With John Higgins, Mark Selby, Ding Junhui and now Ronnie O’Sullivan out of Bahrain, the rest of the field will never have a better opportunity to add a ranking title to their CV…
So, with the tournament starting on Saturday, who will be looking to win the title in Bahrain?
The favourites?
With O’Sullivan out, the highest ranked player in the tournament is world number 2 Stephen Maguire who will be looking to bounce back from his early exit in Glasgow with a win here. Not only is it important to really get his season going, it is also a great chance to close the gap to O’Sullivan at the top of the rankings which currently stands at a colossal 9,275. If Maguire were to win the event then he would receive 5,000 points and suddenly the battle at the top of the rankings would become interesting again.
A player in even greater need for a good result however is world number three Shaun Murphy who is now down at 7th on the latest provisional list. Having recently separated from his wife, Shaun has now lost his last four ranking event matches and could really do with a good run here to make amends his for slow start. If him and Maguire both perform then they will meet in the semi-finals next week, a rematch of their China Open final earlier in the year.
The form players
While both Maguire and Murphy have already won big events, three of the best players in the game at the moment are Ryan Day, Ali Carter and Joe Perry, none of whom have a ranking title to their name. The three of them will never have a better opportunity than this to break their duck with so many top players out and I expect at least one of them to make the final.
Ryan Day in particular is currently flying, having made the final of the recent Grand Prix and followed that with a win in the Austrian Open pro-am event the following week. Now up to number three on the provisional list, he does however face a tough opponent in Dave Harold in his opening match in Bahrain. If he can win that then he will be up against the winner of Matthew Stevens and Stuart Bingham.
Ali Carter looked good recently in the Grand Prix, narrowly losing out to Ryan in a deciding frame in the semi-final, as he did against O’Sullivan in Northern Ireland. He could have had an easier draw however as if he gets past Michael Judge in round one, he would then have to play the winner of Judd Trump and Mark Allen before a potential quarter-final with Shaun Murphy! That he can still have such a tricky draw with four of the best players in the world missing shows you just how much depth there is on the tour at the moment.
Joe Perry meanwhile, the man who lost out to Trump in Glasgow and has looked so good in the Premier League recently will also be looking to win his first title, though again he will have to do it the hard way. In the second round he would face a tricky match with Maguire before possibly meeting Neil Robertson in the quarter-final. Still, at least he won’t have to play O’Sullivan for once!
Outsiders?
Who else could have a good run? Well Stephen Hendry could certainly do with one given his poor start to the new season. He did however look much improved against John Higgins in the Premier League the other night so maybe he will have a good go at it. His biggest problem is that once again he has drawn Ricky Walden, the man who beat him in Shanghai and went on to win the event in the first round this week. The winner of the match will then meet the winner of Graeme Dott (who will surely be struggling to be fit for the event), and Barry Pinches/Ahmed Aseeri, so there is a great opportunity for one of them to make another quarter-final.
How about Ken Doherty and Matthew Stevens, two players who have struggled badly at Pontin’s, but who have not needed to qualify for the event due to the withdrawals further up the draw. Both aren’t playing great at the moment but are superb players at their best, hopefully they can turn it on this week, they both desperately need it for their ranking.
Young guns
Could this be the time that we see one of snooker’s young guns make a breakthrough and win their first event? Judd Trump is in excellent form at the moment having made the semis in Glasgow and recently beaten Mark Williams to qualify for this event. He is up against another talented young player though, Mark Allen from Northern Ireland who hasn’t really got going yet this season. This would be a great time for him to make his first final and even win it.
Jamie Cope will also be looking to do well, having already made a 147 this season and moved himself into the top 16 provisionally. He won’t find it easy up against Michael Holt though, a man who seems to have started this season more focused than I have ever seen him…