Ronnie O’Sullivan is the 2-1 favourite to land the World Open crown and the Rocket looks a market-leader to support in China.
The seven-time world champion has been selective with the events he has entered this season but when the Chigwell potter has picked up his cue, it has usually led to success.
O’Sullivan has competed in six ranking events this term and those efforts have yielded two quarter-finals, a semi-final in the International Championship and victories in the UK Championship and World Grand Prix.
He has also collected the top prize in the Masters, Shanghai Masters and World Masters this term, and excluding the Championship League, the 48-year-old has won five of his nine competitions this season.
Clearly, 2-1 to win the World Open is not a huge price, but the Yushan draw looks to give the Rocket a massive chance of more glory and O’Sullivan should be a little shorter.
Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Mark Allen occupy the next three spots in the betting, but those three are all housed in the same half of the draw, which also contains the talented and in-form Zhang Anda as well as Kyren Wilson.
O’Sullivan is safely tucked away in the second section and a first-round tie against Michael White shouldn’t pose the Chigwell cueman many problems.
Robert Milkins is the highest ranked player the Rocket can face before the quarter-finals and it looks a serene passage to the last eight.
Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy are potential quarter-final opponents, but the Rocket will be a long odds-on favourite in all of his matches until that stage and his most highly rated rivals look to have a more difficult route to the business end of the competition.
Ali Carter, Neil Robertson and Luca Brecel are the other top contenders in O’Sullivan’s half of the draw, but Robertson and Brecel have been miles off their peak this season and it could be that the Rocket doesn’t face a serious challenge until the final.
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