The International Championship in Chengdu, China, joined the list of ranking tournaments last season and looks set to be a fixture on the schedule for many years to come.
Englishman Judd Trump won the inaugural staging 12 months ago and must have a decent chance of staging a repeat. ‘Mr Haircut’ is the current world number three having held the top ranking for five weeks earlier this year. But he’s not started the new season very well, having suffered first-round defeats in both the Wuxi Classic and Shanghai Masters. He’s a general 10/1 this year but, at the same odds, I’d rather take a chance on Mark Selby.
Selby made a surprising early exit at the Sichuan International Tennis Centre last year considering he was the second seed and arriving at the back of a victory in the Shanghai Masters. He’ll be determined to hang around a lot longer this time and has made another decent start to the new campaign having reached the last eight in both the Wuxi Classic and Shangai Masters. He also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and a second-round exit in the Indian Open may prove to be a blessing in disguise. ‘The Jester From Leicester’ generally does well in China whereas Ronnie O’Sullivan has disappointed in the Far East in the past.
Only 9/2 with BetVictor and sportingbet, ‘The Rocket’ has been a very low-key profile so far this season and may not be ready to step back into the limelight but Australian Neil Robertson has to go on the short-list. He won the Wuxi Classic in China and came within two frames of becoming the first player since 2003 to win back-to-back ranking tournaments in the following Australian Open only to lose the final. Quarter-final appearances in both the Shanghai Masters and Indian Open suggest ‘The Melbourne Machine’ is still in decent nick and he can be backed at 7/1 with BetVictor, Boylesports, Coral and William Hill.
John Higgins is 14/1 with Boylesports while Martin Gould‘s general 80/1 should interest a few looking for value. Boylesports will also lay you 13/8 that a maximum 147 break is recorded in Chengdu.
