🎱 European Masters Snooker Betting Guide

European Masters 2023: Draw and Results

Final (17 frames)

Barry Hawkins 9 Judd Trump 6 

Review

Barry Hawkins won his first title in four years when outpointing Judd Trump 9-6 in the final of the 2023 European Masters in Nuremberg.

Hawkins had endured three heavy defeats in his last three finals but held his nerve well to see off Trump who had fought back from 7-3 down to 7-6. Hawkins had got off to a great start taking the first mini-session 3-1 and then going into the interval witha 5-3 lead, despite two century breaks from Trump. The first frame of the evening session was pivotal with the players locked together on 55-55 with just the black on the table, Trump went in-off when trying to play a safety shot and gifted the frame to Hawkins. Despite a rally from Trump, Hawkins held his nerve well and comfortably took the last two frames of the evening to record a 9-6 victory and his first tournament win since the Paul Hunter Classic in 2019. This victory was Hawkins first in a ranking event since the World Grand Prix in 2017 and earns Hawkins a place in Novermber's Champion of Champions event.

This was a great victory for Hawkins who defeated World Champion Luca Brecel, Mark Selby and Judd Trump en route to recording his fifth raking event win of his career.

Preview

Trump squeezed through yesterday against John Higgins 6-5 after being 3-0 down. Hawkins has made the Final of this event for the second year running, seeing off Mark Selby last night 6-4. He will be hoping for a better performance than last year when he was comprehensively outplayed by Kyren Wilson, losing 9-3.

On the head to head between these two players, Trump leads 15-11 in all events going back to 2012. Not much to go on in terms of form when they play each other over a two session match, just one instance in the Tour Championship in 2021 where Hawkins won 10-7. Hawkins has won three out of the last four matches between the two with Trump winning one in a final frame decider. On paper this has the look of a match that might be quite close but the worrying part in Hawkins' recent form in Finals. Here is his recent record:

• 2022 European Masters Lost 3-9 Kyren Wilson
• 2022 Players Championship Lost 5-10 Neil Robertson
• 2022 Masters Lost 4-10 Neil Robertson

So, the last three two-session Finals Hawkins has been involved he has lost by six, five and six frames. This must surely now be playing on Hawkins' mind.

The bookies go around 4/9 Trump and a couple go 15/8 Hawkins. The price on Hawkins is attractive given solely on how the players have played but I'd be worried about his record in Finals. Consequently the handicaps of -2.5 11/10 and -3.5 7/4 for Trump could be the way to play this match.

Semi-Finals (11 frames)

Judd Trump v John Higgins 1pm UK time

Double European Open winner (2017 and 2016) Judd Trump takes on John Higgins in today's eleven frame semi-final in what promises to be a hard-fought match. Higgins won the European Open way back in 1997 so would appear to be due another title. This is the first time Higgins has made it past the quarter-finals in this event since 2016. 

Higgins holds a 23-18 advantage over Trump on the head to head in all competitons stretching back to 2008. They've met in six semi-finals and Trump has won four of those encounters to Higgins's two. In matches of 11 frames the head to head is: Trump 4 Higgins 3 but Trump has won the last four meetings over this number of frames.

The bookies expect a close match with a best of 8/11 Trump and Higgins 13/10. The bet in the match might be over 9 frames at Evens as there have been ten frames or more in five of their seven matches over this many frames. Alternatively a correct score of Trump 6-3 or 6-4 - this bet would have been a winner the last three times these players met.

Mark Selby v Barry Hawkins 7pm UK time

Surprisingly the head to head in all matches going back to 2007 between these players is 17-16 in favour of Hawkins. The pair have met in two semi-finals with the score at one apiece. Over today's distance of 11 frames the two players are locked together again at 2-2. 

This is Barry Hawkins' first appearance at the semi-final stage since this event last year when he beat Mark Williams 6-2. Hawkins eventually lost 9-3 in the Final to Kyren Wilson. Mark Selby has only lost a maximum of two frames in his five matches up to now but is yet to play anyone of the quality of Barry Hawkins. In contrast, Hawkins has had some tough games including beating new World Champion, Luca Brecel, 5-4. 

The bookies make Selby the strong favourite here at around 1/2. Given the head to head between the two players it might be worth chancing Hawkins to come out on top at odds of around 7/4.

Quarter Finals

The tie of the quarter-finals was undoubtedly between reigning champion, Kyren Wilson and former World Champion, John Higgins. The veteran Scot hit two centuries and five breaks over 50 to beat Wilson 5-3. Higgins is looking for his first victory in a ranking event since the Players Championship in February 2021.

Judd Trump brought the run of Ashley Carty to a close with a 5-1 victory and sets up a mouth-watering clash with John Higgins in the first semi-final. Twenty-eight-year-old Carty was making his first appearance in a ranking quarter-final after beating Joe O'Connor, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Ricky Walden.

Barry Hawkins saw off Noppon Saengkham 5-2 in a high quality match that saw one century and six other breaks over fifty.

European Masters champion in 2020, Mark Selby made a century when easing through 5-2 against Lyu Haotian.

John Higgins 5 Kyren Wilson 3

Judd Trump 5 Ashley Carty 1

Mark Selby 5 Lyu Haotian 2

Barry Hawkins 5 Noppon Saengkham 2

Round 4

Kyren Wilson's defence of this title is looking very healthy as he breezed through 5-0 against Duane Jones, knocking in two centuries on the way. Wilson has now only dropped two frames in his first three matches. 

The tie of the round was undoubtedly the match-up between two former World Champions: John Higgins and Shaun Murphy. Higgins went through comfortably in the end, 5-2, after making breaks of 126 and 120. Higgins now plays defending champion, Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals.

Judd Trump quickly got over his scare in the last round, whitewashing Ben Woolaston with breaks of 78, 106 and 76.

Barry Hawkins held his nerve to secure a 5-4 victory over World Champion, Luca Brecel. Despite winning four frames, Brecel didn't make one break over 50.

Kyren Wilson 5 Duane Jones 0

John Higgins 5 Shaun Murphy 2

Judd Trump 5 Ben Woollaston 0

Ashley Carty 5 Ricky Walden 3

Lyu Haotian 5 David Gilbert 1

Mark Selby 5 Ashley Hugill 2

Noppon Saengkham 5 Jimmy Robertson 4

Barry Hawkins 5 Luca Brecel 4

Round 3

Of the remaining big names only Mark Williams met defeat in Round 3 although Judd Trump, Luca Brecel and David Gilbert all only managed to get through via final frame deciders. Trump did brilliantly to qualify having been 4-0 down against Shootout winner, Chris Wakelin. In fact, eight of the sixteen round three ties finished 5-4.

Kyren Wilson 5 Si Jiahui 0

Duane Jones 5 Allan Taylor 3

John Higgins 5 Zhou Yuelong 2

Shaun Murphy 5 Ross Muir 0

Judd Trump 5 Chris Wakelin 4

Ben Woollaston 5 Tom Ford 4

Ricky Walden 5 Michael White 4

Ashley Carty 5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 1

Lyu Haotian 5 Andy Hicks 4

David Gilbert 5 Ben Mertens 4

Ashley Hugill 5 Xiao Guodong 4

Mark Selby 5 Anthony Hamilton 1

Noppon Saengkham 5 Wu Yize 2

Jimmy Robertson 5 Mark Williams 4

Barry Hawkins 5 Zak Surety 1

Luca Brecel 5 Robbie Williams 4

Round 2

A number of big names fell by the wayside during the first round actually played in Nuremberg. 16th seed, Hossein Vafaei managed only 51 points in a whitewash by Allan Taylor whilst reigning UK Champion and 4th seed, Mark Allen fared even worse when managing just 17 points against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Jack Lisowski continued his frustrating run of form when losing out in a final frame decider to Michael White. Stuart Bingham and Ali Carter also headed home after just one match.

There were good wins for Ricky Walden, who made three centuries in four frames in his 5-3 win over Jamie Jones and for Zak Surety who came back from 4-0 down to beat Jiang Jun 5-4.

Kyren Wilson 5 Alfie Burden 2

Si Jihahui 5 Ken Doherty 3

Allan Taylor 5 Hossein Vafaei 0

Duane Jones 5 Dominic Dale 1

Zhou Yuelong 5 Andrew Higginson 1

John Higgins 5 Dylan Emery 1 

Ross Muir 5 Joe Perry 3

Shaun Murphy 5 Daniel Wells 2

Judd Trump 5 Jordan Brown 0

Chris Wakelin 5 Aaron Hill 0

Ben Woollaston 5 Xu Si 1

Tom Ford 5 Oliver Brown 2

Ricky Walden 5 Jamie Jones 3

Michael White 5 Jack Lisowski 4

Ashley Carty 5 Joe O'Connor 4

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5 Mark Allen 0

Andy Hicks 5 Peng Yisong 2

Lyu Haotian 5 Elliot Slessor 4

Ben Mertens 5 Sanderson Lam 3

David Gilbert 5 Reanne Evans 1

Xiao Guodong 5 Stuart Bingham 3

Ashley Hugill 5 Ali Carter 4

Mark Selby 5 Adam Duffy 1

Wu Yize w/o Liu Hongyu (withdrew due to visa issues)

Noppon Saengkham 5 Mark Davis 2

Mark Williams 5 Matthew Stevens 3

Jimmy Robertson 5 Scott Donaldson 0

Barry Hawkins 5 James Cahill 3

Zak Surety 5 Jiang Jun 4

Robbie Williams 5 Pang Junxu 1

Luca Brecel 5 Ishpreet Singh Chadha 3

The qualifying for the European Masters was played at the Morningside Arena in Leicester between 25th and 29th July. 

Amongst the top players to be eliminated in Leicester were: Anthony McGill, Robert Milkins, Gary Wilson and Ryan Day.

Neil Robertson lost his qualifying match (held over to Nuremberg) 5-2 to Wu Yize. Robertson's cue was mislaid on the flight over and then due to language difficulties with his taxi driver, only made it to the venue with five minutes to spare.

Sean O'Sullivan made the first maximum break of the season when losing 5-2 to Barry Hawkins

We have some excellent snooker tipsters on OLBG so why not head over to our best snooker tipsters page to see which of the top tipsters have tips on the European Masters. The highlighted tipsters have shown a recent profit with their snooker tips.

Previous Winners of the European Masters

Details of the last eight renewals of the European Masters:

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European Masters Format

• Matches played up to and including the Quarter Finals will be played over nine frames
• The semi-finals will be played over eleven frames
• The final will be played over seventeen frames

All the current tips on OLBG for the European Masters and other snooker events can be found on the snooker best tips page.

European Masters August 2022: Results

Kyren Wilson won his first ranking event in nearly two years when overpowering Barry Hawkins 9-3 in the final of the European Masters in Germany. Amazingly Wilson won the title with only one break over fifty in the twelve frames played!

Full results from the quarter-finals onwards:

• Final: Kyren Wilson 9 Barry Hawkins 3 (Highest Break in the Final: 64 by Hawkins in Frame Nine)

• Semi Final: Kyren Wilson 6 Ali Carter 5
• Semi FInal: Barry Hawkins 6 Mark Williams 2

• Quarter Final: Kyren Wilson 5 Si Jiahui 2
• Quarter Final: Ali Carter 5 Wu Yize 3
• Quarter Final: Barry Hawkins 5 Judd Trump 3
• Quarter Final: Mark Williams 5 Jamie Jones 1

European Masters History

The European Masters has been played intermittently since 1989 when John Parrott beat Terry Griffiths 9-8 in the inaugural event in Deauville, France (The tournament was known at that time as the European Open).

After that initial event in France this tournament has been played in the Netherlands, Belgium, Malta, Ireland, Romania, England and, for 2023, in Nuremberg Germany.

Former champions include Jimmy White, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan amongst others. 

If you are interested in betting on the European Masters you will want to make sure you use the best bookmaker for snooker betting. OLBG have analysed all the top bookies, their offers and coverage of snooker.

Other Snooker Blogs on OLBG

• The Masters
• UK Championship
• Champion Of Champions
• Home Nations Series  (covers Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open, English Open and Welsh Open)
• World Championship
• Player Form In China Since 2015
• Best Matches of the 80s and the 90s
• Maximum Breaks
• Snooker Earnings