This week’s Masters has seen a significant number of its higher seeds defeated in their first round matches where, despite being highly ranked, they are beaten by those considered underdogs in comparison. Previously, it could be fairly accurately determined as to which player would win in a head-to-head but nowadays given how high the standard has become, it’s not so simple anymore.
When Shaun Murphy triumphed over Judd Trump in their Round 1 match this past week, he says the reason that he and others like Perry and Gilbert succeeded in their respective matches was due to how close the gap between rankings have become. Murphy was stating that the difference in skillset and match-play between ranks 1-16, and even beyond have become far slimmer.
This makes it very difficult to predict a winner in any given contest. Looking at Perry vs Ding; based on their head-to-head, rankings and Ding’s recent success, it would seem like one-way traffic. But nowadays, you can’t write off any competitor because shock results can happen at any time. Gilbert, who was the underdog in his match against Allen performed as if there was a role reversal – in his Masters debut! Perhaps this is something that has happened because it is the Masters where the standard is higher than any other tournament; but it’s not just limited to this event.
That’s why the next few years in snooker will be really interesting. Despite his recent minor dry spell, Trump has done very well to dominate in this season thus far. But with the number of tournaments there are, a number which seems to be increasing, is why we probably won’t see one particular face going forward like a Hendry or Davis. Where a player could probably begin a tournament with a couple of easy rounds to cruise through, there’s a high chance that some top seeds can crash out in a best-of-7 straight from the offset.
O’Sullivan also mentioned in an interview after Murphy’s win about the closeness in rankings where there aren’t necessarily any players anymore that are significantly better than the rest. Any player can beat a top seed on any day. He eluded that Hendry was able to get away with this because he was miles ahead of everyone else in the 90s so he could afford to play at 50% and cruise ahead. However, this isn’t something any player could get away with now because anyone, including those at the very top can be toppled. And things will only get more competitive and the gap will continue to close as time goes on.