Following a surprisingly long break from ranking event snooker as outlined here, tomorrow sees the resumption of the 2014 German Masters, with the last 64 getting underway at the popular Tempodrome venue in Berlin…
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This week sees the fourth staging of the German Masters in its current ranking event guise, the venue stages again taking place over a five day period at the Tempodrome venue in Berlin.
Viewers of the tournament will be familiar with its open plan layout, with five tables in the main arena, but this year with 64 players to accommodate this has been increased to seven, with an eighth table in a smaller arena.
With 24 matches scheduled for the opening two days and matches to be played over the best of nine frames up until the semi-finals, it promises to be a hectic opening to the tournament, with some players sure to face two matches in one day. While I am not a huge fan of the condensed format, I understand that due to popular demand, the venue has in previously years been unavailable for longer than five days, which is presumably still the case.
Still though, with the hugely enthusiastic and knowledgeable snooker fans in Germany, no doubt there will be a sell-out crowd to generate an excellent atmosphere for the event, with even more watching back home on Eurosport.
So who will they be watching in Berlin?
Following the qualifying (or last 128) round which took place in Barnsley back in December, most of the top ranked players remain safely in the draw, with just Ricky Walden and Robert Milkins among the top 16 losers, in addition to 2012 champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
While snooker tournaments are notoriously difficult to predict these days, one would expect the winner to most likely come from one of the usual suspects, namely Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Ding Junhui, or perhaps Stephen Maguire, John Higgins, Marco Fu or Stuart Bingham, all among those capable of taking home the trophy.
Looking at the draw, UK Championship finalists Robertson and Selby have again been kept apart, in opposite halves, though Selby in particular has found himself in a difficult looking second quarter with the likes of Mark Allen, John Higgins, Mark Williams and Ding Junhui among those present.
In the third quarter, Robertson’s toughest opposition before the last four could come in the form of a former German Masters runner-up, with 2012 finalist Stephen Maguire and last season’s runner-up Marco Fu present, while former world champion Graeme Dott’s form has been steadily improving for some time now.
It is the top and bottom halves that perhaps stand out as being the most open, with defending champion Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham and Barry Hawkins heading up the first quarter, while Judd Trump looks to arrest a difficult run of results in ranking events with a strong run in Germany.
Away from the top names, those further down the rankings will be hoping to secure potentially vital victories, with tour places and Crucible seedings to fight for between now and the end of the season, while others will also be looking to make a name for themselves, in a way similar to players like Xiao Guodong and Aditya Mehta earlier in the campaign, both ranking event finalists of course.
As ever, the action will be screened extensively on Eurosport and the usual livestreams, with updates to come here at PSB each night, as well as the usual rankings updates…
Predictions:
SF: Ding def Hawkins, Robertson def Trump
F: Ding def Robertson