The Masters in one of snooker’s triple crown showpiece events but this year’s tournament feels so much different due to the current situation in the world.
Instead of the iconic Alexandra Palace this year’s event will be held at the COVID-19 secure snooker bubble known as the Marshall arena in Milton Keynes.
Tournament drama started before a single was potted with the reigning World number 1 and former Masters champion Judd Trump having to be taken out of the main draw due to testing positive for coronavirus along with his stablemate Jack Lisowski who also tested positive so in come reserves Joe Perry and Gary Wilson.
Last 16 Draw
Stuart Bingham (1) vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (16)
Shaun Murphy (8) vs Mark Williams (14)
Mark Selby (5) vs Stephen Maguire (9)
Neil Robertson (5) vs Yan Bingtao (12)
Joe Perry 2-6 David Gilbert
Kyren Wilson 6-2 Gary Wilson
John Higgins (7) vs Mark Allen (10)
Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) vs Ding Junhui (11)
The tournament kicked off with a battle of the Wilson’s as Kyren Wilson faced Tyneside potter Gary Wilson. The man from Tyneside has been struggling on and off the table and any weakness in your game will be ruthlessly exposed by the man known as the “Warrior” and in true fashion Kyren powered to a 6-2 victory aided by breaks of 65 83 108 and 136 and will now face of tonight’s other last 16 clash between David Gilbert and Joe Perry.
Kyren’s victory wasn’t without drama as a series of straightforward misses from Gary made the scoreline a lot more convincing than the match actually was. Trailing 3-2 Gary should have definitely levelled the match after making an excellent break of 51 only to miss a routine black off the spot and in the process lose control of that frame and ultimately the match. Gary is a very likeable guy and we at however you like to break hope he can overcome his recent struggles and get back to playing well in the near future, As for Kyren he continues to put in consistently strong performances and will no doubt lift a triple crown event in the near future.
David Gilbert faced Joe Perry in this evening’s match.
Gilbert was at a certain advantage going into tonight’s match because as a very late reserve for the tournament Joe Perry looked like a man that had been relaxing over the Christmas and New year period as most players do and with very little time to prepare for this event it was evident in the early exchanges as Gilbert raced into a 4-0 interval lead due to some excellent break building and a string of unforced errors by Perry.
After the interval Perry continued to struggle and despite having the first good chance in frame 5 he could only muster a break of 19 and Gilbert swooped in with a majestic break of 71 to move within one frame of victory. In frame 6 Perry finally came to life with an excellent break of 73 and in the process avoided the dreaded whitewash. In frame 7 Perry started to shake off the rust and stroked in a magnificent century break to cut the deficit to 5-2.Frame 8 proved to be the final frame of the match as Perry missed a mid range red and left the balls at Gilbert’s mercy and he swooped in to make a match winning break of 54 to book his place in the quarter finals.
