2025 German Masters
The 2025 German Masters was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 27 January to 2 February 2025 at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany. The 12th ranking event of the 202425 season, following the 2024 Scottish Open and preceding the 2025 Welsh Open, it was broadcast by Eurosport and Discovery+ in Europe and by other broadcasters internationally. The winner received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £550,400, the Brandon Parker trophy, and a place in the 2025 Champion of Champions invitational event.
Judd Trump was the defending champion, having defeated Si Jiahui 105 in the 2024 final, but Trump lost 25 to Neil Robertson in the last 16. For the first time in the tournament's history, the final went to a deciding frame. Kyren Wilson, the reigning World Champion, defeated Barry Hawkins 109 to win the tournament for a second time, following his previous victory in 2019. It was the ninth ranking title of Wilson's professional career. The event produced 101 century breaks, 31 during the qualifying stage and 70 at the main stage. The highest break of the tournament was a 145 by Si in his last64 match against Ken Doherty.
Overview
The event took place from 27 January to 2 February 2025 at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany, with qualifying having been held from 16 to 19 December 2024 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. The twelfth ranking event of the 202425 season, and the only major tournament of the season to be held in mainland Europe, the tournament is the fifteenth edition of the German Masters since 2011. Originally created as the ranking German Open in 1995, and held for three consecutive years in different cities, it was renamed the German Masters in 1998 and held as a nonranking event before being discontinued thereafter. It was revived as the ranking German Masters in 2011 and since then has been held at the Tempodrom in Berlin. In 2021, the trophy was named after former World Snooker Tour director Brandon Parker, who died in 2020.The defending champion was Judd Trump, who won his record third German Masters title in 2024, winning the final 105 against China's Si Jiahui who was contesting his first ranking final. Trump was beaten 25 by Neil Robertson in the last16 round.
Format
The WST implemented a new format for the four Home Nations events and the German Masters this season. In qualifying round one, players seeded 6596 face those seeded 97128. In qualifying round two, the 32 round one winners play those seeded 3364. The 32 round two winners then play the top 32 seeds in the first round of the main stage.All matches up to and including the quarterfinals were played as best of nine. The semifinals were best of 11, and the final was a bestof19 frame match played over two.
Broadcasters
The qualifying rounds were broadcast by Discovery+ in Europe and by the CBSAWPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, the CBSAWPBSA Academy Douyin and Huya Live in China. They were available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories.The main event was broadcast by Eurosport and Discovery+ in Europe ; by the CBSAWPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, the CBSAWPBSA Academy Douyin, Huya Live and in China; by Now TV in Hong Kong; by Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; by True Sports in Thailand; by TAP in the Philippines; and by Sportcast in Taiwan. It was available on WST Play in all other territories.
Prize fund
The tournament winner received the Brandon Parker trophy and £100,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event, an increase of £123,400 from the previous event, is shown below:- Winner: £100,000
- Runner-up: £45,000
- Semi-final: £21,000
- Quarter-final: £13,200
- Last 16: £9,000
- Last 32: £5,400
- Last 64: £3,600
- Last 96: £1,000
- Highest break: £5,000
- Total: £550,400
Summary
Qualifying
Round 1
Reigning Women's World Champion Bai Yulu recorded another win in her debut professional season as she defeated Liam Pullen in a to win 54. 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty secured his first victory of the season, beating Oliver Lines 54 on the deciding, despite having led 40. In a match between two rookies, Latvian player Artemijs Žižins defeated Indian professional Kreishh Gurbaxani 54, while Belgian Julien Leclercq made a high break of 131 in beating Jimmy White 52. Other results included victories for Stuart Carrington and Stan Moody, over Manasawin Phetmalaikul and Ahmed Aly Elsayed respectively. Recent 2024 Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan was defeated 35 by Allan Taylor. Amateur Joshua Thomond defeated Belgian Ben Mertens on a respotted in the to win 54. Reanne Evans won her first match of the season, defeating Amir Sarkhosh 53. Day three saw amateurs Iulian Boiko and Dylan Emery both win 52 over Michael Holt and Louis Heathcote respectively, while 2024 Shoot Out finalist Liam Graham recovered from 04 down to defeat Ma Hailong 54.Round 2
Doherty defeated Jordan Brown 54, winning his second match in a row in a deciding frame. Dominic Dale beat Zak Surety 53 and Žižins beat Matthew Selt 54, the final red in the deciding frame. Scots Anthony McGill & Graeme Dott both won their first games 50, with wins over Haydon Pinhey and Xing Zihao respectively. Bai lost 15 to compatriot Yuan Sijun despite hitting a break of 128, the highest by a woman on the World Snooker Tour since Allison Fisher in 1992. Irish professional Aaron Hill defeated Moody 54 in a deciding frame that lasted 85 minutes and Xu Si compiled a high break of 142 in his 51 win over Leclercq. Joe O'Connor defeated Evans 51, and Antoni Kowalski whitewashed Martin O'Donnell. Graham beat Sanderson Lam 54; and Englishmen Alfie Burden and David Lilley whitewashed Welshmen Jamie Jones and Liam Davies respectively.Main draw
Last 64
The first round was played on 27 and 28 January. Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ding Junhui, Dominic Dale, He Guoqiang and Hossein Vafaei all withdrew before the event, giving their opponents byes to the next round. Reigning World champion Kyren Wilson met Hong Kong's Cheung Ka Wai, defeating him 53 in what was described as an "errorstrewn performance", while Neil Robertson beat Polish rookie Antoni Kowalski 51. John Higgins made 5 breaks of over 50, including a 124 century break, to defeat Mark Davis 53. Higgins said afterwards "Mark has always been really tough and given me some tough battles. It is always a good game when I play him and that was another one." After leading 41, Zhang Anda defeated Graeme Dott 54, while Zhou Yuelong beat Artemijs Žižins 52. Robert Milkins won 54 against Xu Si and Hammad Miah defeated recent Masters debutant Chris Wakelin 52. Defending champion Judd Trump lost the first two frames in his encounter with David Grace to go 02 behind but ultimately won 53 in a match that included a series of lengthy frames that were described as "attritional". Recent Masters champion Shaun Murphy made two century breaks to Scottish professional Liam Graham 50, saying afterwards "I've had just a couple of days off this week... I didn't want to come here... to this venue that I love so much and lose. I'm delighted with the victory and now we march on." Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Ben Woollaston both recorded whitewash victories as well, defeating Stuart Bingham and David Gilbert respectively. Barry Hawkins overcame Alfie Burden 54, while Jak Jones beat Allan Taylor 53 and Joe O'Connor defeated Stephen Maguire 51.Mark Selby defeated Liu Hongyu 52 and Mark Allen whitewashed David Lilley 50. Allen admitted afterwards that his practice was focused more on the upcoming 2025 World Championship held in Sheffield, England, saying: "To be honest, all eyes are on Sheffield for me now.... Not taking anything away from the events leading up, but I'll be experimenting here and there to see if I can get something to work." Switzerland's Alexander Ursenbacher defeated Jack Lisowski 53, commenting after the match "I've got so many supporters here. I just thought that at some point a German speaking player had to win a match here. It was a big goal for me." Irish professional Aaron Hill defeated twotime German Masters champion Mark Williams 52, making a 115 century break in the seventh frame, saying afterwards "I'm delighted, especially the way I finished off in one visit. It is great to beat someone like Mark Williams". Luca Brecel beat Jiang Jun 52 while Gary Wilson was defeated 45 by Daniel Wells.