their rankings no harm this week. They are Duane Jones, Mark Davis, Kacper Filipiak and Dominic Dale. In a draw that has opened up in places they will all be eager to take advantage.
Second Quarter
Kyren Wilson was meant to be the leading seed in this second quarter of the draw but he bit the dust in the qualifying rounds which leaves the door open for Shaun Murphy to take advantage. The Magician is actually the only top 16 player left in this quarter and with the trophy being named after his friend Brandon Parker who recently passed away, it is a crown he’ll be dearly wanting to win. He certainly has the draw to do some damage here.
There are still seven other players in the section with a couple of them on the fringes of the top 16 in the form of Barry Hawkins and Graeme Dott. A big week here will do their qualification chances for Sheffield the world of good. Liang Wenbo is a dangerous customer in this part of the draw as well while the rest of the quarter is made up by Ryan Day, Jak Jones, Jordan Brown and Jamie O’Neill, the latter three having a chance to make a name for themselves.
Third Quarter
The quarter final in the third quarter was meant to see former winner Mark Selby taking on John Higgins, however Selby bit the dust in the first round of the qualifiers and although Higgins made it through to the main event, he has tested positive for Covid-19 on the eve of the tournament and has had to pull out. That means there is nobody ranked higher than 29 in the world left in this part of the draw so to say it is wide open is an understatement.
It is Tom Ford who heads the rankings in this quarter now and he surely has a great chance to make a ranking event semi-final again. Joe O’Connor at 44 in the rankings is the next highest placed player in this section. The other five men looking to take advantage of the draw opening up are Stuart Carrington, who receives a bye after the Higgins withdrawal, Yuan Sijun, Mark Joyce, Fergal O’Brien and the amateur Michael White for whom this could be a massive week.
Bottom Quarter
Mark Allen and Neil Robertson were due to be the two seeded players competing in this part of the draw but they both came a cropper in the qualifying part of the event which leaves us with another section which has opened right up. This hasn’t opened up to the extent of the third quarter as there are still two top 16 players in it, both of whom will appreciate the chance in front of them this week. They are the Masters semi-finalist Stuart Bingham and World Grand Prix finalist Jack Lisowski.
Zhou Yuelong isn’t currently in the top 16 in the rankings but he is closing in on that elite list. He is in this quarter as is the man who won one of the Championship League events in 2020 in Luca Brecel. They are both capable of doing some damage this week as is Noppon Saengkham who is also in here. The other three men looking to make names for themselves are Louis Heathcote, the talented Chinese player Pang Junxu and Robbie Williams.
Betting
I was only going to have one bet in the outright market this week but the withdrawal of Higgins in the third quarter means we are almost obliged to attack that section of the draw as well. My original bet was going to be Jack Lisowski, a player who had me banging my head against the wall towards the back end of 2020. That is because I backed him to win the Scottish Open but had to pull out during the event through illness when he was looking good. He then went and made the World Grand Prix final the following week when I wasn’t on him. I’m hoping I’m getting him at a good time here though. Lisowski was made to miss The Masters due to failing a Covid-19 test and I hope he’ll be eager to make up for that here. Lisowski was playing some great stuff towards the end of 2020 and in his interviews there was a suggestion that the penny is beginning to drop with regards to winning things. If he has kept his form, and a positive enough spin in the WST Pro Series shouldn’t have done him any harm in that regard, then he is a leading factor here.
In that third quarter I think we have to jump on the highest ranked player left in it in Tom Ford. Ford is a former quarter finalist of this tournament but I think this setup should suit him even better than the Tempodrom. He hasn’t had the best of seasons to date it has to be said but at the same time he has lost in a couple of deciding frames and to Ding Junhui in another event. Ford faces the Chinese player Yuan Sijun in the first round here but he doesn’t appear to have kicked on as he was expected to a couple of years ago. If Ford wins that he may not run into anyone in the top 50 in the world until the semi-finals. He is much shorter since the Higgins withdrawal but that is perfectly understandable when you look at the draw that is left. I’ll pay to see how he goes here.
Tips
PLACED – Back J.Lisowski to win German Masters (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 13.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back T.Ford to win German Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Sky Bet (1/2 1-2)
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