The latest tournament of the snooker season begins on Wednesday when the 32 men who made it through the qualifiers head to the Tempodrom in Berlin for the German Masters, one of the most popular tournaments on the circuit.
There were some really big names who failed to make it through the qualifiers prior to Christmas including Neil Robertson, John Higgins and Ding Junhui. The latter probably wasn’t much of a surprise but the former two have been the men of the season so their demise was certainly unexpected. Ronnie O’Sullivan was another surprise casualty from the Wigan qualifiers.
That leaves the door open for someone else to make a name for themselves in this campaign with the likes of Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Stuart Bingham and Shaun Murphy all looking to add another major title to their CV. Selby arrives in Berlin as the defending champion which should boost his confidence.
Selby is the number one seed but his quarter avoided most of the shocks and as such the Jester could run into Stephen Maguire as early as the second round which isn’t ideal. A quarter final against Masters finalist Barry Hawkins could be another all too early stumbling block.
Were he to get through all of that he could be on a collision course with Judd Trump in the semi-finals so if Selby is to retain his title he is going to have to do it the hard way it has to be said.
The reverse can be said of Judd Trump. He faces a really tough opener against Ali Carter. If he comes through that he should make it into the quarter finals but Mark Williams or Shaun Murphy could be waiting there before a potential last four match with Mark Selby so I’m reluctant to back Trump too.
In fact with the number of big names in that top half still and the half as a whole looking like a mini tournament in itself I’m going to skip that section from an outright point of view and hit the bottom half where the big names disappeared in qualifying leaving a much more open looking part of the draw.
Neil Robertson was meant to be the headline name in the third quarter but he disappeared early leaving Marco Fu and Mark Allen the main men after O’Sullivan also disappeared from this quarter.
Mark Allen is enjoying another fine season but I’m going to plump for Marco Fu here. We needn’t take much notice of Fu’s performance in The Masters. It looked like he escaped from his sick bed just minutes before his match with Neil Robertson and was never at the races.
Prior to The Masters, Fu finished 2015 well. He was a quarter finalist in the International Championship where he lost on a deciding frame. He then won an exhibition event in Hong Kong and a European Tour event either side of a run to the quarter final of the UK Championship where again he lost in a deciding frame.
Fu is clearly in good form and he tends to play well here too. He has only made the final stages twice and he has been a semi-finalist and a runner up so this time of year and this venue in particular inspires him and at 18/1 he looks a solid punt here.
In the bottom quarter both Ding Junhui and John Higgins have already gone and on seedings Stuart Bingham will be the main beneficiary of that but I’m not convinced Bingham is a certainty to come through this section. Anything but a certainty in current form I would say despite his run in The Masters where he didn’t really impress me despite making the semis.
Liang Wenbo might have something to say in this section. He will be full of confidence after how he played in the UK Championship and The Masters and a case is pretty easy to be made for him apart from his inconsistency and his sometimes too aggressive approach.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Wenbo made the quarter finals but at a slightly bigger price Kyren Wilson could be the one to be on here. This half of the draw will have to play two matches on the same day at some point in the tournament and the quicker you can get through the better and Wilson looks to have a smooth route to the quarter finals.
We know Wilson has the game to come through tough draws having done it when he won the Shanghai Masters earlier in the season. I really like his solid all round game and in a tournament of this kind that could take him a long way especially with the potters he’ll be up against in the quarters.
There has been no sign of Wilson resting on his laurels since he won in Shanghai so at 40/1 he’s worth a little dabble this week too.
Back M.Fu to win German Masters (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with Ladbrokes
Back K.Wilson to win German Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Betfred
