The snooker season is building towards a massive conclusion and it gets closer to getting there this week when the World Open takes place out in China. This is the last full field tournament before the World Championship so there is a lot at stake.
Judd Trump won this tournament last year and he’ll be looking to make a successful title defence and set himself up nicely for the Players Series events to follow. A competitive field will be out to stop him landing the crown.
Recent Winners
2024 – Judd Trump
2019 – Judd Trump
2018 – Mark Williams
2017 – Ding Junhui
2016 – Ali Carter
2014 – Shaun Murphy
2013 – Mark Allen
2012 – Mark Allen
2010 – Neil Robertson
The Format
There has been a qualifying round for this tournament so once the held over matches have been played out 64 players will be in the main draw for this event renewal. The first round right the way up to and including the quarter final will be the best of nine frames before the semi-finals take place over the best of 11 frames. The final will be a two-session affair on the Saturday of the tournament over the best of 19 frames. The draw has already been done and the event is a straight knockout.
Top Quarter
As the defending champion Judd Trump is the top seed this week and in the first quarter of the bracket, although as world number one he would have been anyway. He won’t be too disappointed with the quarter he has been handed either because one of the top 16 players in this section bit the dust when Chris Wakelin withdrew. He is still on a collision course with Shaun Murphy though while Ding Junhui will also be in this section should he come through his held over qualifying match.
As in every draw there are some competent players in each quarter and one of those is the Welsh Open quarter finalist Joe O’Connor while Hossein Vafaei will be looking to revive his campaign over the course of the week. Yuan Sijun recently made the semi-final of the German Masters while others who could enjoy a decent week include Matthew Stevens, Joe Perry, who has announced this week that this season could be his last, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sanderson Lam.
Second Quarter
The second quarter was where Ronnie O’Sullivan was meant to launch a title challenge from but he has withdrawn from another tournament so that leaves Mark Allen as the main seed in it. He still has two other top 16 players in his quarter with one of those being the Welsh Open semi-finalist Ali Carter and the other being the UK Championship and German Masters finalist Barry Hawkins, the latter who would be a potential quarter final opponent.
Once again there are some useful players looking to stop those three from progressing and one of those will be the continually flattering to deceive Jack Lisowski while Ryan Day could be dangerous as he has received a bye into the second round because his opponent in the first round, Ricky Walden, has had to withdraw. Wu Yize will want to go well on home soil while both Jackson Page and Jamie Jones had good weeks at the Welsh Open. Ben Woollaston and Louis Heathcote could also be dangerous.
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Third Quarter
The Welsh Open champion Mark Selby is the top seed in the third quarter as he goes in search of successive wins in the space of a fortnight. He has been helped in his quest too by Mark Williams being beaten in qualifying. Si Jiahui was another top 16 player who was beaten before we got to China which leaves the bang out of form Gary Wilson as the only other player in the elite band who is in this section. Those two are scheduled to meet in the quarter final.
The Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong will be a live danger in this section of the draw too as will the Shootout champion Tom Ford. Noppon Saengkham is another who can go deep in events while Elliot Slessor continues to rise up the rankings and will want to do that again. Aaron Hill, Ishpreet Singh Chadha, Sunny Akani, Lyu Haotian and Liu Hongyu are others who have had decent runs at events in the last year or so.
Bottom Quarter
The world champion Kyren Wilson will be lurking in the bottom quarter of the draw and he is another top name who has already been helped by the withdrawal of a potential quarter final opponent with Luca Brecel pulling out of the event. There is still the British Open finalist John Higgins in this quarter though while Zhang Anda will be another one in it from the top 16 should he come through his held over qualifying match on Sunday.
Pang Junxu and Lei Peifan will be looking to go well in a home tournament from the bottom half of the draw. The latter has already won the Scottish Open this season so he knows that he can go well. Mark Davis showed signs of playing well in Wales while Zhou Yuelong will hope he has saved some good form for the home crowds. Anthony McGill has been playing well again and he is in this quarter as are Tian Pengfei, Graeme Dott and Robert Milkins among others.
Betting
Given that the bottom half of the draw has really opened up with the withdrawals or losses in qualifying of the likes of Mark Williams, Luca Brecel and Si Jiahui, I’m going to focus my outright bets there with Anthony McGill the first of those. He is playing well. He made the quarter final of the German Masters, where first round opponent here Pang Junxu was among his victims, and did nothing wrong in Welsh Open qualifying but ran into three monster frames from 3-1 up to a motivated Liam Davies. Brecel has pulled out of a possible second round clash with McGill which should help him move through the draw and approaching the time of year where he tends to come alive I’ll pay to see how well he goes here.
Tom Ford has already won a tournament this season and he looked in decent order at the Welsh Open a couple of weeks ago until he picked up an illness which put paid to his chances. I’m prepared to hope that he is over whatever the problem was because his draw has opened up nicely with Mark Williams being beaten in his section. The only top 16 player between him and the quarter final is Gary Wilson who looks well out of touch with his game. Ford can be hit or miss but that Shootout win does look to have taken some pressure off and given how his draw has already opened right up he looks worthy of support at 66/1.
Tips
Back A.McGill to win World Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Boylesports (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back T.Ford to win World Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Betway (1/2 1-2)
