Williams - currently heads the rankings (Getty Images).
TRIO GUNNING FOR TOP SPOT
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Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry will be competing for the world number one spot as well as the world title at next week's World Championships.
All three players suffered surprise defeats in the last 16 of the Regal Scottish Open last week - leaving everything to play for when the 2003 Embassy World Championship gets under way in Sheffield on Saturday.
Adding spice to the race to be snooker's top dog is the fact that the trio are all in the same half of the draw at Sheffield. Williams is seeded to meet Hendry in the quarter-finals and O'Sullivan in the semi-finals.
The Welshman currently holds a 1,300-point lead over O'Sullivan. Hendry is a further 2,600 points behind in third place but with the winner of the world title collecting 8,000 points, the Scot is still in the equation.
Asked whether he would rather be world number one or world champion, Williams replied: "It's hard to say as I achieved both in the same season (1999-2000).
"The World Championship is the biggest tournament of the season but if you finish the year number one it means you're the best player in the world. Ideally, you want to be both."
The first nine places in the latest Embassy World Rankings remain unchanged but David Gray, who claimed the first ranking title of his seven-year professional by beating Mark Selby 9-7 in the final of the Regal Scottish on Sunday night, jumps four places to 10th.
Gray feared he had blown his chance of a top-16 place next season when he lost in the final qualifying round of the World Championship.
"If I had managed to win that match I would made life a lot more comfortable for myself," said the 24-year-old from Morden in Surrey. "I put myself under a lot of pressure coming to Scotland but I knew if I could do well here I still had half a chance."
Leicester teenager Selby, who like Gray has not made it through to the final 32 at the Crucible, is up five notches to number 30.
Ali Carter, a quarter-finalist in Scotland, rises four places to number 16 and has a great chance of joining snooker's elite after qualifying for the Crucible. The 23-year-old from Essex meets Paul Hunter in the first round.
Jimmy White stays 19th and is one of a number of players who needs an extended run in the World Championship to clinch a top-16 place.
The world's top 16 get a number of exemptions for next year's tournaments, often receiving first-round byes.
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