One day on from the German Masters finishing, the Coral Series begins with the World Grand Prix taking place as the leading 32 players on the season head to the Cheltenham Racecourse for the first of three lucrative events that will shape the remainder of the campaign.
It was a profitable week for Judd Trump last year when he saw off Ali Carter to land the title before going on to claim the World Championship crown later in the season. He is back to defend a title which might take some winning to be fair.
Recent Winners
2019 – Judd Trump
2018 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2017 – Barry Hawkins
2016 – Stuart Bingham
2015 – Judd Trump
The Format
The top 32 money earners on the season so far make up the draw and the players have gone into the bracket placed where they are in that money list rather than their world ranking which is why Ronnie O’Sullivan for example is seeded at 22 and why we get the likes of Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins meeting in the first round.
The first two rounds of the tournament are played over the best of seven frames over the first four days of competition before the quarter finals see the format increasing up to the best of nine. The two semi-finals take place on Friday and Saturday evening over the best of 11 frames and then the winner of this first leg of the Coral Series is crowned over two sessions and the best of 19 frames on Sunday.
Top Quarter
As the defending champion it is Judd Trump who is the number one seed this week and as such he is in the top quarter of the draw. He doesn’t necessarily have the easiest passage through to the latter stages though because the likes of Kyren Wilson, Jack Lisowski, John Higgins and Stuart Bingham are all in the top 16 of the world rankings and in this part of the draw. The other three men in this section are a Chinese trio in Li Hang, Riga Masters champion Yan Bingtao and the extremely talented Zhao Xintong.
Second Quarter
It is the UK Championship winner Ding Junhui who heads up the seeding in this portion of the tournament. He is marginally ahead of the European Masters and Champion of Champions trophy holder Neil Robertson and they could meet in a juicy quarter final match up. Three other members of the top 16 are also in this quarter of the draw in terms of Mark Williams, Barry Hawkins and Joe Perry. The other three men include runner up at The Masters, Ali Carter, Scott Donaldson, who will be looking for a third win over Ding Junhui in as many weeks, and Michael Holt.
Third Quarter
This is the absolute minefield of a quarter. English and Scottish Open winner Mark Selby is the top seed in it and sets a decent standard while Mark Allen is scheduled to meet him in the quarter final. There is a certain Ronnie O’Sullivan who will be out to stop that from happening though. Dave Gilbert is in good nick and he’s also in this quarter as well. The other four men should offer up a competitive outlook too as Xiao Guodong, Graeme Dott, Kurt Maflin and Liang Wenbo are all having solid campaigns even if they haven’t been spectacular.
Bottom Quarter
Shaun Murphy was the main man in the first half of the season and he goes in here as the number two seed and top of the bottom quarter. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is the next highest seed in a section of the draw which actually lacks top 16 players with Stephen Maguire the only member of that elite club who is in this quarter. World Championship semi-finalist Gary Wilson is here as are Matt Selt, Matthew Stevens, Tom Ford and Zhou Yuelong so this is a competitive section rather than spectacular.
Outright Betting
I’ll take a player in each half of the draw this week with the top half man being The Masters champion Stuart Bingham. He looked to have fuel in his fire at Alexandra Palace and as a student of the game he’ll know the difference going well in these three tournaments can make. He is only the 24 seed coming in this week though so he is going to need to come through a few rounds if he is going to push on and make it to Southport for the next leg of this series. We saw Judd Trump go from strength to strength after winning The Masters and while Bingham doesn’t have the easiest draw of them all, the fact he’s just come through a tournament with the top 16 in it should mean he isn’t worried by that. 28/1 feels big on Bingham this week.
I am almost compelled to take someone in the bottom quarter this week because it looks so wide open. Shaun Murphy is the top seed in it but he comes in here off the back of a potentially damaging defeat to Neil Robertson in Germany. One man who doesn’t seem to let anything get to him is Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and the early format of this tournament is tailor made for him. He showed in China earlier in the season that he can go deep in a competition and with his early draw not the worst the 66/1 on him should be covered as well.
Quarter Betting
I’ll have a little bit more on Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to win the bottom quarter. As I’ve highlighted, Shaun Murphy is the favourite and rightly so for the season he has had but I sense he isn’t quite at the form he was in during the early stages of the campaign so I wouldn’t be completely surprised if he falls foul of the early lottery like format. Stephen Maguire is a danger it has to be said while Gary Wilson shouldn’t be ruled out.
I like Un-Nooh though. The best of sevens suit him very nicely and he has a couple of them to get warmed up for the week. I like the Thai outright but I appreciate he could run into Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-final which would not be helpful to our chances of landing a pay-out so to make sure I’ve got some coin in the pocket should that happen I’ll take the classy potter to come through this quarter at an acceptable 11/2.
Tips
Back S.Bingham to win World Grand Prix (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back T.Un-Nooh to win World Grand Prix (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back T.Un-Nooh to win 4th Quarter for a 2/10 stake at 6.50 with Sky Bet
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