Home  »     »   World Snooker Championship: No shocks as of yet at the Crucible

World Snooker Championship: No shocks as of yet at the Crucible

| 18.04.2017

As far as we’re concerned, the battle for this year’s World Snooker Championship trophy is wide open. We’re yet to see a huge upset at the Crucible this year, and as things stand we’re well on course for the top four seeds to meet in the semi-finals next week.

But who has stood out for us so far?

Ladbrokes News takes a look at the major talking points from Sheffield so far…

Jester from Leicester passes first test

And with ease, too.

Storming to an 8-0 lead, the world number one eventually ran out the 10-2 winner against Fergal O’Brien, making this his most emphatic opening round Crucible victory since 2011.

It’s seen Selby’s outright odds fall to 10/3, having previously been 7/2 joint-favourite with Judd Trump before a ball was potted this year.

He’ll face either Ryan Day or Xiao Guodong in the next round as he looks to make it three World Championship trophies in four years.

Murphy edges past Yan Bingtao

Shaun Murphy looked to have had this one wrapped up when he took a 9-5 lead against the Chinese youngster.

But the 17-year-old Sheffield debutant fought back against the former world champ, and was on the verge of making it 9-9 before a fluke set the Magician up perfectly to clear the table and progress to the next round.

Murphy, a 16/1 shot to win the tournament, will face Ronnie O’Sullivan next, and 7/4 says he comes out on top against the Rocket.

As for Bingtao, the future remains very much bright. And although his first World Championship event may not have gone as planned, he’s won plenty of fans in the last two days.

We could be looking at a future champion.

Fu fights back to beat Brecel

We tipped Marco Fu up following his fine performance at the Ladbrokes Players Championship back in March, and the Hong Kong ace almost fell at the first hurdle for the first time in five years at the Crucible.

7-2 down, he simply had no right to come back in a race to 10 frames.

But he did.

His opponent, Luca Brecel, will have been devastated to have squandered such a healthy lead, but a win is a win as far as Fu is concerned.

And he’s already shown us the kind of fight that wins titles, meaning the 16/1 on him to go all the way could look like great value in two weeks’ time.

Click here for a full list of World Snooker Championship odds.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing

«
»

Author

Alex Apati

Alex has been with the Ladbrokes PR team since 2017 having previously worked for the news department. From sparring with Peter Fury to talking interviews on the Duke and Duchess' baby names, he's covered a range of sports and novelty events.

A frustrated West Brom fan who is no stranger to an oche, Alex is originally from Dudley, although he's worked hard to rid himself of the Black Country twang.