History is Made at the Masters

History has been set, for the first ever all Asian Masters final, as Marco Fu of Hong Kong will face Ding Junhui of  China. Both players have worked hard in the past week, knocking out World greats to settle there place in the final. Both players have struggled in the past with their form, but this week has seen them, both looking confident, strong and unbeatable.

In both Semi Finals Ding and Marco looked as though they could face going out, especially as Marco was 3 frames behind Ireland's Mark Allen and then came back in straight sets to beat him 6-4.   Ding had an impressive game and beat Jamie cope 6-3.

With such talent and determination it is difficult to pick a winner, bookies favourite has to be Ding Junhui but i don't think Marco Fu will easily throw in the towel.

Let the battle commence

Aussie Hunk first favourite through the first round session at the masters

Neil Robertson, broke the bad karma of other favourites in the Masters by securring his place is the quarter finals of the Ladbroke's mobile Masters. The game has nothing exciting to report, the table is reportedly causing problems to game play, but it was the World Champion who stepped up and gave the balls and teh table hell to win Stephen Hendry 6-3.
  All other players in the quarter finals have been the under dog in matches,, but have achieved success over their counter part, this competition has had an odd story to it, with Selby the upmost favourite failing to play his best against struggling Mark King, Ali Carter has a shocking session in the balls against Peter Ebdon. Stephen Maguire showed his anger as the table failed the play nice against Marco Fu, Ronnie O'Sullivan looked as though the lights where on but no one was home as he was beaten by Mark Allen. One place remains will be be Shaun Murphy or Masters first timer Jamie Cope?

Higgins out of Master

Graeme Dott shocked world number one and fellow Scot John Higgins with a 6-4 win to secure only his second quarter-final spot at the Masters.

Dott, the 2006 world champion, led 2-0 with breaks of 115 and 65 but friend and playing partner Higgins levelled at 3-3 after breaks of 68, 55 and 73.
Higgins lost a massive seventh frame but hit back again before Dott kept his nerve to edge the next two for victory.

The evening encounter had two gritty Scots, Higgins and Dott, renewing their battles at the baize and it was a match that had it all - great breaks, enthralling safety play, uncharacteristically swift break-building and no shortage of tension.
Higgins beat Dott 9-8 in the UK Championship second round en route to his memorable triumph in December, capping a highly successful comeback from a six-month ban.
Despite racking up 18 wins in 19 matches since returning to competition, Higgins revealed last week he felt "overawed by the Wembley atmosphere" and his opening two frames seemed to vindicate his concerns.
Dott knocked in breaks of 115 and 65 to lead 2-0 at lightning speed, but the three-time world champion finally sunk his first ball after 26 minutes on his way to a 68 break to pull a frame back.
The 33-year-old from Larkhall edged the next to lead 3-1, only to see Higgins, who last month recovered from 9-5 down to beat Mark Williams 10-9 to become UK champion, deliver more of the same fighting spirit after the interval with a 55 and 73 to level at 3-3.
As the free-flowing potting was replaced by more cautious safety play, it was Dott who came out on top after an almighty tussle in the seventh frame to get his nose in front at 4-3.
Back came the "Wizard of Wishaw" to bring the scores level at 4-4 but his recovery was surprisingly short-lived.
Dott came through the next frame, that lasted nearly half an hour, before a break of 62 proved enough to take him over the finish line after a three-hour battle.
While Dott avoided an eighth defeat in nine years at this first-round stage of the Masters, Higgins failed to make the quarter-finals for an incredible 10th time.
"I never feel comfortable here, it's such a vast arena and I feel edgy on every shot," Higgins told World Snooker. "It's terrible because it's such a great tournament."
Dott, runner-up in last year's World Championship, said: "In the Championship League last week I was worse than diabolical, so I practised day and night after that to work on a few things, and today I was much better technically."
It was another shock which saw Higgins join two-time winner Mark Selby, world number seven Ali Carter and world number three Mark Williams in making an early exit inside the first two days of competition.
Monday had kicked off with the Ding and Williams clash and it was the Chinese superstar who took the first frame with a stunning 89.
The Welshman deftly drew level, but his 23-year-old opponent took the next three as both players stumbled though as their potting percentages dipped below 90%.
UK championship runner-up Williams edged Ding in the sixth - and most compelling - frame of the match to recover at 4-2 but Ding quickly moved to 5-2.
Undeterred, left-hander Williams bravely wrapped up the next two frames to keep his hopes alive but Ding, despite occasional lapses in concentration, came back from 47-0 down to take the match.

'Careless' Ali Carter fouls yellow to lose frame

Ali Carter carelessly threw away a frame at the master when Michaela called that his arm had knocked the yellow ball as he went down to take a shot, not only has the touch of the yellow lost him a frame, but it appears to also have lost him his chance at the Masters, The unintended foul seems to have affected his game play since and the run of the balls have clearly not been on Ali's side. In the final frame decider a messy game was played by both players, but after being Snookered Ali gave 12 points to Ebdon in fould and misses, and then hit a red to hard to escape another snooker and potted the white, giving Ebdon the chance to clear up the rest of the table.

Selby Dethroned by King

World number 16 Mark King put in one of his best displays of recent times to knock out defending champion Mark Selby in the opening round of the Masters.

King recovered from 2-0 down to defeat Selby, the world number six, 6-4.
The Essex player got back into it with a 139 break and led 4-2 before Selby levelled at 4-4 with a break of 106.
King then led 5-4 and in a tense 10th frame the players agreed to a re-rack and, despite an error, King recovered to clinch victory.
Selby had previously lost just one match at Wembley in three years, and that in the 2009 final against Ronnie O'Sullivan, a result he avenged in the title match 12 months ago for his second title after also triumphing in 2008.
But King, who will face Shaun Murphy or Jamie Cope in the quarter-finals, revealed it was what he perceived as a somewhat premature celebration from Selby which inspired his performance.
"Mark is a fantastic player and this is like his back yard, but he won the second frame and put his cue up and it gave me the hump a bit," King said.
"He was pleased to win it on the black but I thought, 'Hang on, you're only 2-0 up'."
King also was pleased that the hard work he has put in over the winter is finally paying dividends.
"I am the worst break-builder there is in the top 16," added the 36-year-old.
"I don't make tons, I get in and make 30 or 20, but ever since the UK Championship I have been really working on it and I went to China with Stephen Hendry and got a little bit of advice from him."

Selby after Hunter's record

Mark Selby hopes to match Paul Hunter’s achievement by winning the Masters three times in four years.

The Jester from Leicester defends his title in snooker’s most prestigious invitation tournament next month.

Selby has an amazing record in the Masters, winning it on his debut in 2008 and again last year, and reaching the final in 2009.

In all, he has won 11 of the 12 matches he has played in the event.

This season’s tournament runs from January 9 to 16 at Wembley Arena and Leicester’s Selby hopes to get level with the late Hunter, who lifted the trophy in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

“To win it for a third time in four years and match Paul’s achievement would be brilliant,” said Selby.

“I’ve got a very good record in the event, I love playing at Wembley and it tends to bring the best out of me.

“The atmosphere in the last two finals against Ronnie O’Sullivan is the best I’ve ever played in.

“Ronnie beat me in 2009 then I beat him last year, so it would be great to meet him in the final for a third time.

“The public might start to get bored of seeing us in the final every year, but I wouldn’t mind!”

Selby believes that the strength of the field makes the Masters harder than ever to win.

“The players are so sharp now because we’ve had a lot more tournaments, so the standard is higher than ever,” said the 27-year-old.

“Plus you’ve got the likes of John Higgins and Mark Williams right back in form, as they showed at the UK Championship.

“John has proved time and time again what a class player he is, and I never doubted that he would be back winning tournaments.

“There’s a very strong group of younger players like myself, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy who are all well capable of winning the big tournaments.

“I’ve been consistent this season and won a couple of smaller events, but I would love to go all the way at the Masters.”

Selby faces Mark King in the opening match of the tournament on Sunday, January 9 at 1.30pm.

Shock exit

Ronnie O'sullivan crashes out, of this years UK Championships in Telford. Ronnie who played Stuart Bingham, who is ranked at 23 in World, shouldn't have stood a chance against Ronnie.
   Ronnie however never looked at though he was truly in the match, just looking at him sat in the chair showed his mind was anywhere but on the match and the shots he took showed that. Stuart Bingham was two frames up as soon as the match started and though Ronnie clawed it back to 6-6 by the mid session interval, he didn't return to the table any clearer is mind on potting skill. Leaving Staurt to a relatively easy win at 9-6 to see him safely into the second round.