Ben Woollaston has got an enviable record at the German Masters – but this time he wants even more.
The world number 33 has reached the latter stages of the tournament at The Tempodrom in four of the last five seasons and in the past two visits to Berlin has slayed giants Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson in the opening round.
This time around he faces another top star in the shape of Judd Trump first up and while making it a hat-trick of giant killings is his first objective, he’s got even higher hopes to get through to real business end of the event.
“I don’t want to just keep winning matches, I want to go really deep in one of these big tournaments soon,” Woollaston told The Sportsman.
“I’m feeling positive about my game and know that if I play my best, I’ll have a great chance.
“I beat him (Trump) last week in the Championship League but that’s the only time I’ve beaten him as a professional. We played lots of times as juniors and I know what a top player he is.
After a disappointing semi-final exit at The Masters, Trump lost in his most recent match to Jak Jones in the qualifiers of the China Open but Ben said: “He loses matches you can’t believe sometimes, but I don’t think you can read too much into the qualifiers.
“I think they are most difficult for the top players because they’re such a big come down from the main TV table matches – I know Judd is one of the top three or four players in the world and it will be tough.”
Like many other players, Ben is focusing on this event as one of the tournaments as a run-in to the end of the season.
He said: “The crowd are always brilliant (in Berlin) – it feels like a really big tournament and I’m excited to play.
“There are only three or four big tournaments to go before the World Championship and your main aim every season is always to get to The Crucible, so it’s certainly in the back of my mind.”
