2016 Masters (snooker) - Misplaced Pages

Professional non-ranking snooker tournament, Jan 2016

2016 Dafabet Masters
Tournament information
Dates	10–17 January 2016 (2016-01-10 – 2016-01-17)
Venue	Alexandra Palace
City	London
Country	England
Organisation	World Snooker
Format	Non-ranking event
Total prize fund	£600,000
Winner's share	£200,000
Highest break	Judd Trump (ENG) (140)
Final
Champion	Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)
Runner-up	Barry Hawkins (ENG)
Score	10–1
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Snooker tournament

The 2016 Masters (officially the 2016 Dafabet Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 10 and 17 January 2016 at the Alexandra Palace in London, England. It was the 42nd staging of the Masters tournament and the fifth successive time it was held at the Alexandra Palace.

The defending champion Shaun Murphy lost 4–6 against Mark Allen in the first round. Murphy forfeited the sixth frame of the match by missing a red on three consecutive occasions.

The quarter-final between Judd Trump and Neil Robertson produced six century breaks, setting a new record for the most centuries in an 11-frame match. These included the two highest breaks of the tournament, 140 from Trump and 139 from Robertson. The match was singled out for particular praise, with John Virgo calling it one of the greatest in Masters history.

Playing in his first major televised tournament since taking an eight-month hiatus from professional snooker, Ronnie O'Sullivan reached a record-extending 11th Masters final and won the tournament for a sixth time, equalling Stephen Hendry's record for the most Masters titles. Losing only the first frame, he defeated Barry Hawkins 10–1, the biggest winning margin since Steve Davis whitewashed Mike Hallett 9–0 in 1988, and the first time a player had won ten consecutive frames in a Masters final.

Overview

The Masters is an invitational snooker tournament first held in 1975. Organised by World Snooker, the 2016 Masters was the 42nd staging of the tournament. It was the second Triple Crown event of the 2015–16 snooker season, following the 2015 UK Championship and preceding the 2016 World Snooker Championship. Held between 10 and 17 January 2016, the event was played at the Alexandra Palace in London. Matches were played as the best-of-11 frames until the final, which was the best-of-19 frames played over two sessions. The event was sponsored for the third time by online betting site Dafabet.

Participants

The event featured the 16 players who were placed highest in the world rankings after the UK Championship in December 2021. The defending champion was Shaun Murphy, who won the 2015 Masters with a 10–2 victory over Neil Robertson in the final. Murphy was seeded first for the event as defending champion. Stuart Bingham, as world champion, was seeded second. The next six players in the world rankings were seeded and allocated fixed positions in the draw, with the remaining eight participants drawn randomly against the. Liang Wenbo, who entered the top 16 for the first time after reaching the final of the UK Champion, made his Masters debut, the only player to do so at the 2015 event.

Prize fund

The total prize money of the event was unchanged at £600,000. The breakdown of prize money is shown below:

Winner: £200,000
Runner-up: £90,000
Semi-finals: £50,000
Quarter-finals: £25,000
Last 16: £12,500
Highest break: £10,000
Total: £600,000

Tournament summary

First round

The first round was played between 10 and 13 January 2014 as the best-of-11 frames. In the opening match, the defending champion, Shaun Murphy, faced Mark Allen, semifinalist in 2011. The first two frames were shared, with breaks of 50 for Allen and 68 for Murphy, and Allen then compiled a century break of 137. Murphy tied the match once again with a 65 break, but Allen made another half-century, this time of 91, to move one ahead. Murphy forfeited the sixth frame under the three-miss rule, but he said he did not have other options rather than to risk it: "I had to man up, take a deep breath and play the right shot. Unfortunately I got it completely wrong". Allen then compiled a century of 104 in the next one to put himself one away from victory. Although Murphy won two frames on the trot thanks to a break of 67 and a century of 100, Allen clinched victory in the tenth frame, the only one other than the one ended after the three misses that did not feature a half-century. The 2011 champion, Ding Junhui, and Stuart Bingham, who had won the 2015 World Snooker Championship at the end of the previous season, also shared the first two frames of their first-round encounter. In the third frame, Bingham was on a maximum break attempt, but, having potted fifteen red balls and fifteen blacks, he missed the yellow while beginning to clear up the colours, and the break ended at 120. Bingham then sealed the first victory of his career in the Masters with a 6–4 result after close to four hours of play.

The following day, Stephen Maguire, four-time semi-finalist, faced Judd Trump, who had lost his first-round match in the Masters for two consecutive years. Maguire took the second frame to level the match at 1–1, but then went on to lose four on the trot. He then compiled breaks of 92, 74 and 56, and restored balance at 4–4. However, Trump won the ninth and tenth breaks to seal victory. "My lack of form has put pressure on because I was used to going out there and expecting to play well", said Trump, who wanted to "give snooker four or five years of complete dedication and see what happens". In the evening, Barry Hawkins and Joe Perry shared the first six frames, but Hawkins, aided by half-centuries of 81 and 58, won three on the trot to advance into the quarter-finals.

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Tournament draw

Last 16 Best of 11 frames			Quarter-finals Best of 11 frames			Semi-finals Best of 11 frames			Final Best of 19 frames

1	Shaun Murphy (ENG)	4

11	Mark Allen (NIR)	6
			11	Mark Allen	2

			8	Barry Hawkins	6
8	Barry Hawkins (ENG)	6

10	Joe Perry (ENG)	3
						8	Barry Hawkins	6

						5	Judd Trump	4
5	Judd Trump (ENG)	6

16	Stephen Maguire (SCO)	4
			5	Judd Trump	6

			4	Neil Robertson	5
4	Neil Robertson (AUS)	6

14	Marco Fu (HKG)	0
									8	Barry Hawkins	1

									6	Ronnie O'Sullivan	10
3	Mark Selby (ENG)	6

12	Ricky Walden (ENG)	0
			3	Mark Selby	3

			6	Ronnie O'Sullivan	6
6	Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)	6

13	Mark Williams (WAL)	5
						6	Ronnie O'Sullivan	6

						2	Stuart Bingham	3
7	John Higgins (SCO)	6

15	Liang Wenbo (CHN)	4
			7	John Higgins	3

			2	Stuart Bingham	6
2	Stuart Bingham (ENG)	6

9	Ding Junhui (CHN)	4

Final

Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee: Olivier Marteel. Alexandra Palace, London, England, 17 January 2016.
Barry Hawkins (8) England	1–10	Ronnie O'Sullivan (6) England
Afternoon: 66–50, 8–97 (70), 0–136 (136), 49–73 (52), 28–72, 36–64, 17–77 (77), 13–72 (72) Evening: 39–58, 0–92 (66), 0–82 (82)
48	Highest break	136
0	Century breaks	1
0	50+ breaks	7

Century breaks

Total: 26

140, 129, 105, 104, 103 – Judd Trump
139, 106, 100 – Neil Robertson
137, 109, 104 – Mark Allen
136, 121, 117, 104, 100 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
133, 120, 119, 104 – John Higgins
130, 128, 100 – Barry Hawkins
120 – Stuart Bingham
113 – Mark Selby
100 – Shaun Murphy

References

"Dafabet Masters 2016". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
"A Brief History of the Dafabet Masters". WPBSA. 11 January 2015. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
^ "Dafabet Masters (2016)". snooker.org. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
^ "Shaun Murphy loses in first round at Masters after forfeiting frame". The Guardian. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
"Masters: John Higgins & Neil Robertson win in first round". BBC Sport. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^ "Masters 2016: Full tournament results". BBC. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
"Masters 2016: Shaun Murphy forfeits frame with three fouls". BBC Sport. 10 January 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^ "Masters 2016: Shaun Murphy beaten in round one by Mark Allen". BBC Sport. 10 January 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^ "Masters 2016: Trump beats Maguire, Hawkins beats Perry". BBC Sport. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
"Trump Wins 'Greatest Ever' Masters Match". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
"Masters: Judd Trump wins thriller as Bingham also progresses". BBC Sport. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
"Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Barry Hawkins to win sixth title". BBC Sport. 17 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
"Ronnie O'Sullivan crushes Barry Hawkins 10–1 for sixth Masters title". The Guardian. 17 January 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
"Ronnie O'Sullivan warns snooker's elder statesmen can still rack up shocks after demolition job to reclaim Masters crown". Evening Times. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
"Masters – Century Breaks". worldsnookerdata.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.

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