Masters - 1st Round Discussion

[sealer]

He's been playing on these for years now :P

Not seen him lately, he was out of position by an inch or two on several occasions and it is because he needs the feel back, you cannot get it by playing at home, it clearly was a new cloth, he hasn't been playing on one for some time

[coomsey76]

Not seen him lately, he was out of position by an inch or two on several occasions and it is because he needs the feel back, you cannot get it by playing at home, it clearly was a new cloth, he hasn't been playing on one for some time

He said in the interview after the game that he's been watching/playing Trump lately, so surely he must been practicing down the club a bit......

But yes your right he did run out of position a few times which is very usual for him, maybe just not match sharp because he decided not to play in the last couple of PTCs.....

[FerruleFox]

Both these guys look pretty tight in the first frame.

[Odrl]

I still can't believe I missed the start of the tournament, but better late than never I suppose...

I think we are in for a great week. The crowd was fantastic in the first match. Ok, it was Sunday afternoon, and O'Sullivan was playing, but I have a feeling we might get a decent atmosphere for most of the week. It will also be interesting to see whether some players who traditionally struggle at the Masters play well this time, at the new venue. Or the other way around of course, there are some players who always seemed to play well at Wembley. Let's see what the draw looks like...

Quarter 1:

Ding Junhui v. Ronnie O'Sullivan
Judd Trump v. Stuart Bingham

I guess there is not much point discussing the first match now, other than commenting on O'Sullivan's decent form. His long potting was particularly impressive, while his usual reliability in scoring wasn't really there. He may not be among the very best players in the world at this point in time, but I would still give him every chance in this particular tournament. He had a pretty long run of playing good stuff at the Masters, with almost no nonsense, until last year. It will be interesting to see whether he is back to his best this year. I have a feeling he will be up for it. I was going to say that playing Ding in the 1st round should suit him, and it did turn out that way. On the other hand, his recent record against Trump is not in his favour, so the hard work really starts now...

But let's have a look at Trump first... The Masters has been held in January for the last 7 years, and in this time, 10 of the 12 UK Championship finalists lost in the 1st round of the Masters. And one of the two exceptions was when the two UK finalists played each other in the 1st round in 2008, so one of them had to go through. That's the thing about the Masters, you face another top16 player in the 1st round, so you almost never have it easy. And I suppose the players who do well in the UK Championship are the least likely to practice a lot during the holidays, especially the winner. So you could say the odds are against Trump, but then again, he is not facing the toughest possible opponent here. I am not saying Bingham is not capable of winning here, I think he has more than proved his quality this season, but he is also one of the least experienced players in this particular situation. He will be playing in front of a couple of thousand people, with almost all of them enthusiastically supporting his opponent. But as I said, tradition is against Trump, with him also being the winner of the previous major event. If Trump is not at his best, which I suspect is going to be the case, I think he might still survive the 1st round. I think his problem is going to be O'Sullivan.

Their last two matches were excellent entertainment, with Trump just having that bit more luck and composure towards the end. Wins like that can get under your opponent's skin, and O'Sullivan does have some opponents he struggles against, but I don't think Trump is quite there yet. I do hope this match happens, as the atmosphere would be amazing. As for the winner of this quarter, I was going to suggest O'Sullivan, and I see no reason to change my mind now, after seeing his performance in the 1st round.

Quarter 2:

Neil Robertson v. Mark Allen
Mark Williams v. Stephen Maguire

Four excellent players in the second quarter. Once again we have a UK finalist in Mark Allen, and I will stick with my logic and bet against him here. He played great stuff in the final session of the UK, but it now remains to be seen whether that was his peak form for this part of the season. Neil Robertson is another impressive player this season, especially in the PTC series. He hasn't transformed his good form into a major ranking win yet, but then again, there haven't been that many major events in the first part of the season. Allen and Robertson are both very well suited to this event, with the one table on the big stage, so I am very much looking forward to this clash. They also met last year, with Allen winning on that occasion.

The other match here is the one I'm perhaps most looking forward to. Considering their previous matches, I suppose you have to make Maguire favourite. He was winning against Williams a couple of seasons ago, when Maguire was at the top of his game and Williams was struggling, and he has also had the better of their meetings recently, when Williams is at the top of the rankings and Maguire is struggling. Well, I say "struggling", but Maguire still has regular runs to the business end of tournaments, and of course he also won the last PTC event not so long ago. Williams has been quiet for a while, but I would expect his form from the start of the season to return fairly soon. Perhaps not in this event, as we know Williams usually plays his best overseas, and those events are yet to come.

So, who will go through here? All four players are very capable, but my money would be on another round of the Maguire-Robertson rivalry in the QF. There are certain players Maguire usually plays well against, and Robertson is one of them. We have seen quite a bit of his determined mood recently, and if he can combine it with a bit of form, he could be a contender this week. I don't think Robertson's attitude is questionable, what about his form? He was a semi-finalist in the UK, played quite well for most of the tournament, and he has another major semi from Shanghai. I suppose that's surprising consistency from a player who used to follow a good event with two bad ones. He has not featured at the business end of the Masters before, but he has every chance here. Maguire or Robertson? My guess would probably be Maguire, but I look forward to finding out.

Quarter 3:

Mark Selby v. Stephen Lee
Shaun Murphy v. Martin Gould

The repeat of the 2008 final between Selby and Lee, with Selby being the clear favourite again. He has been one of the best players this season, his Shanghai win being the highlight, but his performance in the UK was disappointing. The Masters has been a great tournament for him in the past, except for last year, so it will be interesting to see if he plays as well as he did at Wembley. Lee could cause him some problems here, as he has been playing consistently well himself, but I would expect a bigger challenge for Selby in the QF.

His opponent there should be Shaun Murphy, but once again, there is a good player standing in his way. Martin Gould has proved himself to be very dangerous over the past two seasons, but I am not sure this tournament will suit him. He has cracked in a couple of big matches recently, and Murphy was a clear winner when they met in the PTC final last season, and also won their match at the UK. If it's between Murphy and Selby, I usually find Selby the more impressive of the two, but Murphy actually has quite a handy record against Selby, at least from the matches I remember. I guess he is the kind of character who doesn't let anything get to him, and also doesn't mind a scrappy match that much. Having said that, Murphy has a poor record in the Masters, so I think Selby is the man to beat here.


Quarter 4:

Allister Carter v. Graeme Dott
John Higgins v. Matthew Stevens

The fourth quarter is perhaps the weakest one, providing the players stick to their mediocre form. First we have a very unimpressive Ali Carter, coming to this event on the back of a very poor season. I think Dott is more reliable, but he hasn't really threatened to win anything himself. I think they are pretty evenly matched if they play their best, but I think Dott is more likely to do that, so I would give him a slight edge here.

Then we have John Higgins, another player with a terrible season behind him. I suppose his poor form can't last forever, but the Masters is arguably his worst event, so I don't expect him to suddenly play his best here. Will he get past Stevens? I think he just might, but to be honest, Stevens doesn't particularly impress me either. He had a marvelous chance to beat Ding at the UK, and he threw it away in his usual style. I just can't make him a favourite against someone like Higgins on the big stage. Someone obviously has to get through here, so who will it be? I guess when all the players are struggling, it's Higgins that's the most reliable, with his undeniably solid B-game. He is so good at scraping through a couple of rounds until he finds some form. I guess you can't really do that at the Masters, with only the best 16 players here, but looking at this quarter again, that's exactly what I see happening.

Possible SF lineup:

Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Stephen Maguire
Mark Selby v. John Higgins


I bet I'm as wrong as usual with these predictions, but one thing not in question is the entertainment we're going to get this week. There are so many great prospects, especially from the QF onwards, and I'm sure I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.

[montoya10]

Some good analysis here, again as usual : )
I might only argue (and sort of, hope) that Stevens will have a shot at beating Higgins in this tournament.

Returning back to the game, a chaotic start so far. Hope MJW finds a way to beat Maguire this time or else he would start considering him a nemesis.
He had some sort of ball run early on. Let's see how it will turn out.

[coomsey76]

I bet that must of hurt Maguire.... This will be a real test for him now!!

[FerruleFox]

I bet that must of hurt Maguire.... This will be a real test for him now!!

Yeah he'd be getting pretty worried now. 4-0 at the interval is a real possibility.

[montoya10]

Then again, he is not playing as good as he should be playing to win. He should have capitalized on that error in frame one, then he threw away a couple of good scoring chances here and there.

Stephen should get better going soon, or this is going to be a tough night for him, if it is not already.

[jim evans]

playing well is mark j

[Odrl]

Well well, looks like my prediction of Maguire getting through won't survive two hours.

Williams is not at his best either, but of course there is every chance he will improve with each match.

Maguire desperately needs the next frame, perhaps two, to have any chance in the match now.

[missneworleans]

WTF happened to Maguire?

[FerruleFox]

I bet I know who's on the practice table right now.

[montoya10]

Maguire pulls one back after the interval. Was a weird one, I'd say.

[SnookerFan]

I watched Ronnie vs Ding live at the Ally Pally today. Not quite sold on the venue yet. But I have three more matches to watch up there, so it may grow on me.

[montoya10]

Poor stuff now after the interval.. Winner will have to improve in the quarter finals, that's a sure thing.