UK Snooker Championship: Who are the favourites?

The competition gets underway on Tuesday

The world’s best snooker players will go head-to-head this week as the UK Snooker Championship heads to Milton Keynes for the first time.

Ding Junhui won the competition for the third time last year, beating Stephen Maguire in the final to claim his first Championship since 2009.

But the 33-year-old is not favoured to claim a fourth title, with our traders pricing him at 18/1 to go all the way.

Elsewhere, Mark Selby is also looking to win the competition for a third time. Having last won in 2016, when he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final, he can be backed at 15/2.

Ahead of the action getting underway tomorrow, we’ve taken a look at some of the favourites to be crowned champion at this year’s UK Snooker Championship.

Judd Trump

The world number one goes into the competition as the slight favourite, priced at 3/1 to lift the trophy in Milton Keynes.

Trump has been drawn in the same quarter as Kyren Wilson and he’ll be looking to avenge his quarter-final defeat from the World Championship earlier this year.

Wilson, who is going at 12/1 to win in Milton Keynes, also beat Trump in the Championship League final last month to take the pair’s head-to-head record to 10-9 in Trump’s favour.

Trump has won the UK Championship just once before, beating Mark Allen in 2011.

But the 31-year-old can hold his nerve when it matters and the 2019 world champion will be determined to add to his 19 ranking titles.

Ronnie O’Sullivan

The Rocket seems to get better with age and he’ll add to this year’s World Championship if he’s successful this week.

O’Sullivan can be backed at 7/2 to win his eighth UK Championship and his third in the last four years.

The 44-year-old first won the competition in 1993, beating Stephen Hendry in Preston, and he’s travelled up and down the country during its various venue changes.

And he could etch his name into snooker history once again by becoming the first UK Championship winner at its new home.

O’Sullivan is currently ranked second in the world but he’ll have Trump and his top spot firmly in his sights.

Neil Robertson

A two-time winner of the UK Championship, world number three Robertson could make it a hat-trick this week.

The Australian has been priced at 13/2 to triumph in Milton Keynes but he’ll need to improve on last year’s performance.

Robertson crashed out at the last-16 stage, losing 6-1 to Yan Bingtao, who starts this year’s competition as a 33/1 outsider.

However, having won the UK Championship in both 2013 and 2015, Robertson is more than capable of adding to his 18 ranking titles.

View the latest snooker odds.

Al odds and markets correct as of date of publication