Ali Carter has made important moves in a number of lists for snooker rankings after his German Masters victory at the weekend.
The Captain beat Tom Ford 10-3 at the Tempodrom in Berlin on Sunday to pocket the £80,000 top prize.
It represented his second German Masters glory, coming ten years after his first, and a fifth career ranking crown overall.
- CLICK HERE: Ali Carter captures second German Masters crown
Official World Snooker Rankings
Carter rejoins the top 16 in the official two-year standings for the first time since the 2019/20 campaign.
The Englishman is up to number 15 in the world, which could prove pivotal in his aspirations of qualifying automatically for this year’s World Snooker Championship.
Ryan Day slips down to 18th behind Gary Wilson, although there are two players ranked above the British Open champion who are currently suspended amid an ongoing match-fixing investigation.
The only other movement in the top 16 sees Neil Robertson trade places with Judd Trump, the Australian back in the top four at the latter’s expense.
Ronnie O’Sullivan remains the world number one ahead of Mark Selby in second and Mark Allen in third.
Further down, there are not many tournaments left to guarantee tour survival as one of the top 64 ranked players.
Next week’s Welsh Open and March’s new WST Classic will be the last opportunity for a lot of players to attain valuable ranking points before the campaign-concluding World Championship begins in April.
| 1 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £992,000 |
| 2 | Mark Selby | £790,000 |
| 3 | Mark Allen | £757,500 |
| 4 | Neil Robertson | £721,000 |
| 5 | Judd Trump | £660,000 |
| 6 | John Higgins | £489,000 |
| 7 | Mark Williams | £458,500 |
| 8 | Kyren Wilson | £449,500 |
| 9 | Zhao Xintong | £418,500 |
| 10 | Luca Brecel | £378,000 |
| 11 | Shaun Murphy | £351,500 |
| 12 | Jack Lisowski | £313,500 |
| 13 | Barry Hawkins | £302,500 |
| 14 | Stuart Bingham | £282,500 |
| 15 | Ali Carter | £275,000 |
| 16 | Yan Bingtao | £239,000 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Gary Wilson | £222,000 |
| 18 | Ryan Day | £217,500 |
Race to the Players Championship
Carter has also made a big move in the one-year snooker rankings based on performances from this season alone.
The 43 year-old is up to fourth and already guaranteed a place in the 16-field Players Championship in Wolverhampton.
Carter is in a very strong position to secure an invitation to the lucrative eight-player Tour Championship as well.
Tom Ford’s run to the final in Germany has seen the 39 year-old jump to tenth, while Mark Allen stays in top spot despite having not featured in Berlin.
Next week’s Welsh Open provides the final chance to qualify for the Players Championship, with the likes of world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and defending champion Neil Robertson among the marquee names provisionally set to miss out this year.
| 1 | Mark Allen | £505,000 |
| 2 | Ryan Day | £144,000 |
| 3 | Kyren Wilson | £138,500 |
| 4 | Ali Carter | £131,500 |
| 5 | Ding Junhui | £127,500 |
| 6 | Mark Selby | £121,000 |
| 7 | Luca Brecel | £108,500 |
| 8 | Jack Lisowski | £107,500 |
| 9 | Gary Wilson | £107,500 |
| 10 | Tom Ford | £103,500 |
| 11 | Judd Trump | £101,000 |
| 12 | Zhou Yuelong | £79,500 |
| 13 | Shaun Murphy | £77,000 |
| 14 | Chris Wakelin | £70,500 |
| 15 | Xiao Guodong | £69,500 |
| 16 | Mark Williams | £68,500 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Barry Hawkins | £66,500 |
| 18 | Neil Robertson | £65,000 |
| 26 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £49,500 |
| 32 | Stuart Bingham | £39,500 |
BetVictor Series Rankings
The Welsh Open will also be the last counting tournament towards the BetVictor Series order of merit.
A jackpot bonus worth £150,000 is going to be awarded to the player who has accumulated the most earnings in the BetVictor-sponsored events this season.
Carter has made a timely move into first place, but there’s not much separating him from the chasing pack that includes Allen, Kyren Wilson, and Selby.
Indeed, eleven players in total are still in contention to claim the bumper prize.
| 1 | Ali Carter | £119,000 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £113,000 |
| 3 | Mark Allen | £110,000 |
| 4 | Mark Selby | £104,000 |
| 5 | Gary Wilson | £97,500 |
Featured photo credit: WST
John Higgins is another top 16 player outside the top 16 for Wolverhampton. He’s currently languishing in 63rd place. To qualify, Higgins needs to win the Welsh Open.