Rocket is 13-8 for world title

SPORTS BETTING:

RONNIE O’Sullivan is set to go off the shortest-priced favourite for the World Snooker title since the days of domination by Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.

Having won the last two championships at the Crucible Theatre, O’Sullivan is clearly the man to beat.

But he has emphasised his dominance since last May, winning the Masters in brilliant fashion and landing the weekend’s Welsh Open with a dismissal of Ding Junhui which included a maximum 147 break in the final frame of the final.

O’Sullivan is currently out on his own, and the rest know it. Only his rapidly-diminishing penchant for shooting himself in the foot can prevent him from winning in Sheffield once again, given the longer format of the matches reduces the risk of flukes and upsets.

O’Sullivan’s price of 13-8 means there is value to be had with his main rivals – assuming, that is, the Rocket fails to fire.

UK champion Neil Robertson is second favourite at 8-1, with Ding and Mark Selby 10-1, the frustrating Judd Trump 11-1, John Higgins 16-1 and Mark Allen 22-1.

To my mind, 13-8 is the price for O’Sullivan to be free of illness and in the right frame of mind because, on current form, he is untouchable.