2022 European Masters: Outright Winner

The 2022 European Masters is here with the tournament running from the 21^st till the 27^th of February. The event has had a change in venue, now taking place at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England, due to the effects of the pandemic. This tournament is filled with top snooker players from around the world and competition for the top prize of £80,000 is high. This guide covers the favourites for the tournament and shares our prediction for the outright winner.

Favourites for the 2022 European Masters

Who are the players that have caught our eye? Will current champion Mark Selby be able to defend his crown? We dive straight into which players are the favourites who are hoping to win the £80,000 first place prize fund. Here are the players we think have a good chance of winning the tournament.

Judd Trump

Judd Trump is undoubtable one of the crowd favourites and for good reason. Since his professional debut in 2005, he has ranked number one in the world on four separate occasions and now still hangs onto a podium position in third place. Most recently, Trump won his first title for the 2021 Champion of Champions tournament beating John Higgins 10-4 in the final.

Since the 2016 rebranding of European Masters, Trump has been the only player to consecutively hold onto the crown two years in a row. If Trump’s success from his ‘held-over’ match against Michael Judge continues, we can expect great things from him in this tournament. The final score for this match was 5-0.

Neil Robertson

Neil Robertson is no stranger to the European Masters. During the 2019/2020 event, the ‘Thunder from Down Under’ defeated Zhou Yeulong in a whitewash final with a score of 9-0. Robertson has had an impressive season so far, already bagging three titles. As a former world number one, he will be hoping to add another ranking title to his impressive total of 22. Additionally, Robertson is the current fourth champion for most century breaks with over 800. If you are looking for a betting market, this could be a good one to watch out for.

Ronnie O’Sullivan

Ronnie ‘The Rocket’ O’Sullivan cruised through to the second round of the European Masters after a 5-1 win against Nigel Bond. O’Sullivan, as the second place world ranked snooker player, is absolutely on our list of favourites. His accolades includes being a six-time world champion, a seven-time UK champion and Masters champion, and has 20 Triple Crown titles to his name. O’Sullivan’s recent win at the World Grand Prix in December 2021 was his 38th ranking title and was his last major win. Despite a recent drought of losses going into 2022, O’Sullivan’s next match is against Zhang Anda; an opponent that O’Sullivan has had a 100% success rate against.

Mark Selby

Mark Selby is going into the 2022 tournament as the defending champion from 2020. Selby will be looking to take the crown for another year, a feat that has only been accomplished by Judd Trump since the event was revived in 2016. Selby is currently the top rated snooker player in the world, a feat he has managed to achieve on eight separate occasions for a total of over seven years, with the longest stretch between February 2015 to March 2019. Despite his many awards, his next match against Jordan Brown could pose somewhat of a challenge. In their short history, both players have won one match, with Brown achieving the most recent win. Top bookmaker Betway still tips the odds in Selby’s favour with odds of 1.22 against Brown currently at 4.25.

John Higgins

John Higgins, also known as the ‘Wizard from Wishaw’, is currently has a world ranking of six although has spent time in the number one spot on four separate occasions. His nine Triple Crown wins puts him in fourth place and on par with Mark Selby. Higgins is a prolific break-builder with 876 century breaks to date, second only to Ronnie O’Sullivan with 1,134.

He has been on great form in 2022 and looks to beat Jamie Clarke with relative ease as he has a 100% success rate against Clarke in their match history.

Kyren Wilson

Kyren Wilson is a four-time ranking tournament winner and two-time non-ranking winner. ‘The Warrior’ currently sits in fifth place in the world snooker ranking list, under Neil Robertson and above John Higgins. Wilson has been fairly successful in the Triple Crown events, placing second at the 2018 Masters and most recently the 2020 World Snooker Championship. In 2021, he has reached many quarter-final and semi-final matches, however, is yet to take any victories. Betway’s odds are in Wilson’s favour to do well in the tournament, and luckily, we will not have to wait too long to see how he progresses through the event.

Yan Bingtao

As one of the youngest participants in the tournament at age 22, Yan Bingtao is certainly has a lot to show since turning professional in only 2015. ‘The Tiger’ has a current world ranking of 13 and recently won his first Triple Crown event in 2021 for the Masters tournament. For the season, Bingtao has a 61.68% average for frame wins, higher than Selby’s 58.58%, O’Sullivan’s 58.63%, and Robertson’s 61.00%. Bingtao is certainly a player to keep your eyes on and possesses the talent to succeed in the tournament. We are as excited as you are to see how far Bingtao goes in this event.

2022 Outright Winner Prediction

Mark Selby is certainly our choice to back in this year’s European Masters. With the prospect of holding onto the crown for another year, Selby will surely be pulling out all the stops to get another win. Selby will of course have to show an incredible performance, as there are a handful of top players that are on great form. Providing there are no major disruptions, Selby is a solid choice for getting another victory in this tournament.