The ever popular World Masters Snooker tournament gets underway at Wembley Arena on January 9th boasting, as it usually does a hugely competitive field, with the best 16 players in the world all going for the top prize. The tournament is played on a knock out basis with all rounds up until the final played over a maximum of eleven frames; the final is the best of nineteen frames.
The ‘Masters’ in terms of prestige is the second biggest tournament in the world, only bettered by the World Championship itself, however it is not a ranking event and is still competed by All the greats of the game have won it, but it is Stephen Hendry who holds the record amount of wins with six, the last of those wins coming way back in 1993, but he has still not missed a tournament since first winning it in 1989. Hendry has also finished runner up three times, the last time being in 2003 when he was beaten by Mark Williams.
The favourite to win in 2011 according to the bookmakers snooker betting is of course Ronnie O’Sullivan, himself a four time winner of the tournament and who has appeared in six of the last seven finals. The last two of those finals he met Mark Selby, losing 9-10 last year after losing a big lead. He had beaten Selby by 10-8 in 2009 and had also beaten Ding Junhui in 2007 (10-3), John Higgins in 2005 (10-3) and Higgins again back in 1995 (9-3). O’Sullivan however is completely ‘out of sorts’ this season and is set to plummet in the rankings. He is having one of those periods in his life when he is out of sorts with his game as well as snooker generally and does not look a player likely to land the odds this time around!
Defending champion Selby has become a major tour de force at the ‘Masters’ reaching the last three finals, winning it twice and has been in good form recently to suggest that another final is well within his grasp.
The opening round of matches has produced some excellent looking encounters, the pick of them probably being the O’Sullivan v Mark Allen, Higgins v Graeme Dott and Williams v Junhui matches. After the first round the Masters will become ‘white hot’ with anticipation with so many top matches likely, the quarter final draw in fact should look something like this:
Mark Selby v Shaun Murphy
Mark Williams v John Higgins
Ali Carter v Stephen Maguire
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Neil Robertson
World champion, Neil Robertson will be hoping for a much stronger performance this year, the Australian has only ever won one match at the Masters in the past, which came in 2007. He has suffered the ignominy of being dumped in the first round on each of his last three appearances, most notably by Hendry in 2009 who he faces once again in his opener this year!
With the possible exceptions of Hendry, Mark King, Peter Ebdon and Jamie Cope, this is a tournament that could see any one of the players take the top prize. Everything depends on the form of the player on the day and that player’s ability to remain consistent. Until the final each match is the best of 11 frames which means that those who get off to quick starts will have a
decided advantage. It is interesting to note that of the fourteen matches played over 11 frames last year, only two went all the way, underlining the point that a good start usually carries its rewards.
John Higgins of course comes into the tournament in good form, having won the UK Championship following an epic final against Mark Williams. To win however, Higgins will have to overcome compatriot, Graeme Dott in the opening round before possibly facing Williams in the next round, which by any standards that is a tough opening two matches. However, the player still standing after the two opening rounds from those three will have a great chance, but whoever it is will likely have to face Selby in the Semi Final.
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