German Masters Preview: Selby bidding to retain title

The German Masters returns this week for the sixth consecutive year, and there is no doubt that Mark Selby will be aiming to become the first player to win the title for a second consecutive year.

Selby, won the tournament last year which is held in Berlin after an emphatic 9-7 victory over Shaun Murphy.

Past winners of this tournament have include Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins who have both be crowned champions twice with Ding Junhui being the only non-British player winning the tournament back in 2014.

Potential winners

There are some big names in action at the Tempodrom, Barry Hawkins will be hoping to go one better this time around after failing to beat O’Sullivan in this year’s Masters Final.

All four semi-finalists last year have made it past the qualifying rounds with Liang Wenbo and Stephen Maguire facing Ryan Day and Ken Doherty respectively.

Judd Trump made a maximum break in Germany last year and he’ll be one to keep an eye on along with World Champion Stuart Bingham and cFu a possible outsider to be lifting the trophy by the end of the week.

Who could be in for a shock?

If Maguire is to set up a potential second round match against the defending champion, he will have to beat Doherty who beat world number 16 Michael White in the second round of qualifying.

45-year-old Alan McManus lost only the one frame on the way to qualifying for this week’s tournament and he could well be the provider of a first-round shock against world numer 8 Hawkins.

Players making their German Masters debut

There will be four players making their German Masters debut this year with Steven Hallworth, Kyren Wilson, Ian Burns and Zhang Anda all appearing in Berlin for the first time.