RANKINGS: TRUMP SET FOR LLANDUDNO
Judd Trump has leapt to fourth place on the one-year ranking list and secured his place in the Cazoo Tour Championship in Llandudno by winning the Nirvana Turkish Masters.
Just two weeks ago, Trump was down in 17th place and his chances looked slim, with only the top eight to make it to the final event in the 2021/22 Cazoo Series. But a run to the final of the BetVictor Welsh Open moved him up to 13th, and then the £100,000 top prize at the first ever ranking event in Turkey has lifted him another nine places and cemented his place in the draw in North Wales.
The Cazoo Tour Championship runs from March 28 to April 3 and there is just one counting event remaining until the field is confirmed. That is the BetVictor Gibraltar Open from March 24 to 26, where there will be seven players currently outside the top eight still in with a chance of climbing into that bracket.
John Higgins is in eighth place with £144,500 but is far from certain of his spot in Llandudno. Hossein Vafaei (£130,000) and Ricky Walden (£125,500) both need to reach the final in Gibraltar, worth £20,000, to have a chance of overtaking Higgins.
Barry Hawkins (£117,500), David Gilbert (£116,500), Kyren Wilson (£108,000), Jimmy Robertson (£105,500) and Fan Zhengyi (£103,500) all need the £50,000 top prize on the Rock. Matthew Selt reached the final in Turkey and the £45,000 runner-up prize brought his overall tally to £93,000 but he is too far behind Higgins to have a chance.
Click here for the BetVictor Gibraltar Open match schedule, and the prize money is:
Winner: £50,000
Runner-up: £20,000
Semi-finals: £6,000
Quarter-finals: £5,000
Last 16: £4,000
Last 32: £3,000
Last 64: £2,000
High break: £5,000
Total: £251,000
As it stands there are two players inside the top eight of the one-year list who are outside the top eight of the official two-year list: Luca Brecel and Mark Allen.
Trump remains third on the two-year list behind Mark Selby and O’Sullivan, while Selt jumps nine places to 22nd. Oliver Lines reached the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his career and crucially he moves into the top 64 in the provisional end of season list.
There are just two counting events to go in the Race to the Crucible and 16th-placed Yan Bingtao has a buffer of £26,000 over Walden in 17th. However, if Walden, Vafaei or one of the others chasing a Cazoo Tour Championship spot make it to Llandudno, that comes with a minimum guarantee of £20,000 which could impact the Crucible race. Yan has not entered the Gibraltar event so must hope that those chasing him do not make up the ground.
Tickets for all of these events are on sale now – for details click here.
