German Masters Final

Ali carter was the toast of The Tempodrome in Berlin last night as he defeated 9-6 Marco Fu to claim the 2013 German Masters title.

This was a battle between two players who had been lauded in their early careers as been potential giants of the game but although both have won ranking titles neither has lived up to that early potential.Of course for Carter,who is fighting an ongoing battle with Chrones disease the fact that he has been able to compete at such a high level at all is tribute to his dedication as a professional.

This was his third ranking title success and he saved his best form of the week for last nights second session.He had begun the evening trailing 5-3 from the afternoon session which was probably a fair reflection on how they had both played but back to back centuries soon leveled matters at 5-5.That became 6-5 in the next as Cater took the lead in the match for the first time.Fu was now all at sea as his rhythm deserted him.He did manage to take the last before the interval to make it 6-6 but any hopes that this would spark a revival were short lived as Cater reeled of the three he needed to record the 9-6 win.

In truth this tournament didn't live up to the standard of two previous events we have seen at The Tempodrome but nonetheless the grateful German public enthusiastically flocked to the venue once again and gave all the players an ovation they will be unlikely experience anywhere else this year.It certainly seems to be the case that the audiences in Europe are less concerned about who they see play,rather they are just happy to be getting the chance to see live snooker.

It will be interesting to see how the crowds compare at the Welsh Open next week in a place that, after all  was one of the games traditional hot beds.