The inaugural Wuhan Open concluded on Sunday with Judd Trump’s triumph helping him move further up the snooker rankings list.
A 10-7 defeat of Ali Carter provided the Englishman with a £140,000 champion’s cheque and a second ranking title in as many weeks.
What’s arguably even more impressive is the manner in which Trump has had to do it.
The 34 year-old becomes only the third player in history to win ranking tournaments in different countries in successive weeks.
Stephen Hendry won the Asian Open in China in 1990 and followed it up a week later with success in the Dubai Classic in the UAE.
A dozen years later, Mark Williams completed a quick international double with victories in both the China Open and the Thailand Masters.
Trump’s Wuhan Open glory comes just a few days after he emerged triumphantly at the English Open in Brentwood.
Official World Snooker Tour rankings
Ronnie O’Sullivan remains as the world number one for another week, with those immediately behind again failing to capitalise on an opportunity to surpass him.
O’Sullivan bowed out of the Wuhan Open in the quarter-finals following a 5-1 reverse to Lyu Haotian.
With second-placed Luca Brecel pulling out of the competition, it meant Mark Allen could have become the sport’s top dog for the first time in his career.
The Pistol needed to claim the trophy to achieve just that, but a 5-2 loss to Ali Carter in the last eight put an end to his aspirations for now at least.
Trump, meanwhile, leapfrogs the Northern Irishman into third place in the official two-year snooker rankings.
Indeed, the 2019 world champion has closed to within just £100,000 of O’Sullivan in first.
While many were expecting either Brecel or Allen to usurp the Rocket at some point this season, Trump may turn out to be O’Sullivan’s primary challenger if he can maintain his incredible run of form.
Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy, and Kyren Wilson complete the top eight.
The only other movers in the top 16 are Mark Williams and John Higgins, who swap positions for the third week running.
Just behind them is Carter, who is nearing a return to the top ten after reaching the final in Wuhan.
A little further down the pecking order, Lyu Haotian and Wu Yize’s semi-final efforts have seen the two Chinese competitors move up to 36th and 37th respectively.
| Official 2-Year World Rankings | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £899,000 |
| 2 | Luca Brecel | £881,500 |
| 3 | Judd Trump | £799,000 |
| 4 | Mark Allen | £791,000 |
| 5 | Mark Selby | £609,000 |
| 6 | Neil Robertson | £545,500 |
| 7 | Shaun Murphy | £473,000 |
| 8 | Kyren Wilson | £436,000 |
| 9 | Mark Williams | £421,000 |
| 10 | John Higgins | £404,000 |
| 11 | Ali Carter | £371,500 |
| 12 | Robert Milkins | £307,000 |
| 13 | Jack Lisowski | £305,000 |
| 14 | Barry Hawkins | £304,500 |
| 15 | Ding Junhui | £267,000 |
| 16 | Hossein Vafaei | £261,500 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Ryan Day | £251,500 |
| 18 | Gary Wilson | £220,500 |
| 19 | Tom Ford | £216,500 |
| 20 | Anthony McGill | £215,000 |
Race to the World Grand Prix
Trump unsurprisingly moves into pole position on the separate one-year rankings list, which is based on results from this snooker season only.
These standings are important for determining who qualifies for three lucrative events in the second half of the campaign.
The top 32 from the one-year list will feature at the World Grand Prix in January, before the top 16 play in the Players Championship and the top 12 at the Tour Championship.
Trump will definitely be featuring in all of those lucrative events, while Carter has done his chances the world of good by rising into the top four.
Among the high-profile names with work to do in order to break into the top 32 are O’Sullivan, Brecel, and Robertson.
Note: The provisional list below was updated before any matches took place in the Northern Ireland Open.
| 1-Year Rankings | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £264,000 |
| 2 | Mark Williams | £144,500 |
| 3 | Barry Hawkins | £110,000 |
| 4 | Ali Carter | £87,500 |
| 5 | Mark Selby | £75,000 |
| 6 | Zhang Anda | £53,000 |
| 7 | Xiao Guodong | £52,500 |
| 8 | Lyu Haotian | £51,000 |
| 9 | Shaun Murphy | £48,500 |
| 10 | John Higgins | £47,500 |
| 11 | Wu Yize | £42,500 |
| 12 | Tom Ford | £40,500 |
| 13 | Noppon Saengkham | £36,000 |
| 14 | Jack Lisowski | £35,000 |
| 15 | Hossein Vafaei | £34,500 |
| 16 | Si Jiahui | £33,000 |
| 17 | Chris Wakelin | £32,500 |
| 18 | Mark Allen | £31,500 |
| 19 | He Guoqiang | £31,500 |
| 20 | Matthew Selt | £31,000 |
| 21 | David Gilbert | £29,500 |
| 22 | Liu Hongyu | £29,500 |
| 23 | Ashley Carty | £29,000 |
| 24 | Zhou Yuelong | £28,500 |
| 25 | Kyren Wilson | £27,000 |
| 26 | Yuan Sijun | £26,500 |
| 27 | Sanderson Lam | £26,000 |
| 28 | Stephen Maguire | £24,500 |
| 29 | Robert Milkins | £24,500 |
| 30 | Jamie Jones | £24,000 |
| 31 | Sam Craigie | £24,000 |
| 32 | Oliver Lines | £24,000 |
| — | — | — |
| 36 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £23,500 |
| 37 | Ding Junhui | £23,500 |
| 60 | Luca Brecel | £15,000 |
| 69 | Neil Robertson | £12,500 |
BetVictor European Series
The Wuhan Open was not part of the BetVictor European Series, so there has been no change in these snooker rankings.
This series comprises eight events, with the money leader at its conclusion set to earn a jackpot bonus worth £150,000.
The next counting ranking event on the BetVictor series is the Northern Ireland Open later in October.
| BetVictor Series | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £121,000 |
| 2 | Barry Hawkins | £85,000 |
| 3 | Shaun Murphy | £40,500 |
| 4 | Zhang Anda | £36,000 |
| 5 | John Higgins | £35,000 |
| 6 | Mark Williams | £35,000 |
When is the next snooker event?
The Northern Ireland Open is the next snooker ranking event on the 2023/24 calendar.
The venue stages at the Watetfront Hall in Belfast take place from October 22nd to 29th, with the players again competing for the Alex Higgins Trophy.
Before that, a preliminary qualifying competition for the Home Nations event will be held in Sheffield this week.
Featured photo credit: WST
