In the 1/8 finals of the 2024 World Snooker Championship, 2 more people successfully advanced, among them, Joe O'Connor 6-13 Kyren Wilson, and the other focus battle against world No. 1 O'Sullivan 13-7 Ryan Day. So far, all the seats in the top eight have been seated. And as the game progresses, there are new changes to the favorites for the championship, with the Rockets and Trump occupying the top two on the list.
Joe O'Connor has reached the last round of qualifying six times before, and this is his first time reaching the round of 16 of the World Championships. In the 1/8 finals, he faced Kyren Wilson, and the two had played each other 4 times before, each with 2 wins and 2 losses. In this campaign, Wilson shot 8 single-stroke 50+, and finally locked up the victory with a wave of three consecutive whips, advancing to the quarterfinals 13-6.
In another focus tournament with 7 crowns, Ronnie O'Sullivan did not disappoint everyone, with a total of 9 single-stroke 50+ shots, and a shot to break 100 (127 points), leading all the way, and finally defeated Ryan Day 13-7 to advance.
So far, all the top 8 seats in this World Championships have been produced:
David Gilbert 13-4 Robit Milkins
Stephen Maguire 13-9 Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump 13-7 Tom Forde
Jack Jones 13-9 Si Jiahui
John Higgins 13-12 Mark Allen
Stuart Bingham 13-11 Lisowski
It is worth mentioning that as the game progresses, based on the players' season records and performances, O'Sullivan and Trump have also become the favorites for the championship of this World Championships.
Ronnie O'Sullivan
The Rockets are seven-time champions of the tournament, and the last time they won the championship was in 2022, when O'Sullivan defeated Judd Trump, the No. 4 seed of the tournament, 18-13, to win the world championship for the seventh time in his career, and also tied Stephen Hendry's record for winning the World Championship. At the same time, O'Sullivan also became the oldest World Championship champion at the age of 46 years, 4 months and 28 days.
This season, O'Sullivan has made a total of 54 appearances and participated in 10 events, including 6 finals, winning 5 titles (2 ranking matches + 3 invitational tournaments), and the winning rate is 78%.
Trump, on the other hand, is the 2018-2019 champion, having lost 6-10 to Anthony McGill in the first round last season. This season, Trump regained his form and won five ranking tournaments in succession: England, Wuhan, Northern Ireland, German Masters, and World Open. At the same time, he also broke into the semi-finals of the British Championships, and with his excellent record, Trump has also become the favorite to win the World Championships.
1/4 Finals:
Gilbert vs Maguire
Higgins vs Karen
Trump vs Jack Jones
O'Sullivan vs Bingham