Four times previous winner Ronnie O’Sullivan is a best 11/4 with Blue Square, Paddy Power and 888sport to win the UK Championships again in Telford over the next week following his demolition of Shaun Murphy in the final of the Premier League last weekend. When in the mood, there is no doubt that ‘The Rocket’ is in a class of his own. But the draw hasn’t exactly been kind to the man from Essex, who once famously walked out of a quarter-final match against Stephen Hendry at the Telford International Centre. Also in O’Sullivan’s section of the draw are holder Ding Junhui (18/1 with Boylesports), the fast-improving Tom Ford (a general 150/1) and a back-to-form Matthew Stevens. The Welshman, 70/1 with Boylesports and Eurosport) has qualified for all 12 ranking tournaments this season and has shown an increased maturity of late. World Open champion and world number one Neil Robertson could easily emerge unscathed from the bottom half of the draw so an each-way bet on the general 8/1 could return a dividend but, for the winner, we are going to concentrate on the second quarter. John Higgins couldn’t have wished for a more successful return to the big time after serving his controversial ban. The Scot won a tournament in Germany on his return to action and reached the final of another in the Czech Republic. Clearly his exile has blunted neither his ability nor enthusiasm and Higgins will feel he has a point to prove in Telford this week. At a best 10/1 with Boylesports and sportingbet, bookmakers are erring on the side of caution but with probably only Mark Selby barring a possible quarter-final place, there are worse investments this week. Of the remainder, Mark Williams (12/1 with extrabet) and Shanghai Masters winner Ali Carter (18/1 with bwin) are worthy of respect but we’ll stick with Higgins to continue his renaissance.
Snooker Betting – Higgins to continue renaissance
3rd December 2010 /
