World champions Ken Doherty, Mark Williams and Mark Selby all won their first ranking titles at the Welsh Open, although Selby had won the Masters earlier that year, so his first ranking glory wasn’t exactly out of the blue.
The Welsh Open delivers firsts and shocks so expect the unexpected in Llandudno The Welsh Open is one of the longest-running ranking events on the snooker calendar and has developed a reputation for being one of the more unpredictable.
A number of players have been to their one and only ranking finals at the Welsh Open, with Andrew Higginson, Joe Swail and Ben Woollaston in that niche little club, which Martin O’Donnell also joined last year.
For a start one of the most reliable winners is not there as Judd Trump has opted for a week off, while two other ranking event winners this season have also swerved Venue Cymru in Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong.
Ranked number 42 in the world at the time, his run to the final saw him beat Mark Allen, Kyren Wilson, Ricky Walden and Jack Lisowski before downing Judd Trump in the final.
