The first snooker rankings update of 2024 follows the conclusion of the World Grand Prix in Leicester on Sunday.
Ronnie O’Sullivan collected the £100,000 top prize for his 10-7 victory over Judd Trump at the Morningside Arena.
The triumph means the Rocket has now won the last three tournaments he has entered on the World Snooker Tour – a magnificent achievement, even by his standards.
His latest success adds to the silverware he picked up at the UK Championship in December and at the prestigious Masters invitational just over a week ago.
Top 16
Not much changed at the top of the official two-year snooker rankings list, with only a few movements among the top 16.
Ding Junhui’s run to the semi-finals sees the Chinese competitor continue his climb back up the standings and into ninth ahead of Kyren Wilson and Ali Carter.
Gary Wilson, who like Ding lost to O’Sullivan last week, is rewarded for his quarter-final appearance with a return to the top 16.
That pushes Jack Lisowski out of the elite bracket, with the Englishman in danger of missing out on automatic qualification for the World Championship later this term.
O’Sullivan, of course, keeps hold of his world number one status ahead of beaten finalist Trump, who stays in second.
Mark Allen, Luca Brecel, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson, and Mark Williams complete the top eight.
John Higgins, Zhang Anda, Robert Milkins, and Barry Hawkins are also unchanged and continue to be top-16 members.
A little further down the pecking order, Cao Yupeng rises four places to no.39 in the world after his run to the last four of the World Grand Prix.
| Official 2-Year World Rankings | Jan 22, 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £1,117,500 |
| 2 | Judd Trump | £944,000 |
| 3 | Mark Allen | £837,000 |
| 4 | Luca Brecel | £738,000 |
| 5 | Mark Selby | £622,500 |
| 6 | Shaun Murphy | £486,000 |
| 7 | Neil Robertson | £443,500 |
| 8 | Mark Williams | £435,500 |
| 9 | Ding Junhui | £399,500 |
| 10 | Kyren Wilson | £396,500 |
| 11 | Ali Carter | £395,500 |
| 12 | John Higgins | £378,500 |
| 13 | Zhang Anda | £345,000 |
| 14 | Robert Milkins | £316,000 |
| 15 | Barry Hawkins | £314,500 |
| 16 | Gary Wilson | £307,500 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | Jack Lisowski | £307,000 |
| 18 | Tom Ford | £301,000 |
| 19 | Ryan Day | £265,500 |
| 20 | Hossein Vafaei | £247,000 |
Race to the Players Championship
The World Grand Prix was the first of three tournaments in which qualification is based on the one-year snooker rankings.
Next up will be the Players Championship at the Telford International Centre towards the end of February.
While the top 32 from the one-year list qualified for last week’s event, only the top 16 will make it to the Players Championship.
There are two opportunities left for players to make the cut – next week’s German Masters in Berlin and the subsequent Welsh Open in Llandudno.
Despite losing in Sunday’s final, Trump remains in top spot in these standings ahead of O’Sullivan in second.
There are several high-profile players in danger of missing out on a place at the Players Championship, though.
The likes of Shaun Murphy, Kyren Wilson, Neil Robertson, and world champion Luca Brecel are all short of qualification as things stand.
Note: The below list includes prize money earned from the German Masters qualifiers but not from this week’s World Open qualifiers.
| Provisional | Race to the Players C’ship (1-year list) | Jan 22, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £446,000 |
| 2 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £406,500 |
| 3 | Zhang Anda | £276,000 |
| 4 | Mark Williams | £188,500 |
| 5 | Ding Junhui | £170,000 |
| 6 | Barry Hawkins | £167,500 |
| 7 | Tom Ford | £150,000 |
| 8 | Mark Selby | £126,000 |
| 9 | Ali Carter | £124,500 |
| 10 | Gary Wilson | £116,500 |
| 11 | Hossein Vafaei | £99,500 |
| 12 | John Higgins | £97,000 |
| 13 | Noppon Saengkham | £96,500 |
| 14 | Mark Allen | £96,000 |
| 15 | Zhou Yuelong | £91,500 |
| 16 | Chris Wakelin | £87,000 |
| — | — | — |
| 23 | Shaun Murphy | £64,000 |
| 35 | Kyren Wilson | £43,500 |
| 41 | Luca Brecel | £39,500 |
| 91 | Neil Robertson | £15,500 |
When is the next snooker event?
The next snooker ranking event will be the German Masters at the Tempodrom in Berlin, which commences on Monday, January 29th.
Before that, there is a batch of qualifying fixtures with the preliminary phases for both the World Open and the Welsh Open taking place this week in Barnsley.
Featured photo credit: WST
