Neil Robertson’s victory at the 2015 Betway UK Championship yesterday marked the half-way point of the season and with it one of the most significant revisions to the official seedings list of the year.
This is because the world rankings and therefore the seedings list published after the event will be used to determine the seedings for the 2016 Dafabet Masters and German Masters tournaments.
Click here to view the final standings at the fourth mid-season seedings revision
Number 1
- NO CHANGE
As was the case at the recent International Championship, there was an outside chance that Stuart Bingham could have replaced Mark Selby as world number one had results gone his way in York.
Defeat for the reigning world champion against Peter Ebdon however meant that Bingham could no longer catch Selby, who as I explained in this previous blog is now guaranteed to remain at the top of the world rankings heading into 2016.
With both players now defending similar levels of prize money up to next year’s Betfred World Championship, it would likely take victory at a major tournament for Bingham, or any other player, to overtake Selby before we return to the Crucible Theatre in April.
The Top 16
IN
- Liang Wenbo
OUT
- Michael White
The most significant section of the world rankings at this particular revision is that of the top 16 and with his career-best run to the final of the Betway UK Championship, China’s Liang Wenbo has broken back into that elite bracket for the first time in over five years.
Liang in fact rises to a career-high of 15th position, meaning that he will qualify to play at the 2016 Dafabet Masters at the expense of Welshman Michael White, who was a first round loser at the Barbican Centre.
17-32
IN
- Peter Ebdon
OUT
- Fergal O’Brien
Just one change to the top 32 as former world champion Peter Ebdon climbs up to 32nd place following his last 16 run in York.
He replaces Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien who drops four places to 35th since the previous cut-off, due to the fact that in 2013 he was able to win two matches at the UK Championship, but only one this time around.
33-64
IN
- David Grace
- Oliver Lines
OUT
- Cao Yupeng
- David Morris
There has been a ‘Leeds invasion’ of the top 64 at this particular cut-off as both David Grace and Oliver Lines have broken into that bracket following the Betway UK Championship.
The semi-final run of David Grace was of course one of the biggest stories in York and the £30,000 that he has won is enough to see him climb 18 places in the rankings to 63rd position. With no prize money to defend during the remainder of this season, the Yorkshireman has now given himself a real chance of finishing up inside the top 64 following next year’s World Championship and to retain his tour status as a result.
It is a similar story for Oliver Lines, who less than £1,000 back from Grace is also well-placed to remain on tour at the end of the season and more importantly in the short term, will be seeded against a player ranked lower than himself for the first round of the German Masters qualifiers in a couple of weeks time.
Dropping out of the top 64 however are Cao Yupeng and perhaps surprisingly Ireland’s David Morris. Having reached the last 16 of the UK Championship back in 2013, his first round defeat to Michael Georgiou this time means that he has failed to defend all £12,000 that he earned two years ago and so drops 11 places in the rankings since the International Championship.
The next seeding revision will come on the 14th December 2015 following the Gibraltar Open and you can view the latest provisional list here.
