European Masters Qualifiers Preview And Draws
The qualifying rounds for the German Masters as well as the European Masters are about to get underway. Both tournaments will play a significant role in the race for qualification for the Coral Series events scheduled for the first quarter of 2020.
Both Masters tournaments are the only remaining tournaments before all roads lead to the Coral World Grand Prix to be held in Cheltenham.
David Gilbert will be looking forward to a challenge by world number 76, Jordan Brown. The English Open runner-up has recently faced a series of disappointments in quarters that matter, including the just-concluded Scottish Open. He’s greatly fancied to see off Jordan Brown but would be wary of the threats underdogs have posed in major tournaments in recent times.
Jordan Brown, 32 won the Northern Ireland Championship in 2008 and 2009 and is no stranger to events on this level. He will be willing to grant punters – who decide to bank on him – great rewards for giving him the nod, by defeating Gilbert.
Elsewhere, Graeme Dott currently ranked number 20 will be licking his lips at the prospect of playing Thor Chuan Leong on opening day. Graeme Dott, a former world number 2, is fancied to take out his Malaysian opponent and to do that quite easily. The former world champion hopefully has what it takes to make it to the European Masters finals.
Thor, who won the ACBS Asian Snooker Championship in May, beating Taiwan’s Hung Chuang Ming 7–3 in the final will be looking to stage an upset for the more popular Dott.
The Malaysian has some fairly good records on the European scene. Although he failed to win any match in ranking events during the 2015/16 season, he performed successfully in the European Tour events. Here, he won all his first-round matches and pushed as far as the last-16 on two occasions, one at the Paul Hunter Classic and the other at the Gydia Open.
Greene Gerard is also poised to welcome a challenge from Sargeant Brandon. The latter is some seven places above his Irish opponent. The match between both players is expected to be keenly contested and could go down to the wire.
Written by: Roland Arum