Ronnie O’Sullivan is the bookmakers’ favourite as he aims to win a fifth UK Championship. ‘The Rocket’ is a 4-1 shot with six firms including Sky Bet and Bet Fred, and has already won the Shanghai Masters this season.
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He is 1-3 with Sky Bet to see off 2003 UK champion Matthew Stevens first-up, with the Welshman an outside chance at 10-3 with William Hill – Stevens defeated Adrian Gunnell 9-1 in final qualifying last week. Other Ronnie-related odds include to reach the final (9-4 Extrabet) and highest break (11-2 Sky Bet) – the latter having been achieved courtesy of a 147 maximum two years ago.
World champion John Higgins is a 13-2 shot with various firms, being rated at 2-5 with Bet365 and Paddy Power to beat dangerous qualifier Ricky Waldon in round one – he is around 2-1 with Boylesports – and he did beat the ‘Wizard of Wishaw’ in this tournament five years ago.
The one to watch on present form is third favourite Shaun Murphy, who has come in from 9-1 last week to 15-2 with Bet Fred and Stan James. The world No. 3 is the defending champion, and he defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan 7-3 in the final of the Partycasino.com Premier League last Sunday – having also beaten John Higgins 5-3 in the semi-final of the invitational tournament.
He takes on Gerard Greene (7-2 to beat Murphy with Bet365 and Sky Bet) in round one, and at 1-4 with Boylesports is fancied to make comfortable progress. Murphy is also 9-1 with Sky Bet to win the highest break prize.
World No. 2 Stephen Maguire is 11-1 with Coral, and is 1-3 on with Sky Bet and Boylesports to see off Michael Holt in their round one clash (Holt is an 11-4 chance with Bet365 and William Hill). Mark Selby is the other top five contender (in the betting) for the title, and the world No. 7 is 14-1 with Tote Sport and Extrabet. William Hill make him 8-13 on to beat Ken Doherty’s conqueror in qualifying Jamie Cope, Cope being offered as a 6-4 chance by Sky Bet.
Other potential title outsiders on current form include Grand Prix champion Neil Robertson (17-1 also Betfair), Grand Prix runner-up Din Junhui (15-1 Betfair), Ali Carter at 20s (Sporting Bet and Extrabet) and Ryan Day, 28-1 with Ladbrokes.
Arguably the round one match for the romantics, Steve Davis qualified to take on fellow legend Stephen Hendry. ‘The Nugget’ beat Michael Judge 9-7 in qualifying, and is a 2-1 chance to shock the world No. 10 with Bet365 and Sky Bet. The Scot is 2-5 on with Boylesports and William Hill. However, neither Hendry nor Davis has displayed tournament winning form – as odds of 50 (Tote Sport, Boylesports) and 250-1 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power) respectively suggest.
40/1 Trump can finally come good
Top prospect Judd Trump could be one to watch in Telford. A 40-1 shot with Bluesq and 888Sport, he recently defeated Shaun Murphy in the Partycasino.com Premier League to reach the semi-finals. Having beaten Mark Davis in qualifying – his first ranking win of the season – he is favoured to beat off-form world No. 14 Peter Ebdon in round one at 8-11 (Boylesports and Paddy Power), with Ebdon 6-5 with Sky Bet. Trump, a heavy scorer, could also be worth a punt at 20-1 with Sky Bet for the highest break of the tournament.
Of the other top 16 players who could have their work cut out, Ryan Day (4-5 Boylesports) faces the in-form Liang Wen Bo (5-4, various), finalist in the Shanghai Masters in September; Mark Allen (2-5 various) meets Stephen Lee (9-4 Boylesports) – who reached the last eight last year; Mark Williams (4-6 Boylesports and Paddy Power) takes on 2006 world champion Graeme Dott (11-8 Sky Bet), the Scot coming back into form; and Mark King (5-6 Sky Bet) plays ‘Sheriff of Pottingham’ Anthony Hamilton (11-10 various) – a player capable of producing on his day.
