The 2024 World Grand Prix (officially the 2024 Spreadex World Grand Prix) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 15 to 21 January 2024 at the Leicester Arena, England.[1] The eleventh ranking event of the 2023–24 season, following the Scottish Open and preceding the German Masters, it was the first of three events in the Players Series, preceding the Players Championship and the Tour Championship. Organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored by betting company Spreadex, the event was broadcast by ITV domestically, by Eurosport in Europe, and by other broadcasters worldwide. The winner received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £380,000.
The last-32 and last-16 matches were played as the best of seven frames; the quarter-finals were the best of nine frames; the semi-finals were the best of 11 frames, and the final was the best of 19 frames, played over two sessions .[2] The defending champion was Northern Irish player Mark Allen, who won his first World Grand Prix title in 2023, defeating England's Judd Trump 10–9 in the final.[3]
Broadcasters
The event was broadcast by ITV in the UK; Discovery+ and Eurosport in Europe (including the UK and Ireland); CCTV-5, Migu, Youku, and Huya in mainland China; DAZN in the US and Brazil; Now TV in Hong Kong; Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; TrueVisions in Thailand; Sportcast in Taiwan; Premier Sports Network in the Philippines; Fastsports in Pakistan; and Matchroom.live in all other territories.[4]
Seeding list
Unlike other events where the defending champion is seeded first, the reigning World Champion second, and the rest based on the world rankings, the qualification and seedings in the Players Series tournaments are determined by the one-year ranking list. The below list shows the top 32 players with the most ranking points acquired during the 2023–24 season, as of after the Scottish Open:[5][6]
The quarter-finals were played from 18 to 19 January.[2] In a dominant performance, Trump defeated Selby 5–1, making a 119 break in the fourth frame. Cao beat Williams 5–4 and O'Sullivan defeated Gary Wilson 5–1 making a 129 break in the third frame. Ding beat Zhang 5–2.[12][13]
Semi finals
The semi-finals were played from 19 to 20 January.[2] In the first semi-final, Trump beat Cao 6–2, making a 106 break in the second frame.[14][15] In the second semi-final O'Sullivan defeated Ding 6–1 in only 1 hour and 12 minutes, making four centuries of 135, 128, 128, and 124.[16][17][18]
Final
The final was played over two sessions between Trump and O'Sullivan on 21 January as the best of 19 frames.[2] In the afternoon session, Trump won four frames in a row to lead 4–0 at the mid-session interval. O'Sullivan took the next two frames, making a 60 break in the sixth, to narrow the score to 4–2, and then to 5–3 at the end of the session. Trump made a break of 66 to win the opening frame of the evening session, advancing to 6–3. However, O'Sullivan won six consecutive frames, making breaks of 58, 74, 52, and 51, to lead by 9–6. Trump closed in to 9–7 by winning the 16th frame, but O'Sullivan took the next with a break of 52 to capture a 10–7 victory, claiming his third World Grand Prix title, and a record-extending 41st ranking title.[19][20]
Tournament draw
The draw for the tournament is shown below. Numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the players' seedings, and players in bold denote match winners. The last-32 and last-16 matches were played as the best of seven frames; the quarter-finals were the best of nine frames; the semi-finals were the best of 11 frames, and the final was the best of 19 frames, played over two sessions .[21][22]
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Shaun Murphy (ENG) (145)
