Coral World Grand Prix: betting preview and tournament details

Starts 7pm Monday, ITV4

Bookmakers will be relieved that Judd Trump is narrowing the gap on Ronnie O'Sullivan at snooker's pinnacle and the pair are clear first and second-favourites for the Coral World Grand Prix, which starts at Cheltenham racecourse on Monday evening.

Mark Selby is still the sport's number one player, but you wouldn't think so judging by the outright prices for the tournament. The Jester is 10-1 with the sponsors, whereas O'Sullivan and Trump are 5-2 and 11-2 respectively.

Trump has been the mover and shaker of late. Two final triumphs over O'Sullivan this season, the latest in the Masters last month, mean things are getting more competitive at the top and the oddsmakers will be loving that.

The Bristolian could not follow up his London victory with a German Masters triumph last week, but this is another week and Trump is still dangerous, as the odds imply.

However, O'Sullivan will be fresher than most in Cheltenham having had a break since his Ally Pally effort and he loves nothing more than winning titles in new surroundings.

A lot of players are still miffed that Goffs, the venue which hosted the Irish Masters, is no longer used on the main tour. And while the Centaur is a normal room at Cheltenham racecourse as opposed to the iconic bloodstock sales ring in Co Kildare, it's possible that we may see extra effort from some of the more seasoned performers competing in Gloucestershire.

O'Sullivan could meet Trump in the semi-finals, but the Ace in the Pack may first need to find a way past Selby in the last eight and that would not be an easy outing.

The Rocket could meet Berlin hero Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals and the Warrior may well be feeling the pace later this week after digging deep to fight back from 7-5 down to defeat David Gilbert 9-7 in their Tempodrom final rumble.

Mark Allen is the top seed in Cheltenham and there has been early support for the Pistol - he's 10-1 from 12-1 - in the easier half of the draw.

Recommendation
R O'Sullivan
1pt 5-2 general

First-round draw - top half: (1) M Allen v (32) G Wilson, (16) M O'Donnell v (17) A Carter, (9) J Lisowski v (24) Ding Junhui, (8) D Gilbert v (25) Yan Bingtao, (5) N Robertson v (28) Xiao Guodong, (12) J Robertson v (21) M Davis, (13) S Maguire v (20) M King, (4) M Williams v (29) Yuan SiJun; bottom half: (3) M Selby v (30) S Murphy, (14) J Higgins v (19) N Saengkham, (11) J Perry v (22) T Ford, (6) J Trump v (27) S Carrington, (7) K Wilson v (26) M Stevens, (10) S Bingham v (23) Zhao Xintong, (15) B Hawkins v (18) R Day, (2) R O’Sullivan v (31) Marco Fu.

World Grand Prix finals - 2018 R O'Sullivan bt Ding Junhui 10-3 2017 B Hawkins bt R Day 10-7 2016 S Murphy bt S Bingham 10-9 2015 (non-ranking) J Trump bt R O'Sullivan 10-7.

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