Battle for Number One: British Open 2021
Snooker’s world number one ranking is on the line at this week’s matchroom.live British Open with both the incumbent Judd Trump and reigning world champion Mark Selby both in the hunt.
Following his victory at the International Championship in August 2019, Judd Trump has enjoyed a dominant reign as our sport’s world number one, claiming 11 ranking titles during the past two seasons.
By lifting his fourth world title – and £500,00 top prize – back at the Crucible Theatre in May, however, Mark Selby narrowed the gap significantly as he bids to return to the rankings summit for the first time since March 2019.
State of Play
With a lead of £134,000 heading into this week’s British Open, Trump’s position is vulnerable because the £175,000 that took him to number one in Daqing two years ago, is now due to expire at the end of this tournament.
With Selby ‘only’ defending £32,000 from that competition, the net result is that it is he in fact began the week provisionally with a lead of £9,000 over Trump, which remains the case after both players banked £3,000 for winning their opening matches at the Morningside Arena.
What Next?
At the time of writing prior to their second round matches, Trump knows that he must reach at least the quarter-finals if he is to remain in with a chance of retaining the number one spot. If he were to do so, with Selby losing to Ali Carter tomorrow, the pair would finish level on £1,213,000, with Trump remaining top on countback.
A last 32 or last 16 exit for Selby would therefore mean that Trump would need to reach the semi-finals, while a quarter or semi-final run for Selby would leave Trump needing to reach the final.
If Selby were to reach the final, only the title would be sufficient for Trump to stay at top spot.
View the latest provisional standings which will be updated throughout the week and view the latest news from the matchroom.live British Open via the WST website.
