This week sees the UK Championship from Telford and with it two of the biggest names in snooker making their return. John Higgins returns to the fray after his well publicised 6 month month ban and Jimmy 'The Whirlwind' White will also be with us after comfortably winning three qualifying matches. Ronnie O'Sullivan will start the tournament as a worthy favourite after winning the Premier League last weekend convincingly (albeit under different rules). I am sure Ronnie will be well up for this one, its his first ranking title since his dads release from prison last month and he has won the UK title four time previously, the latest being in 2007 when he scored a resounding 10-2 victory over Stephen Maguire in the final.
Winner
1pt Mark Williams @ 12/1 (Extrabet)
4pt Ronnie O'Sullivan @ 11/4 (Paddy Power, Bluesq, Sportingbet, Corals)
After a dismal few years last year saw Mark win his first ranking event for four years when winning the China Open in Beijing and opened this season by winning the first event of the Players Tour Championship beating Stephen Maguire 4-0 in the final. I feel 12/1 represents good value for a player that I believe is in the easiest quarter of the draw. Williams' opening match is against Mark Davis followed by a mouthwatering second round clash against his good friend Stephen Hendry or Jimmy White.
This tournament carries 8000 ranking points for the winner (second highest during this seasons snooker calendar) and with Ronnie confirming that he will continue to miss tournaments to spend time with his family he will be keen to do well this week. Victory this week will see Ronnie pick up his fifth UK title and he has stated that he feels mentally prepared, along with making positive comments regarding how he is practising. We all saw the devastating form that the rocket was in to pick up his 9th Premier League title when brushing aside Neil Robertson 5-1 in the semis and Shaun Murphy 7-1 to collect the title last month. As with Mark Williams I believe Ronnie has a smooth run to the quarters with an opener against Stuart Bingham then a match up against either Marco Fu or Barry Hawkins. This tournament is the best of 17 frames from the outset and therefore makes shock results far less likely with the cream likely to rise to the top.
Highest Break
1pt e/w Neil Robertson @ 10/1 (Bet365, Betfred, Sportingbet, PaddyPower) 1/5 first 4
1pt e/w Shaun Murphy @ 14/1 (Bet365, Betfred, Sportingbet) 1/5 first 4
Neil and Shaun are both in the bottom half of the draw and like in the outright betting preview, they have a pretty comfortable ride to the quarter final stage where they are scheduled to meet. If this goes to plan by this stage they will both have won 18 frames and one of them will be guaranteed to add a further 9 frames to their tally in progressing to the semi final stage of the tournament. I feel that with the quality that these two players possess a sizeable contribution is highly likely at some stage of the tournament and they represent very good each way value.
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