Ricky Walden forced into last-minute German Masters withdrawal on medical grounds

Ricky Walden has been forced to withdraw from the German Masters ahead of his last 16 clash with Barry Hawkins on medical grounds.

The 42-year-old was due to play the Hawk for a place in the quarter-finals on Thursday morning but will not be appearing at the Tempodrom.

A brief statement from World Snooker Tour read: ‘Ricky Walden has withdrawn from the ongoing Machineseeker German Masters on medical grounds.’

Legendary figure of German snooker Rolf Kalb posted on X: ‘Bad news: Ricky Walden had to be taken to hospital last night and was therefore forced to withdraw from the #GermanMasters.’

The nature of Walden’s medical issue has not been confirmed but the withdrawal will not have been a decision taken lightly ahead of a big game against Hawkins.

Walden has not been to a quarter-final since the 2023 Northern Ireland Open and would have been in with a chance to make the last eight after wins in Berlin over Ryan Day and Dylan Emery.

The three-time ranking event winner had also looked in good form at the Championship League last week, picking up wins over the likes of Xiao Guodong, Zhou Yuelong, Dave Gilbert, Noppon Saengkham and Joe O’Connor.

After his withdrawal Hawkins will get a bye into the quarter-finals where he will play either Wu Yize or Alexander Ursenbacher.

Wu and Ursenbacher will have the Tempodrom to themselves on Thursday morning as a result of the withdrawal.

The afternoon session will see Elliot Slessor face Xiao Guodong, Anthony McGill take on Zhang Anda and Kyren Wilson play Jak Jones in a rematch of last year’s World Championship final.

Thursday evening sees Judd Trump meet Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy play Yuan Sijun and Tom Ford take on Aaron Hill.

After beating Zhou Yuelong on Wednesday, Wilson looked ahead to meeting Jones again after their Crucible showpiece last year.

‘Jak came back at me in the world final and I had to fight hard to keep him at bay,’ said the Warrior. ‘I was under so much pressure in that match. I needed to get the win and the burden of becoming World Champion off my back.

‘I’ve kicked on now. He’s had a good season as well, making a lot of centuries. I’m going to need to play really well.’