As ever with the snooker world, as one ranking event concludes on the Sunday another one begins on the Monday and this week it is the turn of the World Grand Prix, an event for the leading 32 players of the season so far.
Ronnie O’Sullivan was crowned champion 12 months ago and he will attempt to defend the title at a new venue with the event moving to the Centaur Building at the Cheltenham Racecourse. The best 31 players of the season will look to dethrone him.
Recent Winners
2018 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2017 – Barry Hawkins
2016 – Shaun Murphy
2015 – Judd Trump
The Format
We begin the week over the best of seven frames with the first two rounds of the event being over that distance. We move up to the best of nine for the quarter finals and then up again to the best of 11 for the semis. The champion is then crowned on Sunday over two sessions and the best of 19 frames. The competition is a knockout throughout and the draw has been predetermined based on each man’s position in the one year order of merit.
Top Quarter
Mark Allen has won the most money so far this season and as such he is the number one seed and in the top quarter of the draw. He is in a competitive little section but one of the beauties of this tournament is that because the draw isn’t on the world ranking we get matches like Jack Lisowski against Ding Junhui in the first round. That takes part in this quarter too.
Elsewhere in the quarter there are potential tournament winners in Ali Carter and Yan Bingtao while Dave Gilbert will fancy his chances if the loss in the final of the German Masters isn’t lingering in his system for too long. Martin O’Donnell and Gary Wilson complete the list of names in the top quarter this week.
Second Quarter
Given that it is the 32 form players in the tournament no quarter is going to be particularly easy this week but it might be that this second quarter is the most open. Neil Robertson is a high seed in it but world champion Mark Williams is also housed here too. German Masters semi-finalist Stephen Maguire will be eyeing up another good run here.
European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson sets the standard of those outside the top 16 in this quarter. He faces the man who made the final of the following event in the first round in Mark Davis. Chinese pair Xiao Guodong and Yuan Sijun will look for big weeks here while Mark King will be looking to show that he isn’t making up the numbers.
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Third Quarter
As the seedings for this tournament are on the one-year list there was always going to be a monster of a quarter and we’ve found it with the third one. Mark Selby is the leading player from the money list here but he has landed Shaun Murphy in a brutal first round draw. John Higgins and Judd Trump are also in this quarter so whoever comes through here will have played very well indeed.
You almost feel sorry for the players outside the top 16 in this part of the draw given the quality that is in it. Joe Perry is the leading light. The European Masters finalist is joined by the competent Noppon Saengkham, his first round opponent Tom Ford and the English player Stuart Carrington who has got in ranked 27 on the list.
Bottom Quarter
It is all about the defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in this bottom quarter but he isn’t going to have it completely his own way this week because there are four members of the top 16 looking to get rid of him. German Masters champion Kyren Wilson is in here as is the English Open winner Stuart Bingham. Barry Hawkins and Ryan Day complete a competitive looking section.
The other three players to have qualified for this tournament in the bottom quarter are the rejuvenated Matthew Stevens, the highly talented Chinese youngster Zhao Xintong and Marco Fu, who is still struggling but his few wins this term came in the right tournaments to get him into this event.
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Betting
Two men catch my eye this week and they are both in the top half, safely away from the likes of Trump, O’Sullivan, Selby and Higgins. The first of those is Ding Junhui who is a big price at 20/1. He can only be this price because he has Jack Lisowski in the first round but he gave him a good going over in the opening round in The Masters last month and if he repeats the feat the draw might open up a little bit for him. Mark Allen is an obvious danger but with the 32 form men in the tournament there isn’t going to be an easy route. Ding made the semi-finals at Ally Pally, the quarters last week so he’s coming back into form and is primed to give this a good go.
Stephen Maguire played well in Germany last week and I can’t ignore him at 50/1 this week. He’s in a competitive but probably the weakest of the four quarters so if he can continue his form from Berlin then he is entitled to have a big say in this tournament. Maguire is proven over the best of sevens. His best form in recent times have been in tournaments with this format and I get the feeling he’s ready for another big title bid. I’ll pay to see how close he goes here at 50/1.
Tips
Back D.Junhui to win World Grand Prix (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back S.Maguire to win World Grand Prix (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 51.00 with Betway (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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