BURDEN'S SPLENDID ISOLATION

Alfie Burden was fired up for his first visit to the latter stages of the German Masters, having always previously fallen in the qualifiers and never made it to the Tempodrom in Berlin.

Affordable hotel rooms were very scarce in Berlin the week of the tournament, with the International Film Festival and several major trade fairs also taking place in the city.

But world No38 Burden was delighted to have finally secured one very close to what he thought was the venue. Having arrived and checked in he ventured to the Velodrom with his cue for a practice only for the first suspicions to dawn that something was amiss.

Bemused staff at the cycling venue were unable to help and after a couple of phone calls Burden realised that he was in fact out in the eastern suburbs and a good 45-minute taxi ride from the Tempodrom just south of the centre of Berlin.

A couple of very costly taxi fares drove Burden to check out the far more reasonable rates available on the public transport system and the U-Bahn. And though a first-round win over Michael Georgiou made him consider relocating, he stayed put ahead of a stint on the Eurosport studio panel during the Neil Robertson v Xiao Guodong last-16 match.