German Masters Snooker 2022 | Day Two Preview and Order of Play

Jamie Shaw in German Masters 27 January 2022

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Ricky Walden stuns Neil Robertson at the German Masters as Williams and Maguire also depart

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German Masters Snooker 2022 | Day Three Preview and Order of Play

Trump is through to his second ranking final in two weeks (Photo by John Walton/PA Images)

A host of decorated stars kick off their campaigns at the 2022 German Masters in Berlin on Thursday.

Day Two of the season’s ninth ranking event features a further eight Last 32 ties, before the Last 16 gets under way in the evening at the Tempodrom.

The morning session sees reigning World Champion Mark Selby take on Norwich veteran Barry Pinches – who is incredibly making his first appearance in this competition.

Selby lost in the inaugural final here back in 2011 before getting his hands on the trophy four years later and has ended a two-year run of having failed to qualify for the main draw.

Pinches, 51, defeated Jamie Jones and John Astley in last October’s qualifying rounds in Cannock to seal his place in the Last 32.

Northern Ireland Open champion Mark Allen opens up against Chinese star Lyu Haotian, with ‘The Pistol’ looking to improve on a poor record in this event which has seen him fail to progress beyond the Second Round stage in eight previous appearances.

Lyu, meanwhile, is making his debut at the Tempodrom and is a two-time ranking event semi-finalist.

Former Indian Open quarter-finalist Liam Highfield faces debutant Fan Zhengyi for the right to face Andrew Higginson in the Last 16, with Liang Wenbo having withdrawn from the event, handing Higginson a bye.

Shaun Murphy, runner-up here in 2015, starts out against Norway’s Kurt Maflin – making only his second ranking event appearance of the season, with the first having resulted in a First Round exit at the UK Championship.

Noppon Saengkham looks to register his first win at this venue when he faces 2014 semi-finalist Ryan Day – who lost in the opening round of the Shoot Out last week as defending champion.

Ken Doherty, runner-up in the original staging of the German Masters back in 1995, takes on the highly-rated Sam Craigie – making his debut in this famous arena.

Yan Bingtao, the 2020 Masters champion, takes on 2019 German Masters runner-up David Gilbert in one of the stand-out ties of the Last 32.

Top seed Judd Trump is bidding to become the first player to win three consecutive German Masters titles and puts his unbeaten run on the line against Zhou Yuelong in the Last 16.

Trump was handed a bye into the Last 16 after his scheduled opponent Gao Yang withdrew, and the 22-time ranking event winner has dominated this event in recent years, reaching at least the Quarter-Final stage in all but two of his ten previous appearances.

Two-time ranking event finalist Zhou pulled off an impressive 5-2 win over world number 14 Anthony McGill on Wednesday to reach the Second Round here for the first time.

Reigning UK Champion Zhao Xintong continues his latest quest for ranking silverware with a clash against former UK Championship semi-finalist Tom Ford.

Zhao enjoyed a fine win over two-time champion Mark Williams on the opening day, while Ford swept aside 2012 finalist Stephen Maguire 5-2.

Kyren Wilson, the 2019 champion, looks to pick up from where he left off in thrashing Jimmy Robertson on Day One when he meets Craig Steadman – making his first appearance in the event for the a decade and already enjoying his best run of the season so far.

Scottish Open champion Luca Brecel, runner-up here back in 2016, takes on a resurgent Ricky Walden – who knocked out Masters champion Neil Robertson in his opener with a 124 clearance to seal victory.

The action gets under way from 9am GMT, with all matches to be contested over the best of nine frames.

WATCH DAY TWO OF THE GERMAN MASTERS STREAMED LIVE (18+)