Snooker World Championship – CopyBet
Snooker World Championship – CopyBet
The anticipation is finally over as snooker’s elite are primed for the World Championship in Sheffield, where reigning champion Kyren Wilson will be bidding to put an end to the dreaded Crucible curse.
No first-time winner of the World Snooker Championship has retained the title since the tournament moved to Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, but the Warrior will be confident that he can buck the trend following another stellar season.
Wilson has won four ranking titles this term, the latest of which came with a thrilling 10-9 victory over fierce rival Judd Trump at the Players Championship in March, and he heads to Sheffield as one of the tournament favourites.
However, the competition is fierce with world number one Trump, seven-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan, a resurgent Neil Robertson and four-time champion Mark Selby also in the reckoning.
As is often the case, the draw will be all important and, while tournament favourite Trump may be happy with how things have fallen, it could be worth going against the grain in what is the biggest tournament in the snooker calendar.
Tip 1: The third quarter appears to be the weakest part of the draw and that means Barry Hawkins could have been underestimated in his bid to claim a belated maiden World Championship crown.
The Hawk was runner-up to O’Sullivan in 2013 and has since made four semi-final appearances, showing his love for the cauldron that is the Crucible.
Hawkins has looked rejuvenated this season, with runner-up efforts at the UK Championship and the German Masters, while his run to the last four of the Tour Championship last time out was a hint that he is finding peak form at the perfect time.
Kent Cueman defeated Shaun Murphy and Trump in best-of-19 contests before losing 10-7 in his last-four rumble with John Higgins, but he compiled eight centuries across the 27 frames that he won in Manchester.
Hawkins opens up against Hossein Vafaei and should have the measure of an out-of-form Mark Williams were they to meet in the last 16.
Higgins could again wait in the quarter-final but the four-time world champion is not getting any younger and could run out of steam during this two-week extravaganza, making Hawkins a tempting outsider.
Tip 2: The top half of the draw is stacked with talent and Chinese qualifier Zhao Xintong, who won the UK Championship in 2021 before facing a suspension, is one who has to be feared.
However, he is priced accordingly given that he could face defending champion Wilson in the second round before a potential quarter-final clash with Robertson.
Instead, his younger compatriot Si Jiahui may be worth an interest at bigger odds given the 22-year-old was a semi-finalist on his Crucible debut two years ago and is still open to plenty of improvement.
Si will have to do things the hard way, starting against the dangerous Dave Gilbert, while Selby and O’Sullivan are also in his quarter of the draw.
However, the Rocket looks vulnerable making his first tournament appearance since January and, while Selby appears to be playing much better at present, he was a first-round casualty against Joe O'Connor last season and won’t like facing good friend Ben Woollaston in his curtain-raiser.
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Odds correct at time of publication but subject to change.
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Aaron is a sports journalist specialising in football, snooker and tennis. As a Northampton supporter, he's learned to live with the ups and downs, but has more ups than downs with his tipping!