The valuable Tour Championship begins in Manchester on Monday, where Richard Mann is backing Kyren Wilson to pick up another major prize.
Snooker betting tips: Tour Championship
2pts Kyren Wilson to win the Tour Championship at 4/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes)
The Players Series has been a wonderful addition to the snooker calendar, but there is a real sense of rinse and repeat about next week’s Tour Championship.
The tournament has quickly become a staple of the season, its multi-session matches and one-table set-up seemingly perfect preparation for the impending World Championship – and the snooker has always delivered.
This time around, however, it feels very much like a re-run of the recent Players Championship, with Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins, Xiao Guodong and Wu Yize, Mark Selby and Si Jiahui and Mark Williams and Ding Junhui all locking horns again in the first round.
Should results fall that way, we could see the exact same quarter-finals line-up as we did at the Players Championship, just over a little bit longer.
Nevertheless, this great sport tends to find a way of overcoming adversity, and ultimately, the snooker will likely win out. With this season's top 12 performers making up the field, that ought to be the case, and we have much to look forward to.
Trump tough to stop in top half
From the top half of the draw, Judd Trump and John Higgins are seeded through to the last eight, with Murphy and Hawkins battling it out to face the former, while the veteran Scot can look forward to a potential rematch with Xiao if he can again see off compatriot Wu.
Further down the line, Trump will surely fancy his chances of reaching another final, given he whitewashed Murphy in Telford and once again had too many guns at the finish for Higgins.
Trump is best priced 7/4 to claim his first Tour Championship title next week.
Factored into that price is the seemingly favourable draw he has received, judging by recent results anyway, and this is certainly an event where recent form, particularly Players Championship form, tends to stand up.
In 2022, Neil Robertson completed the Players Championship/Tour Championship double, before Murphy followed suit 12 months later.
Wilson the best bet for more glory
And that brings us nicely onto KYREN WILSON, winner of the Players Championship last week following a deciding-frame victory over Trump in the final.
That was another terrific win for Wilson, his fourth tournament success of the season following on from his maiden World Championship title at the Crucible back in the spring. History tells us it rarely happens this way.
But Wilson is showing that he is cut from a different cloth, and nobody can argue that he didn’t deserve his victory in Telford having earlier rallied magnificently from 4-1 and 5-4 down to beat Robertson in a semi-final that had appeared to be slipping from his grasp.
In the final, it was he who was being hunted, but he stood his ground and continued to attack, sinking the pressure balls when needed. Above all else, he demonstrated that he can find a way to win like all great champions do.
The Robertson match was particularly painful for this author, having rowed in on the Australian each-way, but I thought the better, braver man won.
That is not to knock Robertson who didn’t do a great deal wrong, but Wilson’s positivity and the general brilliance of his play, even when a long way behind, was most impressive, and it’s worth remembering that Robertson won two frames by the narrowest of margins.
I actually thought the 6-5 scoreline flattered the loser on the night, so good was Wilson. He continues to get better and better.
Whether he has the stamina to keep his run going through the World Championship remains to be seen, but he’s now beaten Trump in three major finals this term and there is a good debate to be had over who is currently the best player in the world.
Given the history of this tournament and how the Players Championship has generally proved to be such a good pointer to it, I do think Wilson should be shorter in the betting than 4/1. I’ll be backing him accordingly.
CLICK HERE to back Wilson with Sky Bet
He might well have to meet Robertson again in the last four, but that’s not a match he will fear. In fact, he relished the challenge in Telford, and neither Mark Williams nor Ding Junhui have him beat on recent form. Wilson brushed Williams aside 6-3 at the Players Championship.
That match with Robertson could again decide who meets Trump in the final, but Wilson has the stronger credentials right now, and the general 11/4 for another Trump/Wilson final would appear fair enough.
I’ll keep things simple with Wilson, buoyed by his recent record against Trump in big finals and the belief his current form makes him the man to beat again.
Posted at 1305 GMT on 28/03/25
ALSO READ: Nick Metcalfe's latest column
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