2012 German Masters at Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany - Preview
Second episode of 2012 German Masters is underway at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany, where top potters from around the world have gathered to prove their mettle. The world’s top-16 are drawn in the first round and eight of them will play the wild card
entrants. The main draw is being headed by defending champion, Wales’ Mark Williams who defeated England’s Mark Selby 9-7 in last year’s final.
This year, the battle will be quite thrilling as the Round of 32 draw is filled with champions who have performed well in the current season. The defending champion has to pull up his socks to swallow the snooker genius of many new snooker champions like
Stuart Bingham because he might have a potential second-round match with the Englishman.
Williams will be facing Ken Doherty in the first round. The odds are certainly favouring the Welshman because his performance in the current season has been convincing. The 2011 Australian Goldfields Open champion, England’s Stuart Bingham will face the
former World Snooker Champion, Peter Ebdon in his opening match.
Predictions:
Williams beats Ken Doherty, while Bingham beats Ebdon to set up a clash against Williams.
Stephen Lee beats Andrew Gunnell and sets up second-round clash with Ding Junhui who ousts Yu Delu.
Another interesting match in the first quarter of the German Masters draw is going to be the one between two Chinese, Ding Junhui and Yu Delu. Both potters have played each other before in the Hainan Classic last year where unexpectedly, Delu defeated Junhui
with a 2-0 score line in the round-robin competition.
The second quarter of the tournament draw also has some thrilling encounters. England’s Ali Carter is heading the second quarter with his initial-round clash against compatriot Joe Perry where Carter has an experience advantage over Perry.
The Rocket, Ronnie O’Sullivan is drawn against Andrew Higginson in the Round 1 scheduled matches. The pair has never played against each other but O’Sullivan would have a psychological advantage over his opponent because of his experience and match winning
ratio in the current season. The Rocket has a winning ratio of 79.1 per cent as compared to Higginson’s 70.2 per cent.
The former Premier League Snooker winner, Wales’ Matthew Stevens will be up against the wild card entrant, Craig Steadman in the first round, while the 2012 Masters Champion, Australia’s Neil Robertson is going to play Marcus Campbell of Scotland.
The Stevens-Steadman encounter should go in the Welshman’s favour because he has been playing at the baize quite convincingly from the start of the current season. The Aussie-Scottish clash will be interesting to watch because both of them have played against
each other before in the 2011 Snooker Shootout event where Campbell was victorious by 57-49.
Predictions:
Ali Carter defeats Joe Perry while Ronnie O’Sullivan beats Andrew Higginson to play Carter in Round 2.
Matthew Stevens and Neil Robertson beat Craig Steadman and Marcus Campbell respectively, to set up a second-round clash.
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