The 2023 World Grand Prix commences on Monday with the top 32 money-earners from this season’s ranking events in the draw.
The Masters is less than 24 hours old, with Judd Trump beating Mark Williams to lift a second title at the Alexandra Palace, but it’s straight to the Centaur in Cheltenham for the next week of action on the baize.
On the opening day of the World Grand Prix, WST announced Duelbits as the new title sponsor, replacing struggling car retailer Cazoo.
Duelbits, a crypto and casino sportsbook, will also sponsor the upcoming Players Championship and Tour Championship this season.
Prize, history, and format
The World Grand Prix has been on the calendar since 2015, and it has been contested as a ranking event since 2016.
Ronnie O’Sullivan is the reigning champion following his 10-8 success over Neil Robertson in the final just over twelve months ago.
Robertson, Shaun Murphy, and Barry Hawkins are one-time winners of the event, while O’Sullivan has triumphed in it twice.
Judd Trump, however, is a record three-time winner – most recently capturing glory in 2020 when the tournament was staged behind closed doors in Milton Keynes.
There have been several venues used, but the tournament returns to Cheltenham this year after the Centaur previously hosted proceedings in 2019 and 2020.
There’s a top prize of £100,000, and the format is a straight knockout with the first two rounds lasting seven frames, the quarter-finals nine, semi-finals eleven, and the final contested over 19 frames.
2023 World Grand Prix draw
A simple seeding system ensures that the World Grand Prix draw is determined by the rankings order from this season’s performances in ranking events.
Mark Allen is the top seed having accumulated by far the most earnings since the beginning of the 2022/23 campaign, so the Northern Irishman will face the player in 32nd spot – David Gilbert.
It means that some of the players you’d normally expect to see as a higher seed are actually in the middle of the pack and set to face each other earlier that usual.
O’Sullivan begins his defence against fellow top-16 competitor Hawkins, while Trump will look to continue the momentum gained from his Masters triumph when he takes on Hossein Vafaei.
Williams, on the other hand, will hope to bounce back from the disappointment of his final defeat to Trump at the Ally Pally in his all-Welsh affair with Jamie Jones.
One of the ties of the first round sees former world number one Ding Junhui in action against 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham.
Last 32
Q1
Mark Allen (1) vs David Gilbert (32)
(Mon, 7pm)
Lyu Haotian (17) vs Joe O’Connor (16)
(Tues, 7pm)
Zhou Yuelong (9) vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (24)
(Mon, 7pm)
Robert Milkins (25) vs Jack Lisowski (8)
(Mon, est. 9pm)
Q2
Noppon Saengkham (28) vs Mark Selby (5)
(Tues, est. 3pm)
Ronnie O’Sullivan (21) vs Barry Hawkins (12)
(Tues, 7pm)
Mark Williams (13) vs Jamie Jones (20)
(Tues, 1pm)
Ding Junhui (4) vs Stuart Bingham (29)
(Tues, est. 3pm)
Q3
Kyren Wilson (3) vs Robbie Williams (30)
(Tues, est. 9pm)
Shaun Murphy (14) vs Ali Carter (19)
(Wed, 1pm)
Sam Craigie (22) vs Tom Ford (11)
(Wed, 1pm)
Gary Wilson (6) vs Anthony McGill (27)
(Wed, est. 3pm)
Q4
Luca Brecel (7) vs Joe Perry (26)
(Wed, est. 3pm)
Hossein Vafaei (23) vs Judd Trump (10)
(Tues, est. 9pm)
Xiao Guodong (18) vs Neil Robertson (15)
(Mon, est. 9pm)
Ricky Walden (31) vs Ryan Day (2)
(Tues, 1pm)
Where to watch the World Grand Prix
Live coverage of the World Grand Prix will be on ITV Sport throughout the week, with Eurosport and discovery+ also broadcasting the event outside the United Kingdom.
There are other options available for viewers around the world, which you can view by clicking here.
Featured photo credit: WST
