Mark Allen was overwhelmed 5-3 by Barry Hawkins within the final 16 of the Xi’an Grand Prix on Thursday in China.
Defeat for the Northern Irishman places his coveted world primary standing in jeopardy.
Allen reached high spot within the snooker rankings on the finish of the 2023/24 marketing campaign after two constant seasons the place he picked up 5 rating titles.
However Judd Trump matched that tally over the past time period and has been on the cusp of returning to the summit for fairly a while.
The Englishman narrowly missed out on a number of events when Ronnie O’Sullivan beforehand held the primary place.
Trump, although, has one other alternative this week after Allen’s demise to the Hawk within the profitable new Chinese language event.
The 35 year-old outplayed World Championship runner-up Jak Jones within the fourth spherical of the competitors, avenging his shock loss to the identical opponent in Sheffield a number of months in the past.
By reaching the quarter-finals in Xi’an and with Allen out, Trump is inside two extra match wins of topping the snooker rankings once more.
The runner-up prize price £76,000 would extremely take Trump’s rolling two-year complete to the very same determine as Allen’s £974,000 tally.
But the previous world champion, who was most lately the game’s primary in 2021, would usurp the Pistol on the idea of getting reached additional in the newest counting occasion.
In fact, Trump can have his sights set on the £177,000 high prize and a twenty ninth profession rating crown that may seal his return to the primary spot in model.
The Bristol potter admitted this week that considered one of his main objectives for the season is to dominate the snooker rankings once more.
“For me, my purpose this 12 months is simply to win as a lot as doable and attempt to get again to primary on the earth,” he informed the World Snooker Tour.
“Once I was dominating (from 2019 to 2021), the world primary type of added a bit of additional oomph and actually helped the mindset.”
Trump has already gained silverware in China this season, the non-ranking Shanghai Masters the place he pocketed £210,000.
Elsewhere on the Xi’an Grand Prix, Xu Si produced a tremendous show to achieve the quarter-finals with a 5-4 victory over Mark Williams.
Matthew Selt, in the meantime, ended 17 year-old rookie Gong Chenzhi’s glorious run with a 5-4 triumph of his personal.
The second session on day 4 will see the remaining fixtures from the final 16 happen, together with Ronnie O’Sullivan’s conflict with Hossein Vafaei.
World champion Kyren Wilson meets Jimmy Robertson, Mark Selby performs David Gilbert, and Dominic Dale entertains Daniel Wells within the different video games.
Dwell protection is on the Matchroom Dwell streaming service free of charge.
2024 Xi’an Grand Prix draw
Spherical of 128
High Half
Kyren Wilson 5-2 Haris Tahir
He Guoqiang 5-4 Ashley Carty
Anthony McGill 5-0 Xing Zihao
Ricky Walden 5-3 Liam Davies
John Higgins 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Sunny Akani 5-2 Fan Zhengyi
Dean Younger 5-3 Robert Milkins
Jimmy Robertson 5-1 Huang Jiahao
Elliot Slessor 5-0 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Chris Wakelin 5-4 Rory Thor
Mark Davis 5-3 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Mark Williams 5-0 Liam Graham
Jamie Jones 5-2 Mostafa Dorgham
Stuart Bingham 5-1 Zhou Jinhao
Xu Si 5-4 Jiang Jun
Ding Junhui 4-5 Alfie Burden
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 Wang Yuchen
Révész Bulcsú 5-0 David Grace
Neil Robertson 5-2 Allan Taylor
Yuan Sijun 5-1 Bai Yulu
Zhang Anda 5-1 Oliver Strains
Graeme Dott 5-2 Ma Shaojun
Hossein Vafaei 5-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Dylan Emery 5-2 Jackson Web page
Amir Sarkhosh 5-3 Joshua Thomond
Si Jiahui 5-4 Jimmy White
Gong Chenzhi 5-4 Anthony Hamilton
Tom Ford 5-3 Stan Moody
Matthew Selt 5-2 Ian Burns
Joe O’Connor 5-3 Duane Jones
Zak Surety 5-2 Sanderson Lam
Hammad Miah w/o Luca Brecel
Backside Half
Judd Trump 5-2 Antony Kowalski
Ma Hailong 5-3 Martin O’Donnell
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Baipat Siripaporn
Artemijs Zizins 5-3 Robbie Williams
Jak Jones 5-4 Robbie McGuigan
Tian Pengfei 5-0 Farakh Ajaib
Jack Lisowski 5-1 Ross Muir
Joe Perry 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
Jordan Brown 5-2 Liam Pullen
David Gilbert 5-1 Reanne Evans
Ben Mertens 5-4 Simon Blackwell
Gary Wilson 5-4 Lengthy Zehuang
Paul Deaville 5-3 Wu Yize
Pang Junxu 5-2 Michael Holt
Aaron Hill 5-2 Chris Totten
Mark Selby 5-3 Wang Xinbo
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Mitchell Mann
Jamie Clarke 5-0 Cao Jin
Noppon Saengkham 5-3 Andrew Pagett
Dominic Dale 5-4 Mohammed Shehab
Daniel Wells 5-4 Ali Carter
Julien Leclercq 5-4 Ben Woollaston
Zhou Yuelong 5-1 Haydon Pinhey
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-3 Lei Peifan
Matthew Stevens 5-0 Andrew Higginson
Ryan Day 5-4 Cheung Ka Wai
Scott Donaldson w/o Lim Kok Leong
Barry Hawkins 5-1 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Xiao Guodong 5-2 Iulian Boiko
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Ken Doherty
David Lilley 5-3 Louis Heathcote
Mark Allen 5-2 Liu Hongyu
Spherical of 64
High Half
Kyren Wilson 5-2 He Guoqiang
Anthony McGill 3-5 Ricky Walden
John Higgins 4-5 Sunny Akani
Dean Younger 4-5 Jimmy Robertson
Elliot Slessor 2-5 Chris Wakelin
Mark Davis 2-5 Mark Williams
Jamie Jones 3-5 Stuart Bingham
Xu Si 5-4 Alfie Burden
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-2 Bulcsú Révész
Neil Robertson 2-5 Yuan Sijun
Zhang Anda 2-5 Graeme Dott
Hossein Vafaei 5-3 Dylan Emery
Amir Sarkhosh 3-5 Si Jiahui
Gong Chenzhi 5-1 Tom Ford
Matthew Selt 5-4 Joe O’Connor
Zak Surety 3-5 Hammad Miah
Backside Half
Judd Trump 5-0 Ma Hailong
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Artemijs Zizins
Jak Jones 5-3 Tian Pengfei
Jack Lisowski 5-2 Joe Perry
Jordan Brown 2-5 David Gilbert
Ben Mertens 1-5 Gary Wilson
Paul Deaville 0-5 Pang Junxu
Aaron Hill 0-5 Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy 5-0 Jamie Clarke
Noppon Saengkham 3-5 Dominic Dale
Daniel Wells 5-3 Julien Leclercq
Zhou Yuelong 2-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Matthew Stevens 2-5 Ryan Day
Barry Hawkins w/o Scott Donaldson
Xiao Guodong 5-1 Stephen Maguire
David Lilley 1-5 Mark Allen
Spherical of 32
High Half
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Ricky Walden
Sunny Akani 3-5 Jimmy Robertson
Chris Wakelin 2-5 Mark Williams
Stuart Bingham 4-5 Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-1 Yuan Sijun
Hossein Vafaei w/o Graeme Dott
Si Jiahui 3-5 Gong Chenzhi
Matthew Selt 5-2 Hammad Miah
Backside Half
Judd Trump 5-1 Lyu Haotian
Jak Jones 5-4 Jack Lisowski
David Gilbert 5-3 Gary Wilson
Pang Junxu 4-5 Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy 2-5 Dominic Dale
Daniel Wells 5-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Ryan Day 3-5 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 2-5 Mark Allen
Spherical of 16
Kyren Wilson 5-4 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams 4-5 Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 Hossein Vafaei
Gong Chenzhi 4-5 Matthew Selt
Judd Trump 5-1 Jak Jones
David Gilbert 5-4 Mark Selby
Dominic Dale 1-5 Daniel Wells
Barry Hawkins 5-3 Mark Allen
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Matches to be performed on Friday, August twenty third
Kyren Wilson vs Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Matthew Selt
Judd Trump vs David Gilbert
Daniel Wells vs Barry Hawkins
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Matches to be performed on Saturday, August twenty fourth
TBC vs TBC
TBC vs TBC
Remaining (bo19)
Match to be performed on Sunday, August twenty fifth
TBC vs TBC
Featured pictures credit score: WST