The Masters: Player-by-player guide ahead of snooker's triple crown event
Nick Metcalfe profiles each of the 16 players who make up the draw for the Masters, snooker's second and most exclusive triple crown event.
- Players listed in order of seeding; click here for full draw
Stuart Bingham
Bingham is having a very ordinary season so far, having failed to go beyond the fourth round at any event. But then he was also having a very ordinary season when he stormed to the Masters title a year ago.
The Essex man, who faces Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the first round, can always produce hot streaks when it really matters - evidenced by two maximum breaks this season. And he's shown time and time again that he can sustain them through the biggest tournaments, never more famously than at the 2015 World Championship and last year's Masters.
The 44-year-old's overall record in this tournament is puzzling - take away last year's success and a run to the semi-finals in 2016, and he's lost his first match in eight of his ten appearances.
Ronnie O'Sullivan
The last year for O'Sullivan has reversed the recent trend - instead of succeeding in other tournaments and disappointing at the World Championship, his memorable Crucible triumph was his only success of 2020.
That sixth world title in Sheffield further cemented his position in the eyes of many pundits and fans as the greatest player of all time.
O'Sullivan, who plays Ding Junhui in the first round of the Masters, is hardly having a bad season so far, despite no tournament wins. He's reached two finals, losing to Judd Trump in the climax of the Northern Ireland Open and Mark Selby in the showpiece match at the Scottish Open.
The 45-year-old's Masters record is extraordinary - seven wins and 13 finals in all - and you would imagine he will be keen to make his mark having pulled out of last year's tournament for mysterious reasons. Put it this way, nobody would ever dare write him off.
Neil Robertson
There's only one place to start with Robertson, that incredible win at the UK Championship last month. Robertson was somehow first over the line against Judd Trump, in an enthralling final that finished just before one o'clock in the morning.
That was actually third time lucky for the Australian this season - he had already lost in the finals of the English Open and Champion of Champions, to Trump and Mark Allen respectively.
Robertson's record in the Masters over the last decade is typically excellent, with victory in 2012, along with two other appearances in the final and a semi-final. The 38-year-old will take on China's Yan Bingtao in the first round.
Mark Selby
It's still possible to argue that Selby is underrated. The Leicester man is well and truly over his blemish of recent times, and must currently be strongly fancied to contend in any big event.
Selby's defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals of the World Championship five months ago was clearly one of the most devastating of his career, but he's bounced back in typically impressive fashion this season.
The 37-year-old has already won the European Masters and Scottish Open titles, as well as losing three semi-finals, two of them to Neil Robertson. The three-time Masters winner, who faces Stephen Maguire in the first round, may feel he is due a run at this event too, having not been beyond the last eight since reaching the 2014 final.
Kyren Wilson
Wilson reached his first world final last summer and has backed that up in the opening months of this season, claiming victory in the Championship League and reaching six other quarter-finals.
But it's wins in the triple crown events where Wilson knows he will ultimately be judged, and he'll be desperate to go one further than at the 2018 Masters, when he lost the final to Mark Allen.
The Kettering man really looks the part these days and is undoubtedly one of the grittiest competitors in the game. His first round match against Jack Lisowski looked potentially awkward but Gary Wilson, who replaces Lisowski, looks far less of a threat. With Judd Trump also out, Wilson's draw is kind and sets him on a course for a semi-final meeting with Ronnie O'Sullivan, a replay of their world final in August.
John Higgins
One of the all-time greats of the sport, but the Masters has always been the least favourite of the triple crown events for Higgins. Indeed, it's 15 years since the last of his two successes in 2006.
Higgins has been pretty consistent this season, with his best performance a run to the semi-finals at the English Open. He's in eighth place in the one year rankings list.
The 45-year-old Scot has been given a tough opening to this latest Masters campaign, against Mark Allen, who he has lost to four times in the past in the tournament.
Shaun Murphy
Murphy has reached the top of the mountain at each of the triple crown events, with his Masters win coming at Alexandra Palace in 2015. He has also reached another final and three semi-finals in the past decade.
Murphy deserves great credit for bouncing back from an awful 2018/19 campaign with a very decent 2019/20, which included two tournament wins. But this season has been a mixed bag for the Englishman so far. Since reaching the semi-finals at the European Masters, the first ranking event of this season, Murphy has suffered a succession of early exits.
His career head to head against first round opponent Mark Williams doesn't offer many clues - the overall score stands at 14-14 - but 12 deciders over the years suggests it could well be close.
Stephen Maguire
Good luck predicting what this man is going to do. When he's really on song, like he was when storming to the Tour Championship title last summer, he's almost unplayable.
But this season has been a sorry tale so far for the Scot. He's failed to get beyond the third round at any event, and has at times cut a deeply frustrated figure.
Maguire does have a half decent record in the Masters though, reaching four semi-finals in 14 appearances, the last of them in 2015. His first round task this time is a daunting one, against Mark Selby.
Mark Allen
Allen knows his way to the finish line at this event, having claimed his only triple crown success to date at the 2018 Masters.
His 2020/21 season so far has been classic Allen really. He was outstanding in winning the prestigious Champion of Champions, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and Neil Robertson along the way. But he hasn't been beyond the fourth round at any other tournament.
Not many players have a positive career record over Higgins, but Allen does. Not only is he 11-10 up in the head to heads, but the Northern Irishman has won all four of their Masters meetings.
Ding Junhui
Ding has threatened to go very deep in a number of tournaments this season, but has been thwarted four times in quarter-finals, twice by his Masters first round opponent Ronnie O'Sullivan.
In fact, O'Sullivan won all three of their matches in 2020, including at the World Championship, which is hardly a good omen for Ding.
But the Chinese superstar can blow hot as much as he can go cold, as he showed when he went into last season's UK Championship in no kind of form and waltzed away with the first prize.
Yan Bingtao
Yan has reached two tournament quarter-finals this season, losing to Martin Gould at the European Masters and David Grace at the Northern Ireland Open.
Taking on Neil Robertson in a first ever match at the Masters is a daunting challenge for Yan, but he can at least draw on a thumping win over the world number two in last season's UK Championship.
The 20-year-old actually reached the semi-finals at that tournament, showing that a long run at one of the triple crown events is well within his grasp already.
David Gilbert
Where has it all gone wrong, David? It wasn't long ago that it seemed only a matter of time before Gilbert would put a first ranking event success on the board. But the 39-year-old is clearly not a fan of snooker behind closed doors, and his season so far has frankly been awful.
Gilbert did reach the last eight at the Champion of Champions, but hasn't gone past the third round at any other tournament he's played in so far in this campaign, and is down in 68th place in the one year ranking list.
His Masters debut last year was impressive - he reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual winner Stuart Bingham - and his hopes of bettering it increased with the withdrawals of both Judd Trump, his potential first-round opponent, and Jack Lisowski, who could've been his second.
Mark Williams
Williams is the third member of the fabled Class of 92, along with Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins, to still be going strong. And his unforgettable 2018 World Championship triumph showed there's still plenty of life left in his career.
But this season has been a sobering one for the Welshman so far, with a number of early tournament exits - second round, second round, third round, fourth round in the four events he's played - and he's languishing in 35th place in the one year ranking list.
Williams claimed two Masters win early in his career, but he's only reached one semi-final in the 18 years since his last success in 2003.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Thepchaiya is having an uninspiring season so far as he prepares for his Masters debut, the Thai star having failed to get beyond round four in seven events played.
His triple crown record is also nothing to write home about, with the 35-year-old never going further than the third round at the World Championship or UK Championship.
But first round opponent Stuart Bingham has hardly been firing on all cylinders this season himself, and Thepchaiya may well fancy his chances of beating the Englishman for the first time in an established form of the game - he has previously won matches against Bingham at the Six Red World Championship and Shoot Out.
Joe Perry
Perry is another who has struggled for much of the season, a fact which explains why he's only in the field following Judd Trump's withdrawal. The 46-year-old suffered a pair of first-round exits before Christmas and is yet to advance to the semi-finals - in fact it's over a year since his latest such run.
The biggest positive is that Perry, a runner-up in this four years ago, saved his best snooker for the UK Championship where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Lu Ning.
He also has a free roll at this and arguably couldn't have landed in a better spot, with an out-of-sorts David Gilbert first up. The winner of that would face Kyren or Gary Wilson and it is the calmest sub-section of what's of course an elite draw.
Gary Wilson
It's been some 48 hours or so for Wilson who was all over the internet on Thursday after a remarkable foul against John Higgins in the Championship League, where he managed two wins in six and still looked below his best.
Having later confirmed to a twitter follower that his head isn't in the game, Wilson looks an unlikely contender - unless he is reinvigorated by this last-minute invite in place of Jack Lisowski.
Though temperamental, Wilson is a former World Championship semi-finalist with bottle and class and if a Masters debut isn't enough to flick the switch then he is in trouble.
Key info including how to watch
- When: January 10-17
- Where: Alexandra Palace, London
- TV info: Live on Eurosport and BBC
- Defending champion: Stuart Bingham
Full tournament draw and seedings
- All matches best of 11 frames until final, which is best of 19
Note: Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski failed Covid-19 tests on Saturday; both are out of the tournament, replaced by Joe Perry and Gary Wilson
Top half
- (1) Stuart Bingham v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (16)
- (8) Shaun Murphy v Mark Williams (14)
- (5) Mark Selby v Stephen Maguire (9)
- (4) Neil Robertson v Yan Bingtao (12)
Bottom half
- (*) Joe Perry v David Gilbert (13)
- (6) Kyren Wilson v Gary Wilson (*)
- (7) John Higgins v Mark Allen (10)
- (2) Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ding Junhui (11)