German Masters Review

Ding Junhui wins another title in the season,  and now he has won 10 

Ranking Titles, equaled with the Legend Jimmy White

The Event:

However, the German Masters was an excellent event, but some points needs our attention.

There was 7 tables in the principal arena (Which had a marvelous crowd), but we had another table, which was at a different room, without crowd.

Matches including a last 16 one, was played there, and I think it's a disrespect with the players who played qualifiers and is playing the same event that the others players playing in the principal arena.

Another point to be focused is about sponsors. The event, which had 64 players this time, don't had a sponsor and I heard much about Ronnie, that if he has qualified for this, the event would easily got a sponsorship.

But we need to remember that Ronnie isn't a member of WPBSA and he isn't forced to be in all events.

Apart from it, the crowd was fantastic, and the coverage was very good too, but anyway, far away to be a Big Event.

The Tournament:

Rod Lawler reached to the semi-final beating likes of Mark Davis

Many players is fighting to get a place in the next season or a sponsor for it, and they work hard for events like this, because they have few events with many points on the ranking and a big coverage to play.
And the top players, in the last 3 months played tournaments like International Championship, Champion of Champions, UK Championship and the Masters, so, they are getting a rest for events like China Open, Wuxi Classic, Welsh Open, PTC Final, and the World Championship.
This, and the fact that some top players miss this event, gives many opportunities for that ones who needs a good campaign here.
It's the cause of the loses of Carter, Fu, Bingham, and Allen in the first round, and Selby, Higgins, Neil and Maguire in the last 32 in my opinion.





Quarter Finals:
Guodong 2-5 Day
Perry 2-5 Junhui
Davis 4-5 Lawler
Holt 0-5 Trump

Semi Finals:
Day 5-6 Junhui
Lawler 1-6 Trump

Final:
Judd Trump 5-9 Ding Junhui

Full Draw, click here.

The Finalists:

Judd Trump

Judd Trump is back! Playing at his best, Judd was the best over all the tournament. He made 5 centuries and lost just 4 frames in his 5 matches to reach to the final which included victories of 5-0 against Holt and 5-2 against Murphy.

In the final, Judd was looking better in the match in the first 6 frames to make a 4-2 lead, but he didn't expected a Ding playing fantastic to do a comeback which included a back-to-back centuries. 

Anyway, this was a massive result for Judd get back his motivation.

After the Final, he said: "I'm pleased to have got into a final again and I enjoyed the atmosphere. I hope this is just the start for me. It's the Welsh Open soon and I always enjoy that one, then the World Championship is only a couple of months away."

Ding Junhui

Ding didn't his best to reach to the final, but victories over players like Mark Williams, Joe Perry and a dramatic semi-final against Ryan Day, put Ding who did already 2 centuries, in the final.

Ding started the final like he was playing before at the event, and it surely wasn't going to be enough against Judd, who put himself 4-2 ahead. But Ding started to play awesome and did more than 400 unanswered points over Judd, including a back-to-back century breaks to get up to 8-4, before take it 9-5.

With this one, Ding has won 10 Ranking Events in his career, and he is now equaled with Jimmy White. It was also Ding's 4th Ranking Event of the season, and the last time that it happened was 23 years ago with Stephen Hendry.

After wins, Ding said: "I just hope I can keep this form going for the rest of the season. I am working well in practice. I can't do well in every tournament, I would like to win all of them but it's not possible so I have to decide which ones to play in. I'm not sure yet of my schedule for the rest of the season."

Personally, I loved this event, and loved the coverage. There is always nice events in Germany, with a lovely crowd, and I'm sure the players like it too.

There are also many things to change for the next years, and the problem with sponsors need to be solved for this event happens in the next year again.