Snooker: Ronnie O’Sullivan Finds His Form Ahead of the Masters
The snooker season resumes this weekend with the Cazoo Masters taking center stage at London’s Alexandra Palace. One of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit, the Maters first took place in 1975. The second leg of the sport’s Triple Crown, this competition is open to the leading 16 players in the world rankings.
John Higgins (foreground) has been the most consistent player of the 2021/22 season, but Judd Trump is the Cazoo Masters favorite. ©GettyImages
In this event, the defending Masters champion is traditionally seeded one and the current World Champion is seeded two. In 2024, these distinctions go to Yan Bingtao and Mark Selby.
Despite their attractive slots in the draw, bookmakers are dismissive of this duo’s chances. Bingtao can be backed at 18/1 to collect the prize. Four-time and reigning World Champion Mark Selby is 6/1 with most betting firms.
Is Rocket Ronnie About to Take Off?
It is Judd Trump and Neil Robertson that top the betting. 2019 winner Judd Trump is the competition’s 3/1 favorite. Robertson, the Masters champion in 2012 and a subsequent two-time runner-up, is top-priced 11/2 at the William Hill sportsbook.
Trump was a shock second-round casualty in the Grand Prix during mid-December. That competition saw Robertson eliminate Selby at the semi-final stage. But the Australian was beaten 10-8 by Ronnie O’Sullivan in an enthralling final.
An in-form Ronnie O’Sullivan is a formidable force. However, odds of 11/2 suggest the seven-time Masters’ winner is not at his very best. Indeed, while the Grand Prix final was massively entertaining, it was also scrappy for much of the match. The 18-frame decider only contained one century break.
But the victory stopped a rot that had seen O’Sullivan lose the previous five ranking finals he had contested. A new trophy in his cabinet might serve to restore the Rocket’s confidence and with the exciting but under-achieving Jack Lisowski his first-round opponent, maybe the veteran can prove odds-compilers wrong and take an unprecedented eighth Masters title.
Awash With Winners
In addition to O’Sullivan, Selby, Robertson, Judd Trump and last year’s shock winner, Yan Bingtao, there are four other previous winners in the 2024 Masters field.
Stuart Bingham took the title in 2020, Mark Allen claimed it in 2018. The last of John Higgins’ two victories came in 2006. Similarly, Mark Williams won his second and final Masters crown in 2003.
Remarkably, 16 of the last 17 Masters titles have gone to a player that is amongst this year’s line-up. On paper, that stat does not inspire confidence in Stephen Maguire, Barry Hawkins, Kyren Wilson, Jack Lisowski, Anthony McGill or Zhao Xintong.
But there have been some surprise winners in snooker during the last 12 months. Jordan Brown taking the Welsh Open at the start of 2021 and Zhao Xintong landing the UK Championship a month ago are prime examples.
12 months ago, eventual winner Yan Bingtao was the biggest outsider of the Masters’ field at 66/1. That tells you no player can safely be ruled out of the 2024 rendition.
Is Higgins the Each-Way Value?
From a consistency standpoint John Higgins – with four final table appearances from the eight tournaments he has contested this season – appears the soundest each-way bet.
A runner-up in this competition last season, three consecutive victories will take the 46-year-old to yet another final and land the place part of an each-way bet. With 9/1 available about the Scotsman at Ladbrokes sportsbook, the wager would provide supporters with a profit and the chance of a bigger pay-day.
At the prices, Judd Trump appears very short in the betting lists. By this stage of the 2020/21 season, the world number two had already won three ranking titles and was a runner-up in two others. In this campaign, he has yet to make the final of a ranking event and his Champion of Champions success came in a small field.
