Richard Mann bids to follow James Cooper's 66/1 winner last week when he previews the prestigious Tour Championship, which begins on Monday.
Snooker betting tips: Tour Championship
2pts Zhao Xintong to win the Tour Championship at 7/2 (General)
In just a few weeks' time, ZHAO XINTONG will return to Sheffield as reigning world champion and likely favourite to successfully defend the crown he claimed in brilliant fashion 12 months ago.
Zhao’s ascent to the top of the sport has been a remarkable story. In 2021, he won the UK Championship in York in breathtaking style, only to subsequently accept charges of betting on matches and being party to another player fixing matches.
It was a scandal that rocked the sport, but Zhao retuned 20 months later with an apparently clean slate, working his way back from the bottom in quick time and roaring to Crucible glory last spring.
The Chinese was always likely to use that victory as a platform from which to reach greatness, but even his biggest supporters would have to be impressed with how he has handled his first season as world champion.
If anything, Zhao has thrived under the spotlight and with that greater weight of expectation. He looks every inch the next dominant force in the game.
His first title after Sheffield came at the valuable Riyadh Season Championship in November, that following an understandably sticky start, and he’s gone from strength to strength since.
The 28-year-old got better as the World Grand Prix progressed, in the end beating Zhang Anda 10-6 in a high-quality final, and he added the Players Championship to his CV with victory over John Higgins a few weeks later.
The burst he produced from 7-6 down to beat Higgins in that final was first-class, understandably drawing comparisons with Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan, and the calibre of players he beat that week were of the highest order, including Shaun Murphy and Mark Allen.
I don’t mind that he was knocked out of the World Open relatively early following a busy spell, and I’d expect him to be nice and fresh for this critical juncture in the season.
In a campaign that has been devoid of multiple winners, and with the game seemingly searching for someone to take the sport by the scruff of the neck, Zhao has been the one to rise above his contemporaries, particularly after Christmas, suggesting he could well be world number one in the not too distant future.
When he’s stepped up a gear, nobody has been able to live with Zhao, and as we saw at the Crucible, he is going to prove incredibly hard to beat in that type of form over multiple sessions. His ability to recover from a bad couple of frames, or even hours, with a level of destruction very few can match sets him apart from so many.
As one of the four seeded players in the draw, Zhao starts at the quarter-finals stage in Manchester, where he will fancy his chances against either Wu Yize or Chris Wakelin.
From there, it will be one of either Mark Williams, Higgins or Mark Selby in the last four. On what we saw last spring, and then in February, both Williams and Higgins would have their work cut out against Zhao across two sessions.
Less so Selby, who was outstanding in winning the Champion of Champions and UK Championship earlier in the campaign, but who has been very underwhelming since Christmas.
Perhaps he’s building himself back up for Sheffield and a crack at world title number five, but on recent evidence, Zhao is the bet at 7/2.
From the top half of the draw, Judd Trump could find things tough starting against Allen, one of the few modern players with a positive record against the world number one.
Allen is capable of knocking Trump out of his rhythm, and could well do so again. He might be a touch of value to come through that one.
Neil Robertson, who has looked close to his best again for much of the season, won this event in 2021 and 2022, and would be my pick over Murphy from this half of the draw.
Robertson completed the Players Championship and Tour Championship double in 2022, as Murphy did himself the following year, further enhancing a strong trend between the two events.
Higgins, defending champion this week, reached the semi-finals of the Players last year before going one better in this tournament.
And with that, we come back around to Zhao, the best player in the world right now, and imperious at the Players Championship, always a key pointer for the Tour Championship.
All that makes the world champion a rock-solid proposition this week.
Posted at 15:30 GMT on 27/03/26
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