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. This was the 13th edition of the German Masters tournament, being held since 2011, and previously between 1995 and 1998 as the German Open. It was the tenth ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season following the European Masters and preceding the World Grand Prix. 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. 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.

Prize fund The event featured a total prize fund of £400,000 with the winner receiving £80,000. 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. The breakdown of prize money for the tournament is shown below:

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. 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. Four-time world champion John Higgins lost his first round match to world number 59 Robbie Williams 4–5. Three players completed a whitewash in the first round, with Sunny Akani, Michael Georgiou and Matthew Selt all winning 5–0. 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.

In the second round, Georgiou defeated Akani 5–4. Akani continued playing on the practice tables for two days after his loss. European Masters finalist Zhao Xintong defeated 17th seed Gary Wilson 5–1. In a rematch of the 2018 final, 19th seed Graeme Dott played third seed Mark Williams, with Dott winning 5–2. 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. Shaun Murphy defeated Xintong 5–3, Dott defeated Selt 5–2 and Trump defeated Georgiou 5–1. The first semi-final was played between Dott and Trump. 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. The second semi-final was between Robertson and Murphy. Robertson won five frames in a row with breaks of 73, 136, 62, 53 and 129 to win 6–1. Robertson reached the final having lost only two frames in the previous four matches.

The final was played between Neil Robertson and Judd Trump on 2 February 2020. 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. If Robertson won the final, he would be guaranteed to win the European Series. It was held as a best-of-17 frames match, held over two sessions. 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. Trump restarted the match, winning a further two frames to lead 6–4. 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. This was Trump's 15th career ranking event title, his fourth of the season.

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.

Final Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Rob Spencer.Tempodrom, Berlin, Germany, 2 February 2020. Neil Robertson (4) 6–9 Judd Trump (2) Afternoon: 0–82, 74–48, , , , , , Evening: 7–65, , , , , , 120 Highest break 100 1 Century breaks 1

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. Defending champion Kyren Wilson did not qualify for the event, after losing 4–5 to Zhao Xintong in the second round. Peter Ebdon played his last professional match in a first round loss to Matthew Stevens.

Round 1

(1) 5–1 4–5 (32) 5–2 5–3 (16) 5–3 5–4 (17) 5–3 5–3 5–2 (24) 5–3 1–5 (9) 5–2 5–2 (25) 5–1 5–4 (8) 5–0 (5) 5–1 5–4 (28) 5–2 1–5 (12) 5–0 0–5 (21) 5–0 5–3 1–5 (20) 5–1 4–5 (13) 1–5 5–1 (WC) (29) 1–5 (WC) 4–5 (4) 5–3

(3) 5–1 5–1 (30) 5–0 (WC) 5–3 (14) 5–3 5–4 (19) 5–4 2–5 4–5 (22) 3–5 2–5 (11) 4–5 5–4 (27) 5–3 5–2 (6) 5–0 (7) 5–3 5–3 (26) 4–5 0–5 (10) 2–5 (WC) 4–5 (23) 0–5 5–1 5–3 (18) 5–4 5–3 (15) 5–2 4–5 (31) 5–4 5–0 (2) 5–1

Round 2

Kyren Wilson (1) 4–5 Zhao Xintong Anthony McGill (32) 5–1 Liang Wenbo Ali Carter (16) 4–5 Jak Jones Gary Wilson (17) 5–1 Xu Si Oliver Lines 3–5 Tom Ford (24) Dominic Dale 1–5 Shaun Murphy (9) Harvey Chandler 4–5 Scott Donaldson (25) Matthew Stevens 2–5 Ding Junhui (8) John Higgins (5) 5–4 Li Hang Mark Davis (28) 4–5 Robbie Williams Stuart Bingham (12) 3–5 Robert Milkins Jimmy Robertson (21) 2–5 Elliot Slessor Alexander Ursenbacher 5–2 Thepchaiya (20) Mitchell Mann 5–1 Michael White Ian Burns 5–3 Zhang Anda Igor Figueiredo 2–5 Neil Robertson (4)

Mark Williams (3) 5–2 Mark King Zhou Yuelong (30) 3–5 Yuan Sijun Stephen Maguire (14) 3–5 Tian Pengfei Graeme Dott (19) 5–0 Ashley Carty Kishan Hirani 5–3 Andrew Higginson Nigel Bond 5–3 Jordan Brown Bai Langning 3–5 Matthew Selt (27) Jamie Clarke 5–4 Mark Selby (6) Mark Allen (7) 4–5 Gerard Greene Martin Gould 2–5 Michael Georgiou Ross Bulman (WC) 3–5 David Grace Sunny Akani 5–1 Anthony Hamilton Luca Brecel 5–1 Yan Bingtao (18) Barry Pinches 2–5 Joe Perry (15) Kacper Filipiak 2–5 Noppon Saengkham (31) Stuart Carrington 2–5 Judd 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.

138, 134 John Higgins 136, 133, 129, 120, 101, 101 Neil Robertson 134, 108 Gary Wilson 133, 106 Mark Williams 132 Nigel Bond 132 Scott Donaldson 130 Elliot Slessor 129, 127 Shaun Murphy 126 Yuan Sijun 122, 119, 114, 110, 100 Judd Trump 122, 102 Luca Brecel 122 Robbie Williams 121 Graeme Dott 119 Robert Milkins 112 Michael Georgiou 111, 110 Mitchell Mann 108 Matthew Selt 102 Sunny Akani

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.

143, 129 Tom Ford 142, 137, 124 Michael Georgiou 141 Hossein Vafaei 140, 106 Robert Milkins 140 Zhang Anda 139, 137, 127, 109 Zhao Xintong 135 John Astley 135 Louis Heathcote 134, 131 Yan Bingtao 133 Liang Wenbo 133 Zhou Yuelong 132, 130 Kyren Wilson 132, 103 Ricky Walden 131, 111 Kacper Filipiak 131 Kurt Maflin 130 Xu Si 126, 106 Dominic Dale 126 Mark Davis 124, 115 Stuart Bingham 123, 113 Li Hang 123, 105 Luca Brecel 122 Kishan Hirani 119 Jack Lisowski 118 Ali Carter 118 Fraser Patrick 118 Joe Perry 117 Sam Craigie 116, 109, 107 Judd Trump 115, 100, 100 Gary Wilson 115 Ian Burns 114, 102, 100 Ashley Carty 114 Jimmy Robertson 113 Soheil Vahedi 111 Noppon Saengkham 110 Alexander Ursenbacher 110 Anthony Hamilton 109 Bai Langning 109 Lee Walker 108, 101 Igor Figueiredo 108 Sam Baird 107 Andrew Higginson 106 Barry Hawkins 104, 103 David Gilbert 104, 100 Matthew Stevens 103 Fergal O'Brien 102 Scott Donaldson 101 Yuan Sijun 100, 100 Neil Robertson 100 Mark Selby 100 Ryan Day

References