Judd Trump has taken pole position in the BetVictor Series Rankings, with a £150,000 bonus up for grabs, following his victory in the BetVictor English Open on Sunday night.
Trump beat Zhang Anda 9-7 in the final in Brentwood to win the 24th ranking title of his career. The £80,000 prize boosts him to the top of the BetVictor list with a total of £121,000, a lead of £36,000 over second-placed Barry Hawkins after three of the eight counting events. The series leader after the BetVictor Welsh Open in February will scoop the bonus, which Trump previously banked in 2020 and 2021.
On the one-year ranking list, Trump jumps from fourth to second, just £11,000 behind leader Mark Williams, and the Bristol cueman is now well placed to qualify for all of this season’s Players Series events.
The top 32 (as it stands at the end of the BetVictor Scottish Open in December) will qualify for the World Grand Prix in Leicester in January, then the top 16 will progress to the Players Championship in Telford in February, and only the top 12 will earn a spot at the Tour Championship, which moves to a new home in Manchester in April.
China’s Zhang had never previously been beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking event and his career-best run earned £35,000. He leaps 99 places to seventh on the one year list. Tour rookie Liu Hongyu reached his first semi-final and he’s up from 27th to ninth. John Higgins was the other losing semi-finalist and he climbs from 12th to sixth.
On the official two-year list, Trump climbs one place to fourth, while Zhang jumps 17 spots to 40th. Ronnie O’Sullivan remains the world number one, on an 18-month unbroken run as top dog. If he had lost his opening match at this week’s Wuhan Open, he would have lost that status, but he beat Ken Doherty 5-1. Mark Allen has a chance to surpass him this week but only the £140,000 top prize would be enough to put Allen on top.
There are just four remaining counting events in the Race to the 2024 Masters, with the top 16 at the end of the UK Championship to earn a place at Alexandra Palace in January. The closely fought battle for 16th spot between Ding Junhui and Hossein Vafaei continues, as Ding reached the quarter-finals in Brentwood to edge back into the top 16, just £2,000 ahead of Vafaei.
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