2019 Shanghai Masters, 9th-15th September - Eurosport

Frank O. Pinion · 02-09-2019 11:35pm #1

One of the more lucrative events on the tour starts next week, with a top prize of £200,000 and a Champion of Champions place. Runner-up gets £100,000. This is its second year as a non-ranking event, but with higher prize money than ever before, it looks to standout on the tour as a major invitational. Ronnie O'Sullivan is the two-time defending champion, having defeated Judd Trump 10-3 in 2017, and Barry Hawkins 11-9 last year, when the finale was upped to a best-of-21.

Players ranked #1-#8 on the World Rankings get a bye into round 2, players ranked #9-#16 get drawn against the next 4 highest ranked players outside the Top 16 of Chinese origin, two players from the CBSA under-21 rankings, and two from China's Amateur Masters series.

Round of 16:

#1 Ronnie O'Sullivan (defending champion) v #16 Ali Carter/Chinese Wildcard
#8 Kyren Wilson v #15 Stephen Maguire/#24 Xiao Guodong
#5 John Higgins v #10 Barry Hawkins/#18 Yan Bingtao
#4 Neil Robertson v #9 Ding Junhui/Chinese Wildcard
#3 Mark Williams v #14 Shaun Murphy/#27 Lyu Haotian
#6 Mark Selby v #11 Jack Lisowski/Chinese Wildcard
#7 Mark Allen v #13 Stuart Bingham/#34 Liang Wenbo
#2 Judd Trump v #12 David Gilbert/Chinese Wildcard

Best-of-11s until the semis which are best-of-19s, finale is a best-of-21.

Inviere · 03-09-2019 3:47pm

Nice, looking forward to this. I presume coverage is stupid o'clock for us here given the venue?

Frank O. Pinion · 03-09-2019 10:18pm

LIVE coverage is 2:30am-6pm, on the Eurosport Player streams (two different table streams, no commentary). Coverage on Eurosport2 (with commentary) is 5:30am-11am and 12pm-5pm. Highlights at 9pm and again at 11pm, on Eurosport2.

Frank O. Pinion · 09-09-2019 7:37am

The four amateur Chinese wildcards are, Zhang Yi, Zhao Jianbo, Wu Yize, and Cao Jin.

Wu Yize lost this morning to Jack Lisowski, 6-1. Shaun Murphy also defeated Lyu Haotian, by the same score. I'm currently watching Hawkins/Bingtao, which just started on EuroSport2.

zuutroy · 09-09-2019 11:46am

Carter lost to Zhang Yi, so no first meeting since the altercation for Ronnie and Carter. Ronnie however is facing an amateur again. That didn't go well in April. That match is on during the one part of the week I can't possibly watch it

Frank O. Pinion · 09-09-2019 4:00pm

Shanghai Masters Preview article: http://www.snookerbacker.com/2019/09/08/shanghai-masters-preview-3/

Ronnie making Chinese Tea with Xiao Guodong:

zuutroy wrote: »

Carter lost to Zhang Yi, so no first meeting since the altercation for Ronnie and Carter.

6-3 to Yi, so it wasn't even close for Carter. We continue to wait for the "shoulder barge rematch". Zhang Yi qualified for this tournament by winning the "Shanghai Amateur Masters" at the weekend, a Six-Red tournament, which came with a training session with O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui as part of the prize.

Hawkins/Bingtao was a great back and forth match, that Hawkins won 6-5, needing the final black in the decider.

Beside making tea with Ronnie, Guodong beat Maguire 6-2 today, who was probably still hungover from celebrating his World Six-Red win on Saturday, along with his biggest ever Snooker paycheque.

Ding Junhui defeated 16 year old amateur, Zhao Jianbo, also 6-2.

Tomorrow's matches:

2:30am
Stuart Bingham v Liang Wenbo
David Gilbert v Cao Jin (amateur)

7:30am
Mark Williams v Shaun Murphy
Mark Selby v Jack Lisowski

12:30pm
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Zhang Yi (amateur)
Kyren Wilson v Xiao Guodong

zuutroy · 10-09-2019 10:47am

Selby out 6-3 to Lisowski. Murphy and Williams in a decider. Hope I can get back in front of a screen for a bit of Ronnie's match.

The Nal · 10-09-2019 1:17pm

Great win for Murphy. Starting to look a bit better.

Ronnie very comfortable here.

The Nal · 10-09-2019 1:44pm

Century 1010 from Ronnie

Edit: 2 in a row. 136, 132 total clearances. Now 1011 centuries. 6 nil all over.

Frank O. Pinion · 10-09-2019 3:07pm

Mark Selby continues to struggle, he'll go into the China Championship later this month as defending champion, but it marks a full year since he last won any event.

Earlier today, Wenbo beat Bingham 6-4, and Gilbert beat the last Chinese amateur, Cao Jin, 6-0.

Ronnie won another best-of-11 in about an hour. I don't see Wilson/Guodong (currently 3-3) giving him much trouble, so he should at least make the semis. He seems to love Shanghai and this event.

Tomorrow's matches:

7am
Mark Allen v Liang Wenbo
Judd Trump v David Gilbert

12:30pm
John Higgins v Barry Hawkins
Neil Robertson v Ding Junhui

I'd love for Gilbert or Wenbo from the bottom half to make the final, preferably against O'Sullivan.

Inviere · 10-09-2019 4:03pm

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

but it marks a full year since he last won any event.

That's just unreal. He was a machine not that long ago, but seems to have lost his mojo big time. What's going on with him?

Frank O. Pinion · 10-09-2019 5:19pm

Inviere wrote: »

What's going on with him?

It's definitely weird that with all the tournaments nowadays, he hasn't been able to win something. I haven't read anything changing in his personal life, like Ding Junhui or Shaun Murphy that could explain his form. If he doesn't win one of the next three events (China Championship, English Open, or World Open), it'll be the first year he doesn't qualify for the Champion of Champions, which is crazy, because for six years in a row (2013-2018), he had multiple qualification tournament wins for the event.

Frank O. Pinion · 11-09-2019 5:43pm

Tomorrow's Quarter-Finals:

7am
Barry Hawkins v Neil Robertson
Mark Allen v Judd Trump

12:30pm
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Kyren Wilson
Shaun Murphy v Jack Lisowski

Great line-up, with five of the Top 8 in the world.

zuutroy · 12-09-2019 10:43am

So Trump's win streak ends at 13. Robbo looking the man to beat this week.

Slippin Jimmy · 12-09-2019 1:42pm

Wilson is looking like he could knock Ronnie out in this match.

zuutroy · 12-09-2019 1:43pm

Slippin Jimmy wrote: »

Wilson is looking like he could knock Ronnie out in this match.

Not having to do much. O'Sullivan's safety is brutal.

Slippin Jimmy · 12-09-2019 2:12pm

zuutroy wrote: »

Not having to do much. O'Sullivan's safety is brutal.

Yeah it is very poor. At least he's trying to claw back frames as opposed to years gone by.

Slippin Jimmy · 12-09-2019 3:21pm

Ronnie is missing some easy shots. Wilson cue control is all over the place. Last few frames have been very scrappy from both players.

zuutroy · 12-09-2019 4:03pm

Great comeback. Wilson really bottled it though.

Slippin Jimmy · 12-09-2019 4:08pm

Absolutely. How did O'Sullivan go in off on the black? Very lucky to have won that imo.

Joe_ Public · 12-09-2019 6:18pm

zuutroy wrote: »

Great comeback. Wilson really bottled it though.

I'm afraid your right. Wilson had 4-5 first rate chances to close that match out that i saw, including at 5-2 ahead, utterly bottled it, there's no other explanation. Should have beaten O'Sullivan in champion of champions final last season too, thats two against him that have got away.

Frank O. Pinion · 13-09-2019 9:11am

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I'm afraid your right. Wilson had 4-5 first rate chances to close that match out that i saw, including at 5-2 ahead, utterly bottled it, there's no other explanation. Should have beaten O'Sullivan in champion of champions final last season too, thats two against him that have got away.

Their head-to-head is 4-1 to Ronnie. The only match Kyren has won against Ronnie, was a best-of-7, in their first meeting. Seems to be a mental thing for Kyren against Ronnie. Mainly because of getting crushed 9-2 in their 2017 English Open final.

Great to get some best-of-19 semis, this event has arguably a better format than the London Masters. This event and/or the Champions of Champions, along with the Triple Crown should be considered Snooker's "grand slam".

Ronnie and Robertson should be another great match.

zuutroy · 13-09-2019 9:27am

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

This event and/or the Champions of Champions, along with the Triple Crown should be considered Snooker's "grand slam".

You can safely remove the UK these days I think. Best of 11 all the way to the final nowadays.

Joe_ Public · 13-09-2019 9:44pm

Have to agree, UK Champs is a pale shadow of the mighty tournament it once was. Frankly, i struggle with the notion that it still be considered a major, just kind of melds into the crowded calendar, alongside all the other tournaments imo. Its the worlds and the masters (i mean, THE masters) and the rest a long way behind in terms of prestige and tradition for me.

zuutroy · 14-09-2019 8:54am

Dragged myself out of bed just after 8 and they were at the mid session. One frame later and they're gone off again as Robertson wrecked his tip on a miscue. Could struggle now having to play the rest of the match with a broken tip.

Slippin Jimmy · 14-09-2019 12:55pm

I don't know why he didn't get the tip repaired. He missed the yellow because of it and that would have sealed the frame.

Slippin Jimmy · 14-09-2019 2:13pm

O'Sullivan vs Murphy final!

The Nal · 14-09-2019 2:22pm

Great final ahead. Bizarre from NR to not get the tip fixed. Surely a new full tip even not broken in is better than that?!

Joe_ Public · 14-09-2019 4:15pm

Be interested to hear what he says post-match, but not all that surprised he didnt change the tip, once it was playable at least. Thought that missed frame ball black at 5-5 was just as significant, never seemed to recover after that. Tables this week seem to me to be playing tougher than the ones you normally see, that black hit cushion a long way from pocket, but have seen similar ones go much closer to dropping than that and even occasionally dropping.

Frank O. Pinion · 14-09-2019 4:50pm

The Nal wrote: »

Great final ahead. Bizarre from NR to not get the tip fixed. Surely a new full tip even not broken in is better than that?!

Some players are just not confident going out there with a brand new tip, that's not broken in at all. Get it fixed or not, once the incident happened, the writing was on the wall for an O'Sullivan win.

Interesting final, only the second major event of the season (in terms of prize money), and Murphy makes the final of both, Ronnie's first event of the season and he has a weird run to the final (no Carter match, plays an amateur again, 5-1 down against Wilson, Robertson's tip)…something has to give.

If Ronnie wins, Reanne Evans is in the Champion of Champions, if Murphy wins, she has to continue to wait for her place confirmation.

Joe_ Public · 14-09-2019 5:54pm

Good to see Murphy back in the kind of form we know he's still well capable of. Dont know if its just pure co-incidence, but was glad to hear he'd relinquished his position on the wpbsa board, never thought that was compatible with maintaining his focus as a top pro and he took that role very seriously which was a credit to him.

2019 Shanghai Masters, 9th-15th September - Eurosport

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