Neil Robertson was the most successful of the Grove players. He lost by 6-2 in the semi-final to Mark Allen, the eventual champion. Neil had beaten Mark Selby by 5-2 in the previous round (QF).

The other Grove players didn’t have much success. Judd Trump and Ding Junhui lost in round 1 proper, whilst Ali Carter and Jack Lisowski failed to qualify.

All detailed results are available on snooker.org

All Grove players entered the event.
Ali Carter and Luca Brecel needed to qualify for the main event. Ali managed it but Luca was beaten by 10-5 in the last qualifying round by Stuart Bingham who went on to reach the semi-finals of the main event.

Stuart Bingham was also responsible for Ding Junhui’s demise in the first round of the main event: their high-quality match went to a deciding frame.
Ali Carter and Jack Lisowski clashed in the first round of the event proper, with Jack emerging as the winner. That match also went all the way. This was only Jack’s second win at the Crucible. Jack faced another stablemate in the second round where he was beaten by Neil Robertson.

Both Neil Robertson and Judd Trump were tipped as tournaments favourites, but they both lost in the quarter-finals.
After beating Liam Highfield by 10-4 in the first round, and David Gilbert by 13-8 in the second round, Judd bowed out to the eventual runner-up, Shaun Murphy. The score was 13-11. After the match, Judd honestly admitted that he had not been good enough. Neil Robertson lost by 13-8 to Kyren Wilson.

All detailed results for both the main and qualifying events are available on snooker.org

The first session was shared. Both were playing well enough, and although Neil was the better player, it didn’t show in the scores; Neil lead 4-2 but was pegged back to 4-4. Both had three breaks over 50, including two centuries each: 128 and 133 for Ronnie, 103 and 133 for Neil. At that point, all the signs were pointing towards a close match and a late finish.
The evening session though was completely different. Neil stepped up a gear, or two … or three, whilst Ronnie’s level dipped and, being kept cold in his chair didn’t help him. Neil was relentless, he scored breaks of 93, 75, 123, 119, and 114, restricting his opponent to a mere 26 points over the entire session.

Neil Robertson was obviously happy with his performance and the state of his game ahead of the Crucible: “Considering the opposition, it is the best I’ve played in a final. The Champion of Champions final with Judd Trump was up there, but that was a more complete performance. I didn’t really miss anything in the whole match. It is very pleasing knowing I’m capable of doing that going into the World Championship. I was just in the zone from the get go. It was somewhat made easier because I knew my preparation was really good. This week it was all about putting a lot of things in place so I could have the best chance of winning the World Championship as possible. That was about playing every match and session on my terms. It’s only going to motivate Ronnie more in the World Championship. He is going to be going there so determined. He may not say it, but that is going to really annoy him and fire him up. I feel sorry for whoever he is going to play in the first couple of rounds.”

Ahead of his first match, Neil had given this very emotional interview, explaining how hard it had been for him to be unable to see his family for nearly two years, and how much it mattered to him to be reunited with his father: it gave him a huge motivation ahead of the coming World Championship.

Jack Lisowski and Judd Trump were the other two Grove players involved in the eighth men event. Both lost in the first round.
All detailed results are available on snooker.org

The tournament was played from 1 to 7 March 2021. It saw the return to professional competition of the seven times World Champion, Stephen Hendry, nearly nine years after retiring from the sport, following his defeat to Stephen Maguire in the QF at the Crucible in April 2012.

This was Judd’s 22nd ranking title. He is now joint fifth – with Mark Williams – on the all-time list. This was the third time that Judd and Jack were meeting in a final this season, Judd winning each time. It was actually the first time that the same two players had met three times in a final in a single season.

Judd was pretty happy with his performance throughout the tournament and praised his opponent:

“I’m pretty happy with how I played throughout the tournament. I played pretty solidly,” said 31-year-old Trump.

“I had a tough semi-final against Matt Selt, as he was playing some brilliant stuff. I was just solid again in the final against Jack. I know how good he is, it is about getting that quick start and putting him under pressure. He only really missed one ball and I capitalised on every mistake.

“All he can do is keep putting himself in that position. Sooner or later he will get me on a bad day, someone else on a bad day or just play out of his skin. Every event is a massive learning curve for him. He knows each time he has to go away and up his standard until he reaches that level where he wants to be at, the best in the world.

“I didn’t even consider winning 22 ranking titles two or three years ago. I was winning one or two events a year and if I finished my career with 20 or 25 events I would have been over the moon. Fast forward three years and 14 events later and I’ve taken the game by storm. It is important for me to keep it up as much as possible.”

(Source: WST)

Neil Robertson’s poor run since he won the UK championship in December 2020 continued as he lost in the first round to Lei Peifan
Luca Brecel went one round further but lost to Shaun Murphy.
Ali Carter reached the last 32. He went out to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

All detailed results can be found on snooker.org

After his last 32 defeat in the 2021 Welsh Open, Judd had complained about the conditions at Celtic Manor, saying that they were much better in Milton Keynes. Back in Milton Keynes though, his title defense was short-lived as he was beaten 6-5 in the first round by Stuart Bingham. Ding Junhui also went out in the first round, by the same score, at the hands of Ronnie O’Sullivan.

It was also Ronnie O’Sullivan who ended the hopes of Jack Lisowski in the quarter-finals: he beat him by 6-1, in a match that featured 8 breaks over 50 in 7 frames, including two centuries.

Neil Robertson who had scored 4 centuries – 135, 130, 142, 132 – in beating Lu Ning in the first round, was beaten in the next round By Kyren Wilson (6-2).

All detailed results are available on snooker.org

It wasn’t a particularly “happy” event for the Grove team. Neil Robertson withdrew, citing personal reasons.
Judd Trump was beaten by Hossein Vafaei, by 4-2, in the last 32 round. This was the first time that Judd had failed to reach at least the quarter-finals during the 2020/21 season. It did also put an end to a remarkable run of 28 consecutive wins in best-of-seven matches.
Ali Carter was the most successful Grove player and, also, the unluckiest. He reached the quarter-finals, having beaten Mark Allen and John Higgins en route, and was due to play Ronnie O’Sullivan. Unfortunately, he was forced to withdraw, as he was taken ill. His illness was not related to do with the covid-19 crisis.

All detailed results are available on snooker.org.

The match wasn’t as one-sided as the score suggests: quite a number of frames were close. The worrying thing for Jack is that, despite getting chances, he didn’t win any of them, he missed all the crucial balls.
Judd was obviously delighted and paid tribute to Brandon Parker: “It is incredible, another win. It was obviously tough for me and Jack to both miss the Masters. It was nice that we both got to the final in this one. It’s always tough playing against him, being my friend. It’s never going to be as enjoyable as winning against somebody else. It is a game you always have to play your best in. I’m enjoying my snooker. Whenever you win, you are always going to enjoy it. It is just important for me to keep doing the right things. I’ve not stopped practising hard. I’ve kept up that momentum. I’ve not rested at all over the last couple of years. I’ve put the work in and am fully getting the rewards. Brandon was someone who created snooker in the European countries. He started off with some minor events and in the end he turned the German Masters into a fully-fledged ranking event. Berlin was a really special place for the German Masters. I can remember last year, he was so proud of what he had achieved.”
Jack tried to stay positive: “I’m not going to get too down on myself. There are a lot of events coming up and it is a good time to be hitting form. I’m definitely doing that. Hopefully, I can nick a title soon, as long as I don’t keep running into Judd in finals!”. (quotes source: WST)

Ding Junhui and Luca Brecel were the other two Grove players involved in the tournament. Judd had beaten Ding by 5-3 in the quarte-finals, whilst Luca had lost by 5-2 to Jack at the last-16 stage.

all detailed results are available on snooker.org

The tournament was played under social distancing rules at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes from December, 14 to December 20, 2020.
Neil Robertson was the defending champion but lost by 4-2 to Robert Milkins in the first round (last 32). Ding progressed to the last 16 where he lost to Hossein Vafaei, by 4-1.

The two remaining Grove players in the tournament, Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski went all the way to contest the final. Each of them faced a potentially tough task in the semi-finals: Judd beat Ronnie O’Sullivan by 6-1, whilst Jack got the better of Mark Selby, winning the match by 6-4.

The Final looked to be a one-sided affair when Judd lead by 7-2, but Jack showed a lot of heart and battled his way back to 7-5 and 8-7. Judd however eventually prevailed, winning by 10-7. It was a great match and both finalists were happy with their performance.
Speaking after the match:

Jack said:

I upped my game tonight and put him under pressure, I was on a roll. But I lost a couple of frames from 50 or 60 ahead. The clearance he made to go 8-6 was ridiculous. I’m pleased to have pushed the best player in the world and made him work for it. It has been an amazing week and my game is going in the right direction.

And Judd added:

It was an extremely good game, Jack made it very hard for me,” said Trump. “He played some of the best snooker I have ever seen, everything he looked at was going in. I had to make a couple of really good clearances. The clearance to go 8-6 was massive because I didn’t want him to get back level.I had to stay patient tonight and capitalise on the tiny mistakes he made. I’m proud of the way I held myself together and barely missed a ball. That shows the level I had to play to because I still lost the session 5-4. If he keeps playing like that I have no doubt he will be in the top five in the world in no time.
This is the best start I have ever made to a season and there isn’t much I can improve on. I just have to keep trying to play to this level, keep up the hunger, the ambition, and the enjoyment, then hopefully more success will come. When you are number one in the world you have to keep practicing because everyone is chasing you, so you can’t let up. The only way to stay on top is to practise harder than everyone else

All detailed results are available on snooker.org.

All detailed results can be found on Snooker.org