Leicester has a rich heritage in snooker history. The closed Willie Thorne Snooker Centre on Charles Street in the city centre was one of the most famous clubs of all time. I expect nearly every professional player aged 30 or more on tour has played at least once there.

One of the graduates from that club was Mark Selby. The four-time World champion started his wonderful career under that roof at the age of 13 and regularly talks emotionally about Willie and his brother Malcolm, who supported and sponsored him. They have both sadly passed away. 

Tom Ford is another old club mate of Selby’s and he is in attendance for this weeks Spreadex World Grand Prix at the Morningside Arena, where the top 32 players on the season’s one-year list come together to the East Midlands to fight it out for the £100,000 first prize. 

Mark Allen returns to defend the title he won last year in Cheltenham and will be encouraged by his run to the semi-final of the Masters.

WILLIAMS OUT FOR GRAND PRIX GLORY

Another player who has his own named club is the evergreen, Mark Williams. Williams has co-owned a club in Tredegar, South East Wales since 2010. He has many future prospects who plays at his club including multiple times World junior champion Liam Davies and the player he beat in last years World Under 17 Championship, Riley Powell.

There’s no letting up from the oldest of the ‘Class of 92’, who is a year away from 50 years of age. The Welsh Potting Machine is still a force to be reckoned with as shown winning the British Open in October beating the aforementioned Selby in the final 10-7. Only Selby’s fourth ranking final loss in 23 proving the magnitude of the achievement. Williams became the second oldest ranking event winner in history.

So what’s his form like since? Well, a lot more miss than hit. A decent run to the U.K. Championship quarter-final, losing 6-5 to finalist Ding Junhui is the best he’s mustered in the ranking events though over the Christmas period, he played in an invitational in Macau where he beat World semi-finalist Si Jiahui, Judd Trump then Jack Lisowski in the final pocketing a sweet £80,000 for his troubles. 

Williams was always second best in his opener with Ali Carter at the Masters last week but he’s given that form a fair boost since. Williams starts his campaign here against the unpredictable super talent Thepchaiya Un Nooh, a player he enjoys playing due to leading the career head-to-heads 8-2. 

Willo has positive memories of the Morningside, having won his 24th ranking title there in 2021 when it staged the British Open and a year later at the English Open he lost out in the quarter-final, bagging a third career 147 in the process.

Williams made the quarters in this last year after five previous first round defeats in six years so it’s not an event he has a great record in however he’s a two-time winner this season already and no reason why he can’t make it three at 14/1.

chinese star a value longshot

The big fish in the bottom half is undoubtedly  2018 and 2021 champion, Ronnie O’Sullivan though a player who troubled the great man at the U.K. Championship in November was China’s Zhou Yuelong. 

In their quarter-final clash, Zhou trailed 4-1 but fought back to lead 5-4 until O’Sullivan made breaks of 77 and 122 to snatch victory. Zhou had earlier beaten Neil Robertson and John Higgins.

It’s a slight surprise Zhou at 25 years old isn’t yet a cemented top 16 player as he’s the closest thing to Ding Junhui in the game. Zhou is a three-time ranking finalist, who’s yet to get that elusive title but it will surely come in time as he’s a phenomenal talent who can score as heavy as anyone. 

This season Zhou has struck 29 centuries and averages a ton every 4.69 frames he wins which is a superb ratio. His biggest downfall this season though has been losing in final frame deciders. In five events, he’s lost in the decider including at the Scottish Open semi-final pre Christmas where eventual champion Gary Wilson required three snookers to beat him. 

That was an absolute killer to lose (especially after a premature fist pump) but he did at least follow up this with a qualifying decider victory over Jak Jones for a trip to the Tempodrom in Berlin at the end of this month. 

Zhou might face off with O’Sullivan again in the last 16 here in Leicester but must take out a rejuvenated Stephen Maguire in his opener first. 

Ding was the closest Chinese player to capturing this title in 2018 and Zhou, at 28/1 in the outright betting, certainly has the ammunition to go well this week ahead. 

CAN XIAO BRING THE X-FACTOR?

To finish, a 3rd quarter fancy in a player two years younger than Ding, Xiao Guodong (13/2). 

An ever present on tour since 2009, solid Xiao has already made a semi-final this season at the British Open where he beat Masters finalist Carter and International Championship runner-up Ford on route before succumbing to Selby. 

There aren’t many more consistent players outside of the world top 16 than Xiao and that’s explained by qualifying for this event in five of the last six years - no mean feat. 

He has a good record in this event; he made the quarters in 2018 and last year beating the likes of Allen, Higgins, Robertson and Ryan Day. In 2019 he went one better, getting through to the last four losing out to Carter. 

Xiao is a bit of a nearly man with two ranking final defeats to his name, the first of those over 10 years ago in the Shanghai Masters of 2013. The British Open semi was the fifth time in his career he’s won his quarter, and he’s lost in a ranking quarter-final on 11 occasions so he certainly knows how to get his way into the deep end of events. 

He opens here with Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham, a player he has a terrific head-to-head record against with six wins from seven. He will arguably hope to face Ricky Walden in the last 16 rather than Ding considering he’s lost eight times (in a row) from nine previous meetings. 

Nevertheless, with the first two rounds being best-of-seven, Xiao will fancy his chances of upsetting anyone especially considering he has a near 60% career win rate in best-of-seven. 

It’s a shame this year's event hasn’t returned to Cheltenham’s Racecourse given that’s where Xiao made two of his Grand Prix runs plus the British Open one this term.

Whether he’s a ‘well handicapped’ individual to strike is another thing, he’s definitely a dark horse well worth keeping on side in an event he enjoys. 

SPREADEX WORLD GRAND PRIX OUTRIGHT BETTING TIPS

Mark Williams @14/1

Zhou Yuelong @28/1

Quarter 3 winner Xiao Guodong @13/2

Please note that the picks recommended in this blog post are based on past performance and should not be considered a guarantee for future winning outcomes, and it is important to remember that spread betting carries a high level of risk to your capital and can result in losses larger than your initial stake/deposit. The views within this preview are those of snooker tipster George Weyham and not those of Spreadex.