Time for a New Name to Go on Snooker’s UK Championship Trophy?
The 2021 Cazoo UK Championship gets underway this week in the York Barbican. The 128-player snooker competition will run until December 5. Multiple winners Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, John Higgins, Mark Selby and even Stephen Hendry will all attempt to add the £200,000 winner’s prize to their bank balance.
Yan Bingtao has lost to the in-form John Higgins three times this season. Otherwise, his record is exceptional. The 21-year-old could go a long way in the 2021 Cazoo UK Championship. ©GettyImages
However, Judd Trump is the bookie’s favorite. Successful just once before – in the 2011 UK Championship – the 32-year-old is the form player having claimed last week’s Champions of Champions tournament. 7/2 is the best price available for the current world number two.
Classic Confrontations in a Crown Classic
2021 marks the 45th staging of the Cazoo UK Championship. Unquestionably one of snooker’s most prestigious tournaments, the UK Championship is the first Triple Crown event of the season. The other competitions in this trilogy are the World Championship and the Masters.
This is a tournament steeped in history. There have been countless moments of drama since Patsy Fagan won the inaugural event way back in 1977. Alex Higgins beating Steve Davis 16-frames-to-15 in 1983 stands out in the history books. In this match Davis squandered a 7-0 lead.
But recent editions of this £1 million tournament have provided more than their fair share of suspense and excitement. There has been both surprising and immensely popular winners.
2017
In 2017 Ronnie O’Sullivan’s victory over Shaun Murphy saw the gifted ambidextrous player equal two significant records. In prevailing 10-5 he drew level with Steve Davis on claiming this competition six times. This also marked his 18th Triple Crown victory equaling a record held by Stephen Hendry since 1999.
2018
One year later, after a 10-6 dismissal of Mark Allen, O’Sullivan moved clear in the record books. In a rare display of emotion, after collecting his winner’s trophy, ‘The Rocket’ jumped over the barriers around the feature table to share the moment with the crowd, his friends and fans.
2019
Ten years after he last held the winner’s trophy aloft, Ding Junhui defeated Stephen Maguire to claim his third UK Championship. Written-off by many, this 2019 success saw the Chinese player end an eight-year Triple Crown trophy drought.
Ding had also gone 27 months without a ranking title of any kind. This was the 14th ranking title of his career to date. He is yet to further add to his tally.
2020
The Covid-19 pandemic meant last year’s UK Championship was played behind closed doors in Milton Keynes. Despite the lack of a live audience, Neil Robertson and Judd Trump put on one of the greatest ever UK Championship finals.
The pair were inseparable throughout the match and there was never more than a frame between them. During the small hours of Monday morning, the nineteenth and deciding frame was played. An understandably tense affair, it lasted over an hour.
It saw Judd Trump just two pots away from glory. However, when he missed a relatively straightforward final pink, the Australian stepped up to pot the six-point ball. In doing so Robertson became a three-time UK Championship winner.
Wilson to Take His First Crown?
Understandably, the bookmakers have been unanimous in placing the top-ranked players at the head of the betting. Interestingly, only one player in the current world top ten is not a previous winner of the UK Championship.
That exception is world number five, Kyren Wilson. The 29-year-old has never won a Triple Crown event, but he was a World Championship finalist in 2020. If you like him, 16/1 is available at Ladbrokes sportsbook.
Trump and Higgins Are the Form Horses
Naturally, it is difficult to look beyond Trump. The 2019 World Champion was awesome in last weekend’s Champion of Champions where he accounted for David Lilley 4-1, Ryan Day 6-0, Kyren Wilson 6-0 and, in the final, John Higgins 10-4.
In addition to four World Championship titles, John Higgins is a three-time UK Championship winner. He is also on an amazing run of form. In making the final of the last three tournaments he has contested; Higgins has won 13 of the last 16 matches he has played.
Under these circumstances, William Hill’s 5/2 offering about the Scotsman winning his quarter of the draw (the third bracket) looks a great bet. His first-round opponent is amateur, Michael Georgiou.
Yan Can at 25/1
But this could be the year a new name is etched onto the trophy. We fancy that name could be the up-and-coming Yan Bingtao.
Aged just 21, the Chinese player shook the snooker world by talking last season’s Masters. Now world ranked 12, he has only lost four of the 24 competitive matches he has played this season.
That form has seen him reach the quarter-final of the English Open and the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions and Northern Ireland Open. He has enjoyed victories over big-name players Barry Hawkins, Dave Gilbert, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby this campaign.
John Higgins is a bogey player for him. In three 2021 meetings, he has lost to that rival three times. Two of those defeats were in semi-final games. In the UK Championship, sat in different ends of the draw, this duo cannot meet until the final.
Clearly on an upward trajectory and not one to falter on a major stage, the young Yan Bingtao could give you a great run for your money as a 25/1 each-way play with the Unibet sportsbook.
