One-Way Traffic! European Masters Final 2020 – Shorts Thoughts

The recently created European Series introduces a new ranking event hosted in Dornbirn, Austria. The German Masters, Shootout and Gibraltar Open welcome the European Masters into its circle of events and similarly to the Coral Cup series, a £150,000 bonus is available to the player that performs best throughout these tournaments. Let’s observe how the first European Masters final played out.

Breakdown

This should be easy, yet it’s a surprisingly difficult match to break down because of how one-sided it turned out. Neil Robertson was always going to be the favourite in this contest against 22 y/o, first time finalist, Zhou Yuelong but it’s safe to say most did not expect this sort of result.

Yuelong had his chances; particularly in the first couple of frames since this was before Robertson started scoring. It was quite a cagey start in which Yuelong almost capitalised and stole Frame 1 but the blue being on the left cushion turned out to be his downfall as he couldn’t play safe enough. Robertson then contributed 57 to Frame 2 (after Yuelong faltered at 44) to extend his lead.

This is when Robertson started to fire on all cylinders as he made breaks of 99, 128, 82 and 109. The frames where he was not scoring as high, he was still playing top level safety, which Yuelong just couldn’t compete with. The difference between the two players on Sunday were night and day.

Robertson gifted Yuelong multiple chances in the final frame to get himself into the match unfortunately, nothing was happening for the young prodigy. Robertson’s terrific long potting and stellar safety saw him through the rest of the match as he closed out only the second whitewash victory in a ranking event since 1989.

Afterthoughts

It’s a shame that Yuelong wasn’t able to turn up in his first ranking final but I don’t think it will affect him as much as most will expect. He will likely have a long-term picture in mind and consider this the first final of many. He will now know the calibre of opposition to expect going into future finals as his opponent was performing in all areas on the day. A significant amount of Yuelong’s lost frames came from poor safeties which Robertson cleared from; showing the importance of tight safety play and ensuring you’re not knocking a red loose when playing a return-to-baulk shot.

Yuelong beat the likes of Williams, Hawkins and Wilson in order to make this final; including a late decider against Wilson the night before the final. Lack of recovery time may have contributed to his performance on Sunday as Yuelong seemed quite resigned after Frame 5. He wasn’t getting any run-of-the-ball, had a few unfortunate in-offs and no rhythm whatsoever. And it certainly didn’t help how well Robertson was playing. He had some crowd support as they tried to urge him back into the match, particularly in the last frame as Yuelong made an impressive black using the extended spider, but at that point it seemed only a matter of time.

On the other hand, Robertson will be relieved to have his first ranking title of the season. This is his second tournament win on top of the Champion of Champions which takes him to a total 17 career ranking titles. Robertson takes home £80,000 for his performance and places him in a comfortable position to win the bonus up for grabs in the European Series.

I think more than the win, Robertson will be pleased with how he performed in the final. Despite his opponent not having a particularly good day at the office, Robertson still played as if he were against a Top 8 player. His long potting was on point and his safety was just as terrific. It’s the kind of form one wishes they could bring out all the time as Robertson starts his 2020 with flying colours.

What did you think of the first European Masters? Are we now moving into an era of snooker where all ranking events will be grouped as part of a ‘series’ to increase its marketability?

Are Best-Of-7 Matches Too Short?

It’s an age old question which still rings true to this day but is there something to say about the length of these matches? It’s a format which populates a vast majority of the tournaments in a season but is it something that should be altered or does it have a place in the game?

These short format ‘sprints’ came to the scene mainly after Barry Hearn took over the commercial arm of snooker. These shorter format matches are effectively what can allow all of these tournaments to take place and in such a tightly packed schedule.

The main criticism that come with these matches are that it doesn’t give enough time for a player to get into the game. Combined with the flat-128 draw that is associated with a lot of these tournaments can result in some shocking early round results, more often than not.

Also, a first-to-4 may not show the true representation of what could happen in a match, as compared to a first-to-6. Kyren Wilson was on the receiving end of a couple of these; most notably when he was 5-1 up against O’Sullivan in the Shanghai Masters and 4-1 up against Un-Nooh in the World Open, yet he still lost to both these competitors in the best-of-11 format. If it were a best-of-7, it would have resulted in dominant victories for Wilson, but the complexion of the match was significantly changed as it was a best-of-11. The best-of-11 is what seems to be the reasonable compromise for the early rounds of these events.

Another common issue is the playing conditions that come with these shorter style matches. As these matches often occur in qualifying rounds which all players are required to go through, this is something that should be looked at. Considering the money available to snooker is increasing as time progresses, some should trickle back down to improving these conditions for the players.

This shorter format will better suit certain players as opposed to a longer, drawn out tournament. But many say that a player isn’t really tested until they battle it out over a considerable number of frames. I think for certain tournaments it might be suitable, such as quick, non-ranking events like the Paul Hunter Classic, in which the final is contested in a best-of-7. A general guide could be the higher the prize money for an event, the more frames that should be contested.

I think best-of-7’s are okay for qualifying rounds for tournaments but once most of these tournaments commence, a best-of-11 is a better early round format. At the time of writing, the Champion of Champions is taking place which involves 16 of the top winners starting with a best-of-7. When dealing with the higher level players, this should be changed to a best-of-11 because I think it would provide a better match.

Masters Final 2020 – Shorts Thoughts

It’s the first major of the decade involving a player who’s been trying to add to his biggest win since 2015 and a player who wasn’t even supposed to be in this tournament. In a final that most wouldn’t have anticipated, Stuart Bingham (14) came face-to-face against Ali Carter (17); which saw a contest that turned out to be pretty good, for the most part.

Breakdown

The opening mid-session was shared between the two players, although they both would have been disappointed that they didn’t gain a 3-1 lead. This included a 126 from Carter in Frame 1 and a 47, then 75 from Bingham in Frame 2. The last couple of frames didn’t follow the same pattern as the first two. Carter gets his last frame of the afternoon session with a 93 after Bingham missed to the left and right centre pockets in Frame 5.

Bingham made a 66 break to go 70-1 up in Frame 6 but could have saved himself some significant time and mental anguish if he was able to pot one more red. He allowed Carter to come close to stealing the frame with a couple fouls and free balls but Carter couldn’t hold position to clear the colours. Bingham eventually won on the black. Breaks of 50 then 46 pushed Bingham forward in Frame 7 and some fortunate aid from ball-run helped him establish a 5-3 lead.

Carter responded well in the commencement of the evening session as he swept the first four frames to develop a 7-5 lead. This consisted of a 95 and 133 in the latter frames but the first two frames of the evening took some time to win. The sharp centre pockets struck again as both players missed to the right in Frame 13 however, Bingham was able to make a break of 64 to get his first frame of the night.

Whatever happened to Bingham during the interval (which according to him comprised of a cup of coffee and a Mars bar) clearly had a significant impact as he continued his run with breaks of 85 and 58 in Frames 14 and 15, despite Carter being in first in the latter. An 88 from Bingham extended his lead to 9-7 but a twitch with the rest cost him the next frame as Carter stuck behind him with a 77. However, the 2015 world champion was able to shake it off as he won with a terrific 109 to close out this year’s Masters.

Afterthoughts

For someone who wasn’t originally scheduled to participate in this event, Carter had one incredible run to the final. This included victories over Masters Alumni, Selby, Higgins and Murphy. This freedom is likely what enabled him to perform as well as he did and like a Top 8 player. His scrappy, yet aggressive playstyle was effective throughout the week as he displayed why he belongs in the Masters. This approach would suit well when it comes to the World Championship so it’ll be interesting to see what happens to Carter’s form between now and then.

However, the Masters now has a new named etched into its history as Bingham becomes the 24th player to win this prestigious Triple Crown. He now completes Part 2 of his Triple Crown venture as he seeks a UK title to get a golden crown emblem on his waistcoat.

Despite his world title in 2015 and most people trying to write him off as one of those ‘shock’ champions, Bingham has had relative success since then (3 ranking titles), particularly at the Opens where he seems to perform fairly well. Bingham thoroughly enjoyed his time at the Masters this week as he got the crowd involved and showed how much progressing in each match meant to him. His record isn’t the best here but he was able to put that behind him with the best result he could ask for and 250 big ones.

The Masters final provided a dramatic contest which made the seemingly lacklustre week building towards it more worthwhile. There weren’t many top seeds or centuries but the little additions to the venue and overall atmosphere of Alexandra Palace/Masters were welcome changes. The sofas are a nice seating option to have but I’m still uncertain about the century club given the viewing distance from the table. Nevertheless, the fact that small changes are being made to make each event feel a little more unique, particularly the Triple Crowns, is a step in the right direction from World Snooker. Sorry, WST. Still need to get used to that.

How Competitive is Snooker Right Now?

This week’s Masters has seen a significant number of its higher seeds defeated in their first round matches where, despite being highly ranked, they are beaten by those considered underdogs in comparison. Previously, it could be fairly accurately determined as to which player would win in a head-to-head but nowadays given how high the standard has become, it’s not so simple anymore.

When Shaun Murphy triumphed over Judd Trump in their Round 1 match this past week, he says the reason that he and others like Perry and Gilbert succeeded in their respective matches was due to how close the gap between rankings have become. Murphy was stating that the difference in skillset and match-play between ranks 1-16, and even beyond have become far slimmer.

This makes it very difficult to predict a winner in any given contest. Looking at Perry vs Ding; based on their head-to-head, rankings and Ding’s recent success, it would seem like one-way traffic. But nowadays, you can’t write off any competitor because shock results can happen at any time. Gilbert, who was the underdog in his match against Allen performed as if there was a role reversal – in his Masters debut! Perhaps this is something that has happened because it is the Masters where the standard is higher than any other tournament; but it’s not just limited to this event.

That’s why the next few years in snooker will be really interesting. Despite his recent minor dry spell, Trump has done very well to dominate in this season thus far. But with the number of tournaments there are, a number which seems to be increasing, is why we probably won’t see one particular face going forward like a Hendry or Davis. Where a player could probably begin a tournament with a couple of easy rounds to cruise through, there’s a high chance that some top seeds can crash out in a best-of-7 straight from the offset.

O’Sullivan also mentioned in an interview after Murphy’s win about the closeness in rankings where there aren’t necessarily any players anymore that are significantly better than the rest. Any player can beat a top seed on any day. He eluded that Hendry was able to get away with this because he was miles ahead of everyone else in the 90s so he could afford to play at 50% and cruise ahead. However, this isn’t something any player could get away with now because anyone, including those at the very top can be toppled. And things will only get more competitive and the gap will continue to close as time goes on.