The German Masters Feb 4 - 8, 2015

[neuronic]

Maguire through, quite a surprise, I'd say!

[robertmac]

Shame to see Robertson lose.

[Alba_]

Shame to see Robertson lose.

Not for me. Well done Mags

[trains]

Robertson at 69 - 29 with 35 left must have hit a pink when escaping a snooker and let Maguire in to clear up

[Odrl]

That must have been an amazing night of snooker for everyone in the arena. All four matches going 5-4, two of those decided on the final black, the third one had a 147, and the fourth one might have been the best of the lot, a string of big breaks in almost record-breaking time. More of the same tomorrow please. :smile:

[neuronic]

Well, secretly I was hoping for a Masters final rematch, but since that's off schedule now, I'm good with Maguire getting through to the final (hopefully). Have to say I pretty much dislike Selby's approach to snooker the last two or three years or so...

[neuronic]

That must have been an amazing night of snooker for everyone in the arena. All four matches going 5-4, two of those decided on the final black, the third one had a 147, and the fourth one might have been the best of the lot, a string of big breaks in almost record-breaking time. More of the same tomorrow please. :smile:

I was actually considering going there. Should have... :upset:

[Odrl]

So, after that "historic" day yesterday, we are finally down to one table, so we will be able to enjoy all of the snooker still to be played.

The four players I predicted to win yesterday all came within a frame of winning by the exact scoreline I predicted, but they all lost that frame, and they all ended up losing the match as well. So let's see who I can jinx today... :smile:

Shaun Murphy v. Liang Wenbo: It's amazing, we have reached the semi-finals stage and Liang has not been on TV at all so far, I don't remember that ever happening in the time I've been watching snooker. Even Stuart Pettman was on TV when he got to the semi-finals of the 2009 China Open. :smile: So, in a way, Liang is the mystery here. This is only the second major semi-final of his career and the first since the 2009 Shanghai Masters. I don't think many people thought it would take him five and a half years to reach another one, I certainly didn't, because he was playing some really good snooker for two seasons, and it looked like he was going to establish himself as a top16 player at the time. It was surprising to see him struggling so badly in the following years, but there were good signs last season, with that quarter-final in the International Championship and a PTC title. At his best Liang is a great potter and a very reliable breakbuilder, but he doesn't necessarily play as quickly as most players who share those attributes. He made five breaks over 50 yesterday, and a few more in his previous matches, so it looks like he has found his scoring form again, although I'm not sure it's quite one-visit stuff. He came back from 4-1 down to beat O'Sullivan 6-4 in a match last season, but other than that, he isn't really known for comebacks or great play under pressure. He either plays well and gets involved in the match, or he struggles for most of it, so I think we will see quite quickly whether he has a shot of winning this. :smile:

Murphy is the favourite of course, the established name and proven winner, not to mention the reigning Masters champion. It's incredible that he is still here really, he needed a snooker to stay in the match against Allen, and last night O'Sullivan had a very potable frame and match ball against him, but Murphy somehow came back to win it on the black. When players survive matches like that, everything they get from that point seems like a bonus to them, so they often play like they have nothing to lose anymore. Murphy with that sort of mindset is a tough man to beat. I also liked his post-match comments yesterday, he finally accepted that his failures against O'Sullivan in the past were his own fault, but he said he was a different man now, and his results seem to agree with him. To draw a comparison with Liang, Murphy too had to wait five and a half years between major successes, between his 2008 UK title and his World Open title last season, but now that he has added the Masters as well we can say he is truly back, as strong as ever. He basically plays the same game as Liang, but most of the time he plays it better, so I'm sure he will fancy his chances.

Having said that, the head-to-head is a little surprising here. This is of course a repeat of that semi-final in the 2009 Shanghai Masters, a match Liang won 6-5, and as I remember Murphy took that defeat pretty hard and was quite upset after the match. Their matches since then have all been best-of-7s, three in PTCs and one in the Welsh Open, and again it's Liang with the better record, winning three of the four. I think there is not really enough history to start talking about bogey players and stuff like that, but it's an interesting stat, and it makes me optimistic that we will see a close match. I'll go with Murphy to win 6-5.

It starts in 8 minutes if I'm not mistaken, so perhaps a few words about the other match a little later. :wink:

[P.Smith]

I would love for Liang to get to the final but Shaun is playing too well atm, I predict 5-2 to Murphy.

[Alba_]

I'm so looking forward to this snooker today. One table set up now so we will not miss a ball. I was surprised to see Liang has such a good record verses Smurphy. I hope we get a close match so it lasts longer and then there is the other match later i can't wait for.

[Catch 22]

Right lads , don't you realise that some of us are at work, and have the snooker set to record ?

I get TSF at work, but even avoiding going into the German Masters thread, I see the first line in the "what's new" listing.

If you could all fill up the first line of any post with non related guff, like for example :-

"===================================="


or similar, then I won't inadvertantly see anyresults / news . .

Click on "new posts" instead of "whats new " thats what i do and dont get any spoilers

[Odrl]

Lovely 141 from Murphy. It's a slightly longer match here, so not quite the time to panic yet at 2-0, but Liang could do with winning the next frame. :smile:

[Odrl]

Poor result for Liang really. As well as Murphy has played, he did leave Liang in the balls with an easy chance in two of the frames, but Liang played himself out of position at the wrong time...

[Odrl]

That's better from Liang. That break could have ended very early, but he got a couple of good recovery pots to keep it going and got to 90 in the end. He could have been 3-1 up himself, but that's all gone now. Hopefully he can continue the comeback after the interval. :smile:

[cueman]

Interesting chat from Ronnie there about the difference between the TV table and the outside table. Saying the advantage Murphy has playing all his matches yesterday and now today on the main TV table, whereas Liang hasn't played a single minute on the TV table. Just shows you that even though people claim that the tables all play the same at this level they don't and it can take a pro even as good as Ronnie 2 or 3 frames to find the speed and it affects your timing of the ball.

As they said in the studio, surely they should allow a player that has not played on the TV table at least 15 minutes practice just to get used to the lighting and pace.