Richard Mann is tipping Ronnie O'Sullivan to make a successful title defence at the World Grand Prix, which gets under way on Monday evening.
Snooker betting tips: World Grand Prix
2pts Ronnie O'Sullivan to win the Grand Prix at 11/2 (General)
1pt e.w. Jack Lisowski to win the World Grand Prix at 16/1 (General 1/2 1,2)
Snooker fans don’t get much of a breather after the conclusion of the Masters, with the World Grand Prix starting on Monday night at Cheltenham racecourse.
It seems a shame that a tournament of this stature has seemingly been shoehorned onto the calendar straight after a Triple Crown event, but once those Masters blues have been blown away there is no doubt this will once again prove to be a big week for the sport.
The World Grand Prix roll of honour is an illustrious one, with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, and Neil Robertson the last three winners, and it always takes genuine star quality to win this event.
The last three winners are back again this week, O’Sullivan the defending champion having beaten Robertson in a brilliant final last year. Somewhat surprisingly, John Higgins has not qualified, but Masters finalists Trump and Mark Williams turn out quickly.
Robertson the pick in star-studded bottom half
With the 32 top-performing players of the season making up the draw, easy passages are in short supply, but Robertson and Trump both have tough first-round ties against Xiao Guodong and Hossein Vafaei respectively, before a possible meeting with each other in the quarter-finals.
With British Open hero Ryan Day also in the bottom half of the draw, along with Scottish Open winner Gary Wilson, Luca Brecel, Kyren Wilson, and Shaun Murphy, I’m happy to swerve that section altogether.
If pushed, I’d side with Robertson who I fancied to win the Masters but complained of being unwell after losing 6-4 to Murphy in a match he really should have taken to a deciding frame.
It’s worth remembering that the Australian won two titles immediately after losing in the first round of the Masters in 2020.
Nevertheless, the top half of the draw makes slightly more appeal to me, and it's RONNIE O’SULLIVAN who heads my staking plan.
Though losing 6-5 to Williams in the quarter-finals at Alexandra Palace, I was impressed with O’Sullivan’s attitude all week. He seemed hungry again after a definite dip in form before Christmas, and his interviews suggested he’s in a good place at present.
On the table, he looked very sharp when thrashing Luca Brecel 6-1, and his safety play was immaculate as he tied Williams in knots for much of the early part of their match. That doesn’t happen to Williams very often.
O'Sullivan can peak for title defence
In the end, it was O’Sullivan’s scoring that let him down in the second half of that match, but even the greatest break-builder of all time can have a bad day at the office and I’m not getting too hung up on that.
If normal service is resumed for his title defence this week, and all the other facets of his game continue to work well, he will always be a tough nut to crack.
I thought it was telling how O’Sullivan spoke last week of the need to take his foot off the gas after running out of steam at the UK Championship, having won two major titles at the start of the new season and ended the previous one by becoming world champion for a seventh time at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan said he felt refreshed again having taken things easy for a few weeks before picking up the pace in preparation for the Masters, and though things didn’t go exactly to plan there, I reckon he’s got himself in good shape for a crucial juncture of the campaign.
Kicking off against Barry Hawkins is a tricky opener, but you have to go back to the 2016 World Championship for the last time O’Sullivan has lost a match between this pair at a major tournament.
Furthermore, Hawkins has hardly pulled up any trees this season, and he certainly didn't against Trump last week when having numerous chances to win that match.
I was more taken with O’Sullivan’s form, anyway.
After that, the likes of Mark Selby and Williams loom in another tough section of this star-studded draw, but the former has a dreadful record in ITV events while it would take a mammoth effort from the veteran Welshman to back up from the Masters with another big run here.
O’Sullivan will still have to do it the hard way, but he has a very strong record in this event and in the belief he’s got his game in good working order again, I won’t be letting the world champion go unbacked at 11/2.
Don't lose faith with Lisowski
Further up the draw, I’m keen to add JACK LISOWSKI to the staking plan.
Six defeats in major finals and a drubbing in the last four of the Masters would suggest Lisowski still has some way to go in order to finally win a big one, but I don’t think he’s far away at all and want to snap up the 16/1 on offer.
It’s hard to argue with the level of form Lisowski has produced of late. He was superb against Higgins and Vafaei last week and while his critics will point to his 6-0 loss to Williams, I’d again take that with a pinch of salt.
Williams was at his cunning best in that match, handing out something of a lesson to Lisowski, but the latter didn’t enjoy the run of the ball in the early exchanges, and I’m not prepared to let the final scoreline detract from the big strides Lisowski has made in the last few months.
Prior to the Masters, he reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship where he lost in a deciding frame to eventual winner, Allen. Going further back to the spring and Lisowski made the last eight of the World Championship, Higgins this time dashing his hopes in another deciding frame.
Those narrow defeats will again have Lisowski’s critics jumping out of the woodwork, but the fact is that in the last three Triple Crown events, Lisowski had made two semi-finals and a quarter-final, twice losing in very close matches. That’s good going by anyone’s standards.
Runner-up in 2020, Lisowski has pedigree in this event, too, and I’m firmly in the camp that believes Lisowski’s game is still trending upwards. He’s always had the talent, but he’s added some grit to his game, too.
He’s not the finished article and perhaps never will be. But lesser players than Lisowski have become ranking event winners in the last few years, and I really like the early part of his draw which offers him the chance to get on a run.
He may well have a rematch with Allen to contend with in the last eight, but I’m cool on Allen for now after such an arduous period before Christmas which might be hard to match in the next month or so.
These players aren’t machines, after all, but O’Sullivan appears primed for a deep run this week, as does Lisowski who is heading in the right direction and looks overpriced at the odds.
Posted at 1800 GMT on 15/01/23
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