Latest Snooker World Rankings: Murphy Wins Title and Climbs to 12th, Five Chinese Players in Top Sixteen, Ding Junhui Highest Ranked

On September 29th Beijing time, the Snooker British Open finished, with Murphy, a strong player from the 1980s, beating the surprise finalist McGill 10-7 to win the title. Consequently, the latest world rankings are out: no changes in the top eleven, Murphy moves up four places to 12th, five Chinese players remain in the top sixteen, and Ding Junhui ranks highest at eighth!

Murphy, one of the "80s Five Tigers" and a Grand Slam champion, has won 11 ranking titles in his career. However, he has been in a two-year title drought recently. In this tournament, Murphy performed well, steadily advancing to the final by defeating three other top players from the 1980s — Robertson, Trump, and Selby — making his path to the final very impressive. His opponent in the final was McGill, who, although very brave, has a modest record in high-level competitions. Therefore, Murphy was widely favored to win!

At the start of the match, McGill came out strong, winning the first two frames with impressive breaks to lead 2-0. Both players then combined for three century breaks, each winning two frames, bringing the score to 4-2. Murphy quickly caught up, winning three consecutive frames to take a 5-4 lead. McGill responded with two more frame wins to lead 6-5, then both players won one frame each to make it 7-6. Unexpectedly, the momentum shifted dramatically as Murphy showed sharp accuracy and minimal errors, launching a four-frame scoring streak to overturn the match and win 10-7 against McGill!

The pace of the match was very fast, with 14 out of 17 frames won by a single break. This victory marks Murphy’s 13th career ranking title, closely trailing Ding Junhui by just two titles. This puts pressure on Ding, who may soon be overtaken by Murphy if he does not step up his game!

Currently, the Chinese contingent still has five players in the top sixteen. Ding Junhui remains the highest ranked at eighth, followed by Xiao Guodong at ninth, Zhao Xintong at eleventh, Zhang Anda at fourteenth, and Si Jiahui holding the sixteenth spot as the gatekeeper. Among these five, Zhang Anda and Si Jiahui are at risk of dropping out of the top sixteen due to their recent poor performances!

Written by/Ti Tan Novel