Mark Selby And Ding Junhui Favourites To Land World Open Title

Mark Selby And Ding Junhui Favourites To Land World Open Title
12:22, 17 Sep 2017

It’s been a decade since the snooker roadshow has been void of a trip to Shanghai in mid-September, but in its place we welcome a return to the World Open.

This week’s event in Yushan, which was last staged two years ago, really feels like one of the more prestigious events on the early part of the snooker calendar.

With a £150,000 cheque waiting for the winner, it now has a prize money structure to rival some of the more established tournaments in the Far East and is a title all the top players would be pleased to add to their honours list.

You only have to take a quick look down the list of past winners to see that this is one of the titles where the big boys really come out firing.

In the past five installments, we’ve seen wins for Neil Robertson, Mark Allen (twice), Shaun Murphy and most recently Ali Carter.

In its former guise as the Grand Prix between 2004 and 2009, the trophy was won by Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins (twice), Robertson (twice) and Marco Fu.

The two most notable absentees from these lists are world number one Mark Selby and home favourite Ding Junhui, who are interestingly the bookmakers top tips, presumably assisted by their relatively kind early round draws.

Ding Will Be Looking To Put On A Show On Home Soil
Ding Will Be Looking To Put On A Show On Home Soil

Selby is the game’s deadliest winning machine and as well as being on the hunt for capturing all the very biggest titles, he will be looking to put in a performance with the defence of his UK Championship starting in a little over two months time.

Ding on the other hand is now suitably equipped to handle the pressure of playing on home soil and will be hoping to put on a show to kick-start his campaign.

Being the fifth ranking event of the season so far, we now leave the early stages of the campaign behind and it’s that time of year when things start to get that little bit more serious. Excuses around match sharpness should now be a thing of the past and it’s time to deliver results.

Two players in particular in need of some positive results here are Allen and Robertson who look to have been a shadow of their former selves in recent months and events.

Between them, they’ve five of the last 11 installments of this tournament and will be keen to see fond memories past glories help them back on their way again here.

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