Number One Battle Resumes In Cardiff

Following his victory at the Kreativ Dental German Masters a week ago, Mark Selby returned to the top of snooker’s world rankings for the first time since December 2014, ahead of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Ding Junhui and Neil Robertson.

With the 2015 BetVictor Welsh Open set to get underway tomorrow in Cardiff however, the battle is on once again to finish the tournament as world number one, with the same four players in with a chance of doing so.

Heading into the tournament, on the provisional ranking list following the BetVictor Welsh Open, Mark Selby holds a lead of £21,900 to second placed Ronnie O’Sullivan, with Neil Robertson a further £14,919 behind.

This means that to stand any chance of overhauling Selby, nothing less than the £30,000 on offer from a run to the final would be sufficient for O’Sullivan, while Robertson would need the £60,000 prize from winning the tournament to reclaim top spot.

For Ding, nothing less than the title, with Selby falling before the semi-finals would do.

If O’Sullivan were able to finish as runner-up, Selby would still retain top spot in the rankings with a run to the quarter-finals or better, but if O’Sullivan were able to win the title, then he would be guaranteed to reclaim the sport’s top ranking for the first time since May 2010.