2020 German Masters
Tournament name2020 BetVictor German Masters
Dates29 January 2020 – 2 February 2020
VenueTempodrom
LocationBerlin
CountryGermany
OrganisationWorld Snooker Tour
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£400,000
Winners share£80,000
Highest breakTom Ford (England) (143)
WinnerJudd Trump (England)
Runner upNeil Robertson (Australia)
Score9–6
Previous2019
Next2021

The 2020 German Masters (officially the 2020 BetVictor German Masters) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 29 January to 2 February 2020 in the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany. The tournament was the tenth ranking event of the 2019–2020 snooker season. It was the 14th edition of the German Masters, first held in 1995 as the 1995 German Open. The event featured a prize fund of £400,000 with £80,000 being given to the winner.

Kyren Wilson was the defending champion after defeating David Gilbert 9–6 in the 2019 final. He lost 4–5 to Zhao Xintong in the second qualifying round. The final was contested between the reigning world champion Judd Trump and Neil Robertson, who had won the preceding European Masters event. Trump won the final defeating Robertson 9–6. Trump's win was his 15th ranking title and fourth of the season.

This tournament was the last professional tournament for Peter Ebdon, who retired due to spine and neck degradation. Ebdon lost 4–5 in the first qualifying round to Matthew Stevens.

Format

The 2020 German Masters was a professional snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany, between 29 January and 3 February 2020.[1][2] This was the 13th edition of the German Masters tournament, being held since 2011,[3][4] and previously between 1995 and 1998 as the German Open.[5][6] It was the tenth ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season following the European Masters and preceding the World Grand Prix.[7][8] It was played as the best-of-nine-frames until the semi-finals, which were best-of-11-frames, followed by a best-of-17-frames final.[9] The event featured 32 participants from the World Snooker Tour with two qualifying rounds which took place from 20 to 22 December 2019 in Barnsley, England.[10]

Prize fund

The event featured a total prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000.[11][12] The event was the second of the "European Series" which included the European Masters, Snooker Shoot Out and Gibraltar Open all sponsored by sports betting company BetVictor. The player accumulating the highest amount of prize money over the four events received a bonus of £150,000.[13] The breakdown of prize money for the tournament is shown below:[11][12]

  • Winner: £80,000
  • Runner-up: £35,000
  • Semi-final: £20,000
  • Quarter-final: £10,000
  • Last 16: £5,000
  • Last 32: £4,000
  • Last 64: £3,000
  • Highest break: £5,000
  • Total: £400,000

Tournament summary

The first round of the German Masters began on 29 January 2020.[9] A commemorative cake in the shape of a snooker table was baked to celebrate the 10th edition of the event to be held in the Tempodrome.[14] Four-time world champion John Higgins lost his first round match to world number 59 Robbie Williams 4–5.[15] Three players completed a whitewash in the first round, with Sunny Akani, Michael Georgiou and Matthew Selt all winning 5–0.[9] Scott Donaldson defeated 2019 UK Championship winner Ding Junhui 5–4. The win gave Donaldson enough ranking points to qualify for the 2020 World Grand Prix.[16]

In the second round, Georgiou defeated Akani 5–4. Akani continued playing on the practice tables for two days after his loss.[14] European Masters finalist Zhao Xintong defeated 17th seed Gary Wilson 5–1.[9] In a rematch of the 2018 final, 19th seed Graeme Dott played third seed Mark Williams,[17] with Dott winning 5–2.[16] World number two Neil Robertson completed a second straight whitewash over Elliot Slessor in the quarter-finals, having also defeated Mitchell Mann in the second round 5–0.[9][16] Shaun Murphy defeated Xintong 5–3, Dott defeated Selt 5–2 and Trump defeated Georgiou 5–1.[9] The first semi-final was played between Dott and Trump.[18] With no more than one frame between the two, they tied at 4–4. However, Trump won frame nine with a break of 110 and won the match 6–4.[19] The second semi-final was between Robertson and Murphy.[18] Robertson won five frames in a row with breaks of 73, 136, 62, 53 and 129 to win 6–1.[19][20] Robertson reached the final having lost only two frames in the previous four matches.[19]

The final was played between Neil Robertson and Judd Trump on 2 February 2020.[21] This was the second time in the 2019–20 snooker season that the pair had met in a final, having done so at the 2019 Champion of Champions.[22] If Robertson won the final, he would be guaranteed to win the European Series.[23] It was held as a best-of-17 frames match, held over two sessions.[21] Robertson won four of the first six frames, with Trump winning the final two frames of the first session to tie the match at 4–4.[21] Trump restarted the match, winning a further two frames to lead 6–4.[21] Robertson won frame 11, before Trump won frame 12 to lead 7–5 going into the . The pair shared the next two frames, before Trump won the match 9–6 with a break of 120 in frame 15.[21][24] This was Trump's 15th career ranking event title, his fourth of the season.[21][24]

Main draw

Below are the event's results from the last-32 stage to the final. Player names in bold denote match winners. Numbers in brackets denote player seedings.[9][25]

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Rob Spencer.
Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany, 2 February 2020.
Neil Robertson (4)
6–9Judd Trump (2)
Afternoon: 0–82, 74–48, 29–77, 120–1 (120), 72–71, 78–4, 0–98, 0–77
Evening: 7–65, 33–79, 67–22, 0–75, 0–67, 65–25, 12–101 (100)
120Highest break100
1Century breaks1

Qualifying

Qualifying for the event took place between 20 and 22 December 2019 at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley, England. There were two rounds of qualifying with matches being played as best-of-9 frames.[10] Defending champion Kyren Wilson did not qualify for the event, after losing 4–5 to Zhao Xintong in the second round.[10] Peter Ebdon played his last professional match in a first round loss to Matthew Stevens.[26]

Round 1

Kyren Wilson (England) (1)5–1Rod Lawler (England)
Ken Doherty (Ireland)4–5Zhao Xintong (China)
Anthony McGill (Scotland) (32)5–2Jackson Page (Wales)
Liang Wenbo (China)5–3Jimmy White (England)
Ali Carter (England) (16)5–3Simon Lichtenberg (Germany)
Jak Jones (Wales)5–4Sam Craigie (England)
Gary Wilson (England) (17)5–3Alan McManus (Scotland)
Xu Si (China)5–3Hossein Vafaei (Iran)
Oliver Lines (England)5–2Alfie Burden (England)
Tom Ford (England) (24)5–3Ben Woollaston (England)
Thor Chuan Leong (Malaysia)1–5Dominic Dale (Wales)
Shaun Murphy (England) (9)5–2Joe O'Connor (England)
Harvey Chandler (England)5–2Billy Joe Castle (England)
Scott Donaldson (Scotland) (25)5–1Si Jiahui (China)
Matthew Stevens (Wales)5–4Peter Ebdon (England)
Ding Junhui (China) (8)5–0Alex Borg (Malta)
John Higgins (Scotland) (5)5–1Adam Stefanow (Poland)
Li Hang (China)5–4Mei Xiwen (China)
Mark Davis (England) (28)5–2Chang Bingyu (China)
David Lilley (England)1–5Robbie Williams (England)
Stuart Bingham (England) (12)5–0Lu Ning (China)
Duane Jones (Wales)0–5Robert Milkins (England)
Jimmy Robertson (England) (21)5–0Eden Sharav (Israel)
Elliot Slessor (England)5–3Fraser Patrick (Scotland)
Michael Holt (England)1–5Alexander Ursenbacher (Switzerland)
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Thailand) (20)5–1Zhang Jiankang (China)
Chris Wakelin (England)4–5Mitchell Mann (England)
Jack Lisowski (England) (13)1–5Michael White (Wales)
Ian Burns (England)5–1Paul Davison (England) (WC)
Lyu Haotian (China) (29)1–5Zhang Anda (China)
Lukas Kleckers (Germany) (WC)4–5Igor Figueiredo (Brazil)
Neil Robertson (Australia) (4)5–3Martin O'Donnell (England)
Mark Williams (Wales) (3)5–1Andy Hicks (England)
Mark King (England)5–1Riley Parsons (England)
Zhou Yuelong (China) (30)5–0Iulian Boiko (Ukraine) (WC)
Yuan Sijun (China)5–3Chen Feilong (China)
Stephen Maguire (Scotland) (14)5–3Soheil Vahedi (Iran)
Tian Pengfei (China)5–4Lei Peifan (China)
Graeme Dott (Scotland) (19)5–4Craig Steadman (England)
Luo Honghao (China)2–5Ashley Carty (England)
Sam Baird (England)4–5Kishan Hirani (Wales)
Ryan Day (Wales) (22)3–5Andrew Higginson (England)
Liam Highfield (England)2–5Nigel Bond (England)
David Gilbert (England) (11)4–5Jordan Brown (Northern Ireland)
Bai Langning (China)5–4James Cahill (England)
Matthew Selt (England) (27)5–3Peter Lines (England)
Jamie Clarke (Wales)5–2Brandon Sargeant (England)
Mark Selby (England) (6)5–0Fan Zhengyi (China)
Mark Allen (Northern Ireland) (7)5–3Kurt Maflin (Norway)
Gerard Greene (Northern Ireland)5–3Lee Walker (Wales)
Ricky Walden (England) (26)4–5Martin Gould (England)
Mark Joyce (England)0–5Michael Georgiou (Cyprus)
Barry Hawkins (England) (10)2–5Ross Bulman (Ireland) (WC)
John Astley (England)4–5David Grace (England)
Xiao Guodong (China) (23)0–5Sunny Akani (Thailand)
Anthony Hamilton (England)5–1Hammad Miah (England)
Luca Brecel (Belgium)5–3Louis Heathcote (England)
Yan Bingtao (China) (18)5–4Marco Fu (Hong Kong)
Barry Pinches (England)5–3Andy Lee (Hong Kong)
Joe Perry (England) (15)5–2Fergal O'Brien (Ireland)
Jamie O'Neill (England)4–5Kacper Filipiak (Poland)
Noppon Saengkham (Thailand) (31)5–4Mike Dunn (England)
Stuart Carrington (England)5–0Chen Zifan (China)
Judd Trump (England) (2)5–1Daniel Wells (Wales)

Round 2

Kyren Wilson (1)4–5Zhao Xintong
Anthony McGill (32)5–1Liang Wenbo
Ali Carter (16)4–5Jak Jones
Gary Wilson (17)5–1Xu Si
Oliver Lines3–5Tom Ford (24)
Dominic Dale1–5Shaun Murphy (9)
Harvey Chandler4–5Scott Donaldson (25)
Matthew Stevens2–5Ding Junhui (8)
John Higgins (5)5–4Li Hang
Mark Davis (28)4–5Robbie Williams
Stuart Bingham (12)3–5Robert Milkins
Jimmy Robertson (21)2–5Elliot Slessor
Alexander Ursenbacher5–2Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (20)
Mitchell Mann5–1Michael White
Ian Burns5–3Zhang Anda
Igor Figueiredo2–5Neil Robertson (4)
Mark Williams (3)5–2Mark King
Zhou Yuelong (30)3–5Yuan Sijun
Stephen Maguire (14)3–5Tian Pengfei
Graeme Dott (19)5–0Ashley Carty
Kishan Hirani5–3Andrew Higginson
Nigel Bond5–3Jordan Brown
Bai Langning3–5Matthew Selt (27)
Jamie Clarke5–4Mark Selby (6)
Mark Allen (7)4–5Gerard Greene
Martin Gould2–5Michael Georgiou
Ross Bulman (WC)3–5David Grace
Sunny Akani5–1Anthony Hamilton
Luca Brecel5–1Yan Bingtao (18)
Barry Pinches2–5Joe Perry (15)
Kacper Filipiak2–5Noppon Saengkham (31)
Stuart Carrington2–5Judd Trump (2)

Century breaks

Main stage centuries

There was a total of 33 century breaks during the tournament. The highest was a 138 made by John Higgins in his first round win over Robbie Williams.[27]

Qualifying stage centuries

There was a total of 77 century breaks during qualifying. The highest was a 143 made by Tom Ford in his second qualifying round match against Oliver Lines.[28]

References

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  17. ^ "Mark Williams beats Graeme Dott to win German Masters". BBC. 4 February 2018. Archived 15 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 3 Feb 2020.
  18. ^ Caulfield, David (1 February 2020). "German Masters Semi-Final Preview". SnookerHQ. Archived 3 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
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