English Open snooker: tournament preview, free tips and predictions

Free Snooker tips and predictions for the English Open in Crawley with Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump in action.

Where to watch

Eurosport 1, 1pm & 7pm Monday

Best bet

S Murphy to win English Open
1pt 16-1 Betfred, Sky Bet

Tournament preview

The Home Nations series cues off with the first of the four tournaments, the English Open, taking place in Crawley and Ronnie O'Sullivan heads the title betting ahead of world champion Judd Trump.

With a 128-player field, it's best of seven frames for the first four rounds. That rises to best of nine in the quarter-finals, best of 11 in the semi-finals and best of 17 in the final.

Stuart Bingham ruled the roost in West Sussex last year, when he was still out to prove a point to many in the wake of a betting ban.
With only three top-16 players in the first quarter of the draw, Bingham has the chance to put up a decent title defence. But given that the two other seeds are Shaun Murphy and Kyren Wilson, the Essex potter will do well to progress to the semis.

Wilson is almost always a danger and still looks a future world champion, but the big danger this season is Murphy.

The Magician is playing superbly well and finally looks to be producing the sort of snooker that could nail him a second world title in May.

He looks to be taking no prisoners this season, and while snooker punters will know full well that could change at any time, it has been a delight to see Murphy reach the finals of the International Championship, when it took Trump to deny him, and Shanghai Masters, in which he lost 11-9 to O'Sullivan, and then win the China Championship.

Those who could trouble Murphy in the semis include Mark Williams, Neil Robertson and Stephen Maguire, all of whom are playing well. But the Magician, who edged out Williams 10-9 in the China Championship title match, could frank the form if he's in the mood to shine again.

The shorter first-to-four matches can often prove a bugbear for punters, but Murphy has been winning matches convincingly this season and the chance to back him can be taken.

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