Riga Masters Snooker
July 26th – 29th
Eurosport
The Riga Masters is the start of the new snooker season. The Latvian tournament sees a big draw squashed into just three days of action. That of course means that the matches themselves are short ones. Players are not going to be dragged through long-drawn-out matches.
The opening round through to the quarter-finals inclusive, are just best of seven frame fixtures. The semi-finals and the Final itself are just the best of nine frames. So this makes for an exciting start to the new 2019/20 snooker season.
But the question is going to be, who is going to come out of the starting blocks the quickest to land the title? The Riga Masters is only in its fourth season as a Ranking Tournament on the snooker calendar. Players lining up in the draw haven’t played top-level competitive action since the World Championships back in May.
Thunder from Down Under to cause a storm?
Australia’s Neil Roberston is the one that the bookmakers and most tipsters have pegged as the outright favourite to win the Riga Masters 2019. Part of the reason for that is because he has won two of the three incarnations of the tournament since it became a ranking event. He is the current reigning champion too. The Thunder from Down Under has proven time and time again that he is capable of starting a season strongly.
His two Riga Masters titles in 2016 and in 2018 is proof positive that the between-season break doesn’t knock him off his stride. Back in 2013 and in 2014 he won the Wuxi Classic which was then the opening tournament of those seasons. You put those pieces together on the back of a strong 2018/19 campaign, then he does jump off the page as the main contender at 4/1 odds with leading bookmakers. He made five different finals last season, winning three titles. Can he get his new season off to a flying start as well?
The chasing pack
The chasing pack at the Riga Masters 2019 is pretty interesting. The leading bookmakers have Mark Selby, Kyren Wilson and Mark Williams all around the 7/1 odds mark. That’s because on paper they do look pretty hard to separate. Mark Selby, who did win a non-ranking version of the Riga Masters in 2014, is expected to be in the mix. He has only put in the one appearance in the last three editions of the tournament though. That one show yielded a first-round exit.
His English compatriot Kyren Wilson heads into the tournament well supported and looking like a threat. Last year he picked up the title at the Paul Hunter Classic, the first ranking title since his win in China back in 2015. That will have been a massive relief for Wilson. He also took the Six-red World Championship and the German Masters last year. That was some step forward from him.
The other of the main contenders that the bookmakers have pegged in the chasing pack is Mark Williams. The Welshman reached the semi-finals in the first two seasons of the Riga Masters being a ranking event. Twelve months ago he made a quarter-final exit. The only ranking title that Williams got his hands on last season was the World Open. He never made it past the quarter-finals in any other tournament which he entered.
Who ticks the boxes as a long shot?
Falling down the pecking order at the bookmakers, there is a couple of names which punters may feel have some value in the outright market. Jack Lisowski is in double figures at 12/1 odds with top bookies. The young Englishman took a big step forward last term, reaching three finals across the course of the season. One of those was the Riga Masters. So while he still awaits the first ranking title of his pro career, he certainly knocked on the door a few times last season with early form.
Luca Brecel has never been past the second round in three attempts at the Riga Masters, but is capable of putting in big performances as impressive semi-final finishes at the China Open and the Six-Red World Championship last year is a testament to. An even bigger shot is Ricky Walden out at around the 50/1 mark. He made his debut appearance in the Riga Masters twelve months ago and put on a good show. He reached the quarter-finals where he was stopped by the Melbourne Machine, Neil Robertson. You have to wonder if he hadn’t bumped into him could he have gone deeper?
Summary
Last year the Thunder posted just over a 75% success rate in best of seven matches. That’s a superbly high return and another big positive in his column. If you stack up all the positives for Neil Robertson heading into this even then on paper he is the clear front runner. Big names like John Higgins, Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan are all absent from this year’s field.
Remember that this is a short-format tournament. That shorter matches will suit players more than others. Robertson enjoys them and it will be a fascinating three days to see if he can push on to a title defence, or if not, who it is that comes through the wide-open field behind him to take the crown.
