Once again snooker’s elite line up at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes for the seventh running of the £100,000 World Grand Prix.
Unlike the 128-man Scottish Open last week, this event features just the top 32 players on a one-year ranking system – ensuring only the very best taketo the green baize.
It’s another quick turnaround after Sunday’s Scottish Open final with the action getting underway at 7pm on Monday night.
Robbo Revved Up and Ready to Go
Defending champion Neil Robertson withdrew from last week’s Scottish Open after winning the UK Championship, but reappears for the last event of the year and is fancied to successfully defend his title at odds of 4/1.
The 38-year-old will come into this fresher than most, including the likes of Mark Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan, who both contested the Scottish Open final on Sunday night.
Robertson looked back to his best when winning the UK Championship earlier this month and is fancied to make the most of a decent draw.
The Australian faces Robert Milkins in the first round, who he boasts a 6-3 record over in the head-to-heads, before the winner of inconsistent duo Shaun Murphy and Jack Lisowski awaits.
A winner of 19 ranking events and currently ranked number two in the world, this is a great chance for Robertson to bag even more silverware.
Hawkins Back in the Hunt
Barry Hawkins has burst back into life this season and is a player to watch out for this week.
The 41-year-old had been out of sorts for a couple of seasons, but has admitted lockdown helped him find his form and he is now ready to win again. Hawkins won this event back in 2017 and has five professional titles to his name. In recent weeks he has noticeably scored well and can out-run huge odds of 40/1.
Hawkins has the enigmatic Ronnie O’Sullivan for company in the second quarter and the Rocket is a potential second-round opponent.
Rocket Not Firing
Despite reaching the Sccotish Open final last week, Ronnie O’Sullivan is nowhere near his best and continues to tinker with facets of his game.
O’Sullivan changed his tip at least three times last week and has spoken about an unhappiness with his cue action.
The draw has not been kind with the fiery Ali Carter, who beat O’Sullivan at the 2018 World Championship, up first on Tuesday night followed by the fancied Barry Hawkins.
At 9/2 he is an unappealing price with only Robertson and Judd Trump ahead of him in the betting.
Tired Trump a Vulnerable Favourite
World number one Judd Trump has been the best player in the world for some time now and made a sensational start to the new season.
The 31-year-old has already won twice in this campaign and has reached a total of four finals, but he was not at the races in the Scottish Open last week and is opposed as the 11/4 () favourite.
Trump has entered every event so far this season and appeared fatigued in his quarter-final defeat to Li Hang.
The draw could have been worse for Trump, but there is no juice in his price with the first two rounds best-of-seven and no room for any mistakes.
Grace Great Value to Beat Bingtao Again
Yan Bingtao has long been touted a star of the future, but his recent results have been disappointing in what has been a very ordinary start to the season.
Only twice has the 20-year-old been beyond the second round and he is opposed in the first round with recent Northern Ireland semi-finalist David Grace at 9/4.
Grace beat Bingtao 5-2 in the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland open and is value to beat him again, an even safer option may be to get with Grace in the +1.5 frames handicap at 1/1.
