Snooker World Championship 2019: Rocket Ronnie to win again?
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Odds and info ahead of the Crucible action
The 2019 Snooker World Championships are heading back to the Steel City this week, with Ronnie O’Sullivan and co returning to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield fighting it out for the world title.
2018 champion Mark Williams will be back to try and retain the title he won last year. There’s a cool half-a-million pounds on the line for the winner, so who’s the favourite to take home the title?
All the action will be live across the BBC and Eurosport, but before we break, we’ve got all the odds and info…
Who are the favourites?
After winning both the Coral Players Championship and Coral Tour Championship this year, it’s no surprise that Ronnie O’Sullivan is pre-tournament favourite to take the world championship from Williams.
It’s been a stellar year for one of the most naturally gifted snooker players in history, with Rocket Ronnie also managing to pass 1000 career centuries. He’s the 15/8 front runner to win in Sheffield.
O’Sullivan beat Neil Robertson in both of those finals, and the Australian is currently second in the running for the world title. He has previous in his competition too, winning back in 2010, so has the fight and pedigree to become world champion for a second time.
Robertson has been put in the top half of the draw, meaning he’ll avoid O’Sullivan and danger man Judd Trump until the latter stages. He’s made four straight finals and has a 50% win rate in them. He’s 9/2 to regain the world crown.
Trump is third in the order, but knows what it takes to beat the pair of front runners, especially O’Sullivan. Trump won the Masters this season with ease, downing Ronnie 10-4 in the final.
The Juddernaut also added the Coral World Grand Prix title to his collection, beating Ali Carter 10-6 at the Preston Guild Hall. He’s 5/1 to become a world champion.
Mark Selby, John Higgins and Stuart Bingham are too distant in the outright odds. They sit at 10s, 14s and 16s respectively.
The outside shots?
Williams caused a shock last year when he ran out as winner for the third time, and he’ll be an outsider again this year. Could he repeat his heroics again? He’s a 22/1 long shot this year.
Kyren Wilson isn’t too distant in the running, and is in the more favourable half of the draw. His toughest early round battles would come in the quarters where he could face defending champion Williams, but he’ll avoid Robertson until the semi-finals, and O’Sullivan or Trump until the final. He’s 18/1.
The World Snooker Championship has always eluded Ding Junhui, but could this year be the year he betters his second-place finish in 2016? He took Selby all the way in that final, eventually losing 14 frames to 18, but the outside shot is always a threat in tournaments. We’ve got 28/1 that he runs out as tournament winner.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
