The 2019/20 campaign is a month old but after a busy enough opening to the new term snooker in July will be a little harder to come by.
June was filled with quite a lot of action on the Main Tour, all things considered, culminating in Scotland’s triumph in the World Cup on Sunday.
John Higgins and Stephen Maguire avenged their defeat from the final four years ago by hammering the same opposition, China B, 4-0 in Wuxi.
China B’s Liang Wenbo and Zhou Yuelong were bidding to add to their prior victories in the event but had nothing left in the tank after a hard-fought semi-final clincher against England.
Due to a number of reasons, from the format to the venue to its positioning on the calendar, the World Cup continues in failing to capture the imagination of the public.
Still, the Scottish duo of Higgins and Maguire certainly enjoyed their success and the useful $200,000 sum that accompanied it.
Indeed, while Higgins already guaranteed his spot in the Champion of Champions following his run to the final of the World Championship in May, their World Cup win gifts Maguire with a potentially lucrative ticket to Coventry as well later this year.
Earlier in June, the Riga Masters and International Championship qualifiers took place at Ponds Forge in Sheffield and it’ll be the conclusion of the former that takes precedence this month.
In fact, that’s just about all there is to look forward in terms of snooker in July.
The next few weeks provide players and fans alike with another opportunity to enjoy a bit of summer respite from the sport.
Then, at the tail end of the month from July 26th to 28th, the Riga Masters will return for a sixth edition since 2014.
Neil Robertson returns as the defending champion, having had his preliminary round encounter held over to the main venue in Latvia.
The Australian has emerged with the first ranking trophy of the season an incredible four times in the last six years.
Because of that, Robertson is the bookies favourite to emerge with more silverware at the outset of this campaign.
William Hill is offering odds of 9/2 for Robertson to etch his name on the Riga Masters trophy for a third time.
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The likes of Mark Williams, Mark Selby, Kyren Wilson, and Jack Lisowski will be in action in Riga too.
For now, though, feel free to enjoy – or persist with – the summer heat as there’ll be a long season ahead once the competition resumes.
