English Open outright predictions and snooker betting tips: Selby has his sights set on third English Open title

Where to watch the English Open

Live on Eurosport 1 & Discovery+, from 1pm Monday

Best bets for English Open

Mark Selby
1pt each-way 10-1 Coral, Ladbrokes
Dave Gilbert
0.5pt each-way 22-1 general

English Open predictions

The first of four Home Nations events during the season sees the players heading to the Brentwood Centre in Essex for the English Open and defending champion Judd Trump is a strong favourite to continue his excellent start to the campaign.

Having won the Shanghai Masters and most recently the Saudi Arabia Masters, Trump has been given maximum respect by the layers. But the top prize in Brentwood is worth much less than those lucrative events and motivation may be harder to find.

There are also more bumps in the road given the early best-of-seven format and Trump's first-round opponent Liu Hongyu was a semi-finalist at this tournament last year and will provide a test.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is second in the betting but the Rocket has made the semi-final of the English Open only once in the last five seasons and while there is a sense that 2021 champion Neil Robertson is knocking on the door of a return to form, he has slipped down to 26th in the world rankings. 

World champion Kyren Wilson merits respect given he is already a winner this season at the Xi'an Grand Prix. However, his path to the final looks tricky with Barry Hawkins or Jack Lisowski likely last-16 rivals and the in-form Shaun Murphy or Robertson potential quarter-final challengers.

The cream does tend to rise to the top in this tournament, however, and two-time winner Mark Selby may have been underestimated in his pursuit of an English Open hat-trick.

Selby, champion at this venue in 2022, is playing much better than his recent results suggest and he has landed in a soft section of the draw, starting against Aaron Hill before a likely last-32 showdown with Joe O'Connor.

The Jester from Leicester will want to avenge last season’s World Championship defeat against practice partner O'Connor while he would be a strong favourite against Tom Ford or Si Jiahui in the last 16.

From there things will get tougher but, with potential quarter-final opponent O’Sullivan regularly bombing out early in this event, Selby could soon be competing for title honours.

At a bigger price, Dave Gilbert may be able to claim a long overdue ranking event as he is showing positive signs following last season’s run to the World Championship semi-final.

Gilbert made the quarter-final of the Xi'an Grand Prix and reached the fifth round of the Saudi Arabia Masters and he can be confident of another deep run given John Higgins and Luca Brecel, two seeds in his quarter, are seriously struggling for form.

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