The International Championship gets under way in Nanjing on Saturday and Racing Post tipster Tom McGarry is on hand to run you through his best bets.
World champion Wu Yize landed this title last year, but he is one of several big-name players who still need to negotiate a qualifying match before taking their places in the main draw.
This will be the final ranking tournament before next month's UK Championship and therefore the last chance for players to secure a top-16 place and an automatic spot in the main draw at the York Barbican.
International Championship Tips Summary
Best Bet - Jak Jones to win International Championship @ 14/1
Alternative Bet - Chang Bingyu to win fourth quarter @ 2/1
Alternative Bet - Forecast the finalists - Wu Yize and Jak Jones @ 30/1
International Championship Prediction
Best Bet: Jak Jones to win International Championship @ 14/1
Jak Jones reached the World Championship final in 2024, but this has arguably been more of a breakthrough season for the 33-year-old Welshman.
After failing to make the final of a single ranking event in the two seasons after his Crucible heroics, Jones has reached three already this term.
The Silent Assassin started the season by beating David Gilbert in the Championship League final to land his first ranking-event title and he quickly followed that up with victory at the British Open where he proved too strong for Mark Selby.
Jones then made it to the final of last week's Northern Ireland Open, seeing off both John Higgins and Mark Williams on his way through, and although he was comprehensively beaten by Kyren Wilson in the final, it further underlined his new-found status at the business end of tournaments.
Currently sitting 16th in the provisional rankings, Jones has plenty of incentive to perform well in Nanjing as he bids to hold on to an automatic qualifying spot for the UK Championship.
An opening match against Chinese teenager Wang Xinbo should not cause too many problems and provided he can see off an out-of-form Neil Robertson - a player he has beaten in five of their seven previous head-to-heads - in the second round, the draw could well open up for Jones.
Higgins and Williams are the other big names in the third quarter but Jones knows he can get the better of both of them, so there is no reason why the Welshman cannot go all the way and perhaps claim his third title of the season.
Alternative Bet: Chang Bingyu to win fourth quarter @ 2/1
Another player battling to make it into the top 16 ahead of the UK Championship is Chang Bingyu, who currently sits 18th on the provisional list.
Like Jones, Bingyu has landed his maiden ranking-event title this season, beating world number one Zhao Xintong at the Wuhan Open.
Although he has made no major impact at the four events since that triumph, Bingyu will fancy his chances of going far after earning a favourable looking draw.
Shaun Murphy has withdrawn from the event leaving Chris Wakelin, who has just one quarter-final appearance to his name this season, and Xintong as the main threats in the fourth quarter.
Of course, beating world number one Xintong, should they meet in the quarter-finals, would be a tall order for Bingyu, but he will take great confidence from his victory over his compatriot in Wuhan and he offers good value to make it through to the semi-finals.
Alternative Bet: Forecast the finalists - Wu Yize and Jak Jones @ 30/1
As mentioned, Jones is a player in form and now has the ruthless streak needed to not only go deep in tournaments, but also win them.
The Silent Assassin is more than capable of reaching a fourth final of the year and lying in wait could be reigning world champion Wu Yize, who looks set to mount a strong defence of the title he won 12 months ago.
Yize has not suffered a drop off in form that has befallen some of the other recent first-time winners of the World Championship, highlighted by his victory at the Shenzhen Open.
The 23-year-old has not played since then, opting to withdraw from the recent Northern Ireland Open, which means he should come into this tournament feeling refreshed.
The Lanzhou Lion is also battling it out with Xintong to be world number one and the incentive of becoming just the third Chinese player to top the rankings could help steer him all the way through to the final.
With qualifying still to negotiate and Wilson and Ding Junhui among the players he may have to see off in the first quarter, Yize cannot take anything for granted, but he could well end up facing off against Jones in the final on 7th November.
Key Tournament Stats
- This will be the 12th staging of the International Championship
- Wu Yize is the defending champion after beating John Higgins 10-6 in last year's final
- Ding Junhui, Judd Trump and Mark Selby are the only players to have won the event twice
- Ding and Mark Allen hold the record for reaching the most finals at the International Championship (three)
- The last three editions of the tournament have been won by players from China
- Selby is the only player to have successfully defended the title, lifting the trophy in 2016 and 2017
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
