If some of you kept up with the news (or more importantly – my blog!!!) Liang Wenbo won his first ranking title a few weeks ago, beating Judd Trump 9-6 in the English Open. There is a slight trend in the past few years that there are more and more first-time winners, ranging from Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (2015 Six-red World Championship), Rory McLeod (2015 Ruhr Open) and Robin Hull (2015 Snooker Shoot-out).
But this article is mainly about ranking events, the ones everyone wants as the feather in their cap. Since the start of the 2014/2015 season, there have been 6 first-time ranking winners, all below, looking smiley and all of that, starting from Michael White winning the 2015 Indian Open, then Joe Perry, Kyren Wilson, Martin Gould, Anthony McGill and finally Liang. Interestingly, they range from the more experienced pros to hot prospects, who are finally making their big break. Since the English Open, I had a small discussion on Twitter on this (you see, I am getting the gist of Twitter now), which is why I’ve been writing this.
There are two glaring omissions from this list – Robert Milkins and David Gilbert, who is currently the highest ranked player without a ranking title at No. 21. They both have the potential to win a title clearly (Gilbert reached the final of the International Championship last year), but I believe they are more inconsistent than the other 6. Simple as that. Here are the six players who I believe be the next first-time ranking winner:
6. Ryan Day
Ryan Day is one of my favourite players, due to his consistency and his ability to shock seeded players in the World Championships (beating Ding Junhui in 2012 and Stephen Maguire in 2014). He has been in the Top 32 for the last 10 years and at his peak reached the heights of being sixth ranked in the world. This was in 2008/2009 and as far as I know, this is the highest ranking of someone who has not won a ranking event (and no, the highest Anthony Hamilton reached was 10th seed).
He reached three ranking events: 2007 Malta Cup; 2007 Shanghai Masters; and the 2008 Grand Prix. Which makes one think if his best days are behind him? The closest he has been to a ranking title recently was a semi-final defeat to Ding Junhui in the 2014 German Masters and a quarter-final place in the 2016 Shanghai Masters.
But can he win one? Yes, absolutely – but it is harder to find out where he can. He has a good record in best-of-7s (reached the final of the 2015 Bulgarian Open) and his best form seems to happen during the German Masters, but as players on this list are getting better and better – is time running out for the 36-year-old?
5. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
One of the most explosive players in recent times, Un-Nooh seems to come out of nowhere. His first final came when he lost to Joe Perry in a minor-ranking Xuzhou Open in 2015, and even then Perry said his opponent was “an exceptional talent… I’m sure he’ll be in many finals.” Un-Nooh has reached one and won one – defeating Liang Wenbo in the non-ranking Six-red World Championship in 2016 and has reached four semi-finals since 2015. To be honest, I’m really hoping that he and O’Sullivan will meet in the World Championships next year.
The odd thing with Thep is that he is very inconsistent, which is why he is here. This season alone he lost in the opening rounds of five tournaments, perhaps the most surprising of those being a 4-2 loss against Elliot Slessor, before reaching two semi-finals in a row and then losing to Adam Duffy 5-2 in the Shanghai Masters. His attacking game is clearly there but his safety game does need a tweak. At least he has the 147-monkey off his back, though.
4. Matt Selt
One of the most improved players in the past few years, Selt rose from 48th to 25th in two seasons to become a more versatile player than Un-Nooh currently is. His best achievement was reaching the Lisbon Open final, beating Walden, Trump and Hawkins along the way until he was beaten by Stephen Maguire 4-2.
But can he win a ranking title? At the moment he does have a good chance, but you feel there is much more of him to come. He reached two ranking quarter-finals in the UK Championship and the Players Tour Championship, but he does not have a good record against top players in more than best-of-7 matches. He is close to being at the peak of his game and I can see him being in the Top 16 in a few years (very bold, I know).
3. Luca Brecel
It took a while to get there, but Luca transformed into a player of immense talent. We knew this anyway since his first appearance at the Crucible in 2012 as a 17-year-old, but even more impressive that he is competing for titles at 21 years of age. He finally made his breakthrough by beating Ricky Walden and Mark Selby in the 2014 Welsh Open to reach the quarter-final stages, with John Higgins mentioning that Luca has glimpses of Judd Trump. Last season he was a German Masters (beaten by Martin Gould 9-5) and Shoot-Out finalist where he failed to capitalize in the dying seconds against Robin Hull.
He has shown us that he can reach that far and has many years ahead of him and will reach the Top16 soon, hence why he is so high on this list. However, this season has been very lukewarm for him, since he hasn’t beaten a Top32 player in a ranking event this season. His safety play has improved and if he can keep that up as well as his potting prowess, he will win trophies.
2. Zhou Yuelong
Every snooker fan and his cue know how talented Zhou Yuelong is. By his current age of 18, he qualified onto the Main Tour via winning the 2013 IBSF World Snooker Championship. During his first two years on the circuit, he broke into the Top64 in his first attempt and rose quickly to ranked No.43. He also won the World Cup team event with younger prodigy Yan Bingtao and shocked Stuart Bingham by beating him in the opening round of the Champion of Championships.
Zhou will definitely win a ranking event in the next two years I reckon. But more likely than Un-Nooh, Selt, and Brecel? I believe so – Zhou is only going to get better at such a young age and his progression is faster than Luca’s. Though he hasn’t had success in beating many top players or going far into tournaments, but his recent 6-3 win over Indian Open winner Anthony McGill, as well as reaching the last 16 in a ranking event for the first time in the International Championship should send alarm bells ringing.
1. Michael Holt
I started writing this article about two weeks ago and Holt hasn’t moved from my No. 1 spot. He has already one two minor-ranking events but has always been the nearly-man that was held back by his temperament. Since being taken under Terry Griffith’s wing, he finally got past the first round of the World Championship since 2005 by convincingly beating Neil Robertson 10-6.
This season, he already reached his first ranking final in Riga (where Neil won 5-2), got to four quarter-finals already this season and (with a nice cherry on top) became the first player since John Higgins in 2009 to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan three times in one year (as someone called him, the new Mark Johnston-Allen). The only problem so far is whether he can beat a number of top players in succession – for example, he lost the next round after he beat Ronnie each time this year.
I believe Holt failing to win a ranking title at all in his career is just as likely as me winning an Olympic gold medal in figure skating (whatever that means). Even though he says there is much to improve his game, he seems to be getting better and better and I reckon will be the next person to win his first title, and I’m sure I’m not alone.
So, who do you think? Do they match your list or am I wrong, know nothing about snooker and therefore should be put to death in an angry Internet-style fashion? Comment below!
