Ronnie O’Sullivan says three players are a ‘level above’ the rest of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters field.
The second edition of the Saudi Arabia Masters started on Friday at Green Halls in Jeddah.
Judd Trump is the defending champion having beaten Mark Williams 10-9 in last year’s final and is hoping to win the second ranking event of the season and take home the £500,000.
The world number one begins his title defence against Oliver Lines and O’Sullivan rates him as one of the three standout players competing out in Saudi.
O’Sullivan in fact views 2024 world champion Kyren Wilson as the favourite for the event after he won the Shanghai Masters at the start of the month.
Zhao Xintong, the reigning world champion, is the third player O’Sullivan believes is a ‘level above’ the chasing pack as things stand.
‘Kyren Wilson is strongest at the moment, closely followed by Judd Trump, and Zhao Xintong is the World Champion,’ O’Sullivan said ahead of his opening game against Joe O’Connor.
‘Those three are a level above everyone at the moment. There are seven or eight others behind them who are very good and experienced who can win this week. It’s a very strong field.’
O’Sullivan also hailed the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters as a ‘great tournament’ and tipped the country to have a ‘strong future’ in the sport.
‘It’s a great tournament and a great venue,’ the 49-year-old seven-time world champions added.
‘It’s an amazing event and I’m really excited to be here. The future is very strong here. This is big tournament.
‘We have the Riyadh Season event and the academy in Riyadh. Youngsters will learn the game and get better.
‘I will be interested to see in ten years how it looks because maybe we’ll have one or two professional players from Saudi.’
One player who will not be in action in Saudi Arabia is former world champion Luca Brecel, who pulled out of the tournament for ‘medical reasons’.
The decision means Brecel is still yet to play a competitive match this season, having also withdrawn from the Championship League and the British Open.
The 30-year-old, who triumphed at the Crucible in 2023, recently dropped out of the top-16 and currently sits 39 in the world rankings.
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