The conclusion of the 2024 English Open has brought several changes to the various snooker rankings lists.
Neil Robertson got back to winning ways after a couple of years in the doldrums with a 9-7 victory over Wu Yize on Sunday.
An interesting week at the Brentwood Leisure Centre resulted in not a single top 16 member participating from the semi-finals stage onward.
Let’s then take a look at how the English Open results impacted the snooker rankings.
Top 16
A 24th career ranking title for Neil Robertson and the £100,000 in prize money that came with it had important bearings on the top 16.
The Australian returns to the elite bracket, but his revival is bad news for fellow all-time great John Higgins whose 29-year tenure comes to an end.
The Scot, who celebrated making his 1,000th career century break last week, drops to 17th on the official two-year standings.
It marks the first time since 1995 when he was just 19 years old that Higgins won’t be a member of the top 16.
Much of the other spots remain the same, with Judd Trump almost half a million pounds out in front as the world number one.
Kyren Wilson stays in second but has a narrow £300 lead over Mark Allen, with Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby completing the top five.
Luca Brecel’s first win of the 2024/25 campaign, coupled with an early exit for Mark Williams, sees the Belgian Bullet rise above the Welshman into sixth place.
Who were the other movers?
Wu Yize, meanwhile, took home the £45,000 runner-up cheque – earnings that will help him move into the top 32 for the first time in his career.
The 20 year-old almost fought back from 8-2 behind to force a decider in the final before narrowly falling short, but the Chinese cueist moves up nine places in the rankings to number 31 in the world.
Ishpreet Singh Chadha’s reward for making a maiden ranking event semi-final is a promotion of nine places in the rankings to number 68.
But at number 64 on the provisional end-of-season standings and with no points to defend for the remainder of this term, the Indian already looks well placed to regain his tour card for the next campaign.
| Official 2-Year World Rankings | Sept 23, 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £1,487,200 |
| 2 | Kyren Wilson | £987,500 |
| 3 | Mark Allen | £987,200 |
| 4 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £739,500 |
| 5 | Mark Selby | £673,700 |
| 6 | Luca Brecel | £659,500 |
| 7 | Mark Williams | £658,000 |
| 8 | Shaun Murphy | £604,300 |
| 9 | Ding Junhui | £466,500 |
| 10 | Gary Wilson | £456,400 |
| 11 | Ali Carter | £444,900 |
| 12 | Zhang Anda | £442,750 |
| 13 | Si Jiahui | £358,400 |
| 14 | Tom Ford | £343,850 |
| 15 | Neil Robertson | £335,350 |
| 16 | Jak Jones | £332,500 |
| — | — | — |
| 17 | John Higgins | £318,850 |
| 18 | Barry Hawkins | £311,050 |
| 19 | Ryan Day | £301,400 |
| 20 | Jack Lisowski | £295,900 |
| 21 | David Gilbert | £290,250 |
| 22 | Robert Milkins | £286,000 |
| 23 | Hossein Vafaei | £271,900 |
| 24 | Chris Wakelin | £266,400 |
| 25 | Stuart Bingham | £251,900 |
1-year snooker rankings
Like in previous years, the single-season snooker rankings will determine qualification spots for several lucrative ranking events.
Last season, the top 32 from this list qualified for the World Grand Prix, the top 16 for the Players Championship, and the top 12 for the Tour Championship.
Neil Robertson moves up five places to fourth behind Judd Trump, Mark Williams, and Kyren Wilson who remain unchanged.
Wu Yize made a big leap up these standings, rising 16 positions to number eight behind Si Jiahui, Shaun Murphy, and Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Chris Wakelin’s run to the last four also saw the former Shoot Out champion elevate himself nicely on the one-year list, moving to number 14.
| 1-Year Snooker Rankings | Sept 23, 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Judd Trump | £589,200 |
| 2 | Mark Williams | £223,000 |
| 3 | Kyren Wilson | £218,000 |
| 4 | Neil Robertson | £159,350 |
| 5 | Si Jiahui | £122,400 |
| 6 | Shaun Murphy | £119,800 |
| 7 | Ronnie O’Sullivan | £85,500 |
| 8 | Wu Yize | £71,000 |
| 9 | Jimmy Robertson | £67,600 |
| 10 | Xiao Guodong | £63,000 |
| 11 | David Gilbert | £58,750 |
| 12 | Pang Junxu | £50,400 |
| 13 | Scott Donaldson | £46,350 |
| 14 | Chris Wakelin | £45,400 |
| 15 | Gary Wilson | £45,400 |
| =15 | Stuart Bingham | £45,400 |
| 17 | Jack Lisowski | £44,400 |
| 18 | Zhang Anda | £40,750 |
| 19 | Matthew Selt | £40,750 |
| 20 | Ali Carter | £38,400 |
| 21 | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh | £38,000 |
| 22 | Elliot Slessor | £37,350 |
| 23 | Daniel Wells | £36,500 |
| 24 | Hossein Vafaei | £36,400 |
| 25 | Barry Hawkins | £35,550 |
| 26 | Ben Woollaston | £35,000 |
| 27 | Yuan Sijun | £31,400 |
| 28 | Ishpreet Singh Chadha | £30,00 |
| 29 | Xu Si | £29,750 |
| 30 | Mark Allen | £27,200 |
| =30 | Mark Selby | £27,200 |
| 32 | Jackson Page | £26,600 |
| — | — | — |
| 41 | Jak Jones | £20,000 |
| 53 | John Higgins | £15,350 |
| 102 | Luca Brecel | £5,400 |
| N/R | Ding Junhui | £0 |
The Home Nations series bonus
The BetVictor bonus worth £150,000 is back this season but with only the Home Nations events counting towards the rankings this time.
The player who has the best results overall from the four tournaments in the series will receive the handsome jackpot bonus.
The English Open was the first event in the series this term, so Neil Robertson obviously takes the front with his £100,000 payday.
Three more tournaments are to be played on the Home Nations series – the Northern Ireland Open, the Scottish Open, and the Welsh Open.
What is the next snooker event?
The next ranking event on the 2024/25 snooker calendar has already begun, with the British Open commencing on Monday in Cheltenham.
The tournament runs until Sunday at the Centaur with £100,000 again up for grabs for the winner.
More details for the British Open are available by clicking here.
2024/25 WST calendar
Note: Dates are provisional and subject to change
(NR = Non-ranking event)
COMPLETED
Championship League Snooker
Champion: Ali Carter
Shanghai Masters (NR)
Champion: Judd Trump
Xi’an Grand Prix
Champion: Kyren Wilson
Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters
Champion: Judd Trump
English Open
Champion: Neil Robertson
British Open
Champion: Mark Selby
Wuhan Open
Champion: Xiao Guodong
Northern Ireland Open
Champion: Kyren Wilson
International Championship
Champion: Ding Junhui
Champion of Champions (NR)
Champion: Mark Williams
UK Championship
Champion: Judd Trump
Snooker Shoot Out
Champion: Tom Ford
Scottish Open
Champion: Lei Peifan
DECEMBER
16th to 22nd
– German Masters qualifiers
– World Open qualifiers
(Canon Medical Arena, Sheffield)
18th to 20th
Riyadh Season Snooker Championship (NR)
(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
JANUARY
12th to 19th
The Masters (NR)
(Alexandra Palace, London)
27th to February 2nd
German Masters
(Tempodrom, Berlin)
FEBRUARY
10th to 16th
Welsh Open
(Venue Cymru, Llandudno)
24th to March 2nd
World Open
(TBC, China)
MARCH
4th to 9th
World Grand Prix
(Hong Kong)
17th to 23rd
Players Championship
(Telford, England)
31st to April 6th
Tour Championship
(Manchester Central, Manchester)
APRIL
7th to 16th
World Championship qualifiers
(EIS, Sheffield)
19th to May 5th
World Snooker Championship
(Crucible Theatre, Sheffield)
Featured photo credit: WST
O’Sullivan would’ve been in the top 16 for a longer u broken period if it wasn’t for his decision to not play for the majority of the 2012/13 season. He’s never dropped out due to performances on the table. May 1994 was when The Rocket first entered the elite top 16 bracket.