Tournament Preview: Who is the favourite to win the 2024 Wuhan Open Snooker?


Held at the China Optics Valley Convention & Exhibition Centre and carrying a prize fund of £700,000, Judd Trump is the defending Wuhan Open champion having defeated Ali Carter in last year's inaugural final.
From the five completed ranking events this season, so far, five different champions have been crowned. And Wuhan could be another unpredictable event due to the absence of several elite players for one reason or another.
Advertisement
Advertisement
The vast majority of first round matches in this event were actually played at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester several weeks ago at the end of July. Mark Selby and Luca Brecel were both eliminated via deciding frame defeats, while another top 16 cueist in Tom Ford also fell at the first hurdle.
Mark Williams did not enter the tournament, while Ronnie O'Sullivan (medical reasons) and Mark Allen (family illness) have withdrawn in recent days.
For full details on the 2024 Wuhan Open including the draw, results, prize money, schedule and how to watch, please visit our tournament information centre here.
Judd Trump tipped to retain Wuhan Open title
World number one Trump is the bookmakers’ favourite to successfully defend the Wuhan Open title at odds of 5/2.
Advertisement
Advertisement
The 35-year-old Englishman - who is the top seed and heads the draw - is one of several players who have had their opening round match held over to the main venue in the Far East.
Trump's results sheet this season has been scintillating having already claimed the Shanghai Masters and Saudi Arabia Masters titles, and been runner-up at the Xi'an Grand Prix. At last week's British Open he became only the third player in history to compile 1,000 century breaks in professional competition.
'The Ace in the Pack' loves playing in China. His top tier career breakthrough famously arrived at the 2011 China Open in Beijing, and in total he has won seven ranking titles in the country - the joint-most in the sport alongside Mark Selby.
First up for Trump is confident rookie Antoni Kowalski; if he wins that he would face He Guoqiang in the last 64 - last season's Rookie of the Year. 24-year-old He has defeated O'Sullivan twice this campaign in ranking event action.
Advertisement
Advertisement
A resurgent John Higgins (14/1) - runner-up at the recent British Open - is also in this quarter of the draw, as too is Ding Junhui (22/1), who like Trump still has to play his round one tie. China's greatest player of all-time has yet to win a ranking event match this season, having been ousted via deciding frames in the three ranked events he has played in, so far.
Elsewhere in this quarter is Chris Wakelin (33/1) who could have a really good run in Wuhan. A former Snooker Shoot Out winner, world number 22 Wakelin has made a very nice start to the term, sitting 14th on the seasonal list.
Career Triple Crown winner Neil Robertson ended his ranking title drought a few weeks ago at the English Open and returned to the world's top 16 bracket. The Australian is the second favourite for this year's Wuhan Open crown at odds of 5/1.
Robertson is in the third quarter of the draw and plays the inconsistent Jackson Page who reached his maiden ranking event final in July at the Championship League.
Advertisement
Advertisement
World number three Allen was scheduled in this part of the draw prior to his withdrawal. Several cueists in this section will fancy their chances of at least a handsome payday, including Crucible finalist Jak Jones, six-time ranking finalist Jack Lisowski, and last month's English Open runner-up Wu Yize.
However, the highest ranked player in this quarter is world number 10 Gary Wilson. The current Scottish Open and Welsh Open champion has a tricky opener against Ben Woollaston, but his outright price of 50/1 could represent real value, despite having not enjoyed a sparkling beginning to the term.
Kyren Wilson aiming for second Chinese ranking title this season
Third and fourth favourites for the £140,000 top prize are Kyren Wilson (17/2) and Shaun Murphy (10/1) who are both positioned in the bottom quarter.
Reigning World Champion Wilson - who was angry following his British Open exit - has already tasted success in China this season when he claimed the inaugural Xi'an Grand Prix in August. Wilson plays teenage rookie Liam Davies in a held over fixture with a potential last 64 date against Ireland's number one Aaron Hill waiting in the wings.
Advertisement
Advertisement
After a largely disappointing 23/24 campaign, Murphy has had an uptick in form and results this season, with runner-up (Shanghai Masters) and semi-final (Saudi Arabia Masters) finishes on his early term report.
In fact, this quarter is jam-packed with experience and honours. As well as Wilson and Murphy, the other ranking event winners present are: Anthony Hamilton (Murphy's opponent), Carter (world number 12 and last year's runner-up in Wuhan), Marco Fu, Ryan Day, Jimmy Robertson and Barry Hawkins. Snooker legend Jimmy White has also qualified and is set to face Noppon Saengkham.
Perhaps the most open segment of the draw is the second quarter, with Zhang Anda (25/1) and Si Jiahui (22/1) the only top 16 exponents to feature there.
A plethora of potters will have their sights set on a deep run, though, such as former World Champion Graeme Dott and ranking event winners Hossein Vafaei, Jordan Brown and Matt Selt.
The odds listed in the article above were taken from oddschecker.com and were correct at the time of writing.
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.