Mark Allen was beaten 5-3 by Barry Hawkins in the last 16 of the Xi’an Grand Prix on Thursday in China.
Defeat for the Northern Irishman puts his coveted world number one status in jeopardy.
Allen reached top spot in the snooker rankings at the end of the 2023/24 campaign after two consistent seasons where he picked up five ranking titles.
But Judd Trump matched that tally during the last term and has been on the cusp of returning to the summit for quite some time.
The Englishman narrowly missed out on several occasions when Ronnie O’Sullivan previously held the number one position.
Trump, though, has another opportunity this week after Allen’s demise to the Hawk in the lucrative new Chinese tournament.
The 35 year-old outplayed World Championship runner-up Jak Jones in the fourth round of the competition, avenging his shock loss to the same opponent in Sheffield a few months ago.
By reaching the quarter-finals in Xi’an and with Allen out, Trump is within two more match wins of topping the snooker rankings again.
The runner-up prize worth £76,000 would incredibly take Trump’s rolling two-year total to the exact same figure as Allen’s £974,000 tally.
Yet the former world champion, who was most recently the sport’s number one in 2021, would usurp the Pistol on the basis of having reached further in the most recent counting event.
Of course, Trump will have his sights set on the £177,000 top prize and a 29th career ranking crown that would seal his return to the number one spot in style.
The Bristol potter admitted this week that one of his primary goals for the season is to dominate the snooker rankings again.
“For me, my aim this year is just to win as much as possible and try and get back to number one in the world,” he told the World Snooker Tour.
“When I was dominating (from 2019 to 2021), the world number one kind of added a bit of extra oomph and really helped the mindset.”
Trump has already won silverware in China this season, the non-ranking Shanghai Masters where he pocketed £210,000.
Elsewhere at the Xi’an Grand Prix, Xu Si produced a fine display to reach the quarter-finals with a 5-4 victory over Mark Williams.
Matthew Selt, meanwhile, ended 17 year-old rookie Gong Chenzhi’s excellent run with a 5-4 triumph of his own.
The second session on day four will see the remaining fixtures from the last 16 take place, including Ronnie O’Sullivan’s clash with Hossein Vafaei.
World champion Kyren Wilson meets Jimmy Robertson, Mark Selby plays David Gilbert, and Dominic Dale entertains Daniel Wells in the other games.
Live coverage is on the Matchroom Live streaming service for free.
2024 Xi’an Grand Prix draw
Round of 128
Top Half
Kyren Wilson 5-2 Haris Tahir
He Guoqiang 5-4 Ashley Carty
Anthony McGill 5-0 Xing Zihao
Ricky Walden 5-3 Liam Davies
John Higgins 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Sunny Akani 5-2 Fan Zhengyi
Dean Young 5-3 Robert Milkins
Jimmy Robertson 5-1 Huang Jiahao
Elliot Slessor 5-0 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Chris Wakelin 5-4 Rory Thor
Mark Davis 5-3 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Mark Williams 5-0 Liam Graham
Jamie Jones 5-2 Mostafa Dorgham
Stuart Bingham 5-1 Zhou Jinhao
Xu Si 5-4 Jiang Jun
Ding Junhui 4-5 Alfie Burden
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 Wang Yuchen
Révész Bulcsú 5-0 David Grace
Neil Robertson 5-2 Allan Taylor
Yuan Sijun 5-1 Bai Yulu
Zhang Anda 5-1 Oliver Lines
Graeme Dott 5-2 Ma Shaojun
Hossein Vafaei 5-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Dylan Emery 5-2 Jackson Page
Amir Sarkhosh 5-3 Joshua Thomond
Si Jiahui 5-4 Jimmy White
Gong Chenzhi 5-4 Anthony Hamilton
Tom Ford 5-3 Stan Moody
Matthew Selt 5-2 Ian Burns
Joe O’Connor 5-3 Duane Jones
Zak Surety 5-2 Sanderson Lam
Hammad Miah w/o Luca Brecel
Bottom Half
Judd Trump 5-2 Antony Kowalski
Ma Hailong 5-3 Martin O’Donnell
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Baipat Siripaporn
Artemijs Zizins 5-3 Robbie Williams
Jak Jones 5-4 Robbie McGuigan
Tian Pengfei 5-0 Farakh Ajaib
Jack Lisowski 5-1 Ross Muir
Joe Perry 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
Jordan Brown 5-2 Liam Pullen
David Gilbert 5-1 Reanne Evans
Ben Mertens 5-4 Simon Blackwell
Gary Wilson 5-4 Long Zehuang
Paul Deaville 5-3 Wu Yize
Pang Junxu 5-2 Michael Holt
Aaron Hill 5-2 Chris Totten
Mark Selby 5-3 Wang Xinbo
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Mitchell Mann
Jamie Clarke 5-0 Cao Jin
Noppon Saengkham 5-3 Andrew Pagett
Dominic Dale 5-4 Mohammed Shehab
Daniel Wells 5-4 Ali Carter
Julien Leclercq 5-4 Ben Woollaston
Zhou Yuelong 5-1 Haydon Pinhey
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-3 Lei Peifan
Matthew Stevens 5-0 Andrew Higginson
Ryan Day 5-4 Cheung Ka Wai
Scott Donaldson w/o Lim Kok Leong
Barry Hawkins 5-1 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Xiao Guodong 5-2 Iulian Boiko
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Ken Doherty
David Lilley 5-3 Louis Heathcote
Mark Allen 5-2 Liu Hongyu
Round of 64
Top Half
Kyren Wilson 5-2 He Guoqiang
Anthony McGill 3-5 Ricky Walden
John Higgins 4-5 Sunny Akani
Dean Young 4-5 Jimmy Robertson
Elliot Slessor 2-5 Chris Wakelin
Mark Davis 2-5 Mark Williams
Jamie Jones 3-5 Stuart Bingham
Xu Si 5-4 Alfie Burden
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-2 Bulcsú Révész
Neil Robertson 2-5 Yuan Sijun
Zhang Anda 2-5 Graeme Dott
Hossein Vafaei 5-3 Dylan Emery
Amir Sarkhosh 3-5 Si Jiahui
Gong Chenzhi 5-1 Tom Ford
Matthew Selt 5-4 Joe O’Connor
Zak Surety 3-5 Hammad Miah
Bottom Half
Judd Trump 5-0 Ma Hailong
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Artemijs Zizins
Jak Jones 5-3 Tian Pengfei
Jack Lisowski 5-2 Joe Perry
Jordan Brown 2-5 David Gilbert
Ben Mertens 1-5 Gary Wilson
Paul Deaville 0-5 Pang Junxu
Aaron Hill 0-5 Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy 5-0 Jamie Clarke
Noppon Saengkham 3-5 Dominic Dale
Daniel Wells 5-3 Julien Leclercq
Zhou Yuelong 2-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Matthew Stevens 2-5 Ryan Day
Barry Hawkins w/o Scott Donaldson
Xiao Guodong 5-1 Stephen Maguire
David Lilley 1-5 Mark Allen
Round of 32
Top Half
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Ricky Walden
Sunny Akani 3-5 Jimmy Robertson
Chris Wakelin 2-5 Mark Williams
Stuart Bingham 4-5 Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-1 Yuan Sijun
Hossein Vafaei w/o Graeme Dott
Si Jiahui 3-5 Gong Chenzhi
Matthew Selt 5-2 Hammad Miah
Bottom Half
Judd Trump 5-1 Lyu Haotian
Jak Jones 5-4 Jack Lisowski
David Gilbert 5-3 Gary Wilson
Pang Junxu 4-5 Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy 2-5 Dominic Dale
Daniel Wells 5-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Ryan Day 3-5 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 2-5 Mark Allen
Round of 16
Kyren Wilson 5-4 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams 4-5 Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 Hossein Vafaei
Gong Chenzhi 4-5 Matthew Selt
Judd Trump 5-1 Jak Jones
David Gilbert 5-4 Mark Selby
Dominic Dale 1-5 Daniel Wells
Barry Hawkins 5-3 Mark Allen
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Kyren Wilson 5-1 Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-4 Matthew Selt
Judd Trump 5-2 David Gilbert
Daniel Wells 5-3 Barry Hawkins
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Kyren Wilson 6-4 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Judd Trump 6-1 Daniel Wells
Final (bo19)
Kyren Wilson 10-8 Judd Trump
Featured photos credit: WST
I spent my lunch, just prior to my shift, listening to Dan Murrin on the Snooker Scene podcast. His case for Stephen Hendry being the GOAT left me baffled and mildly simmering.
His argument that Hendry achieved roughly a similar amount to O’Sullivan in a shorter period of time is factually fair. What he fails to appreciate is that Hendry achieved most of his success when the competition wasn’t comparable to the 21st century when the depth has risen dramatically. A peak O’Sullivan would’ve cleaned up in the early/mid 90s. Hendry’s biggest rivals in that period – Parrott, White and Davis – didn’t score with the regularity of today’s top players. The ratios on Cuetracker testify to this.
I also found his inference that O’Sullivan started winning more regularly due to Hendry being in decline a little ridiculous. The Rocket started hoovering up more titles because he tempered his ultra-aggressive instincts of the 90s and became a player with added layers to his game.
Hendry is a great, second only to O’Sullivan. However, the Scot’s failure to match O’Sullivan for longevity of success reflects somewhat poorly on him when making a comparison.
Didn’t listen to it. Agree with you but Hendry could only beat what was in front of him and he did beat them, relentlessly. ROS the clear GOAT for me though, for sure.