Given his difficult season thus far, Brecel would have been comfortably outside the top 16 without his World Championship success. However, he has started to regain form ahead of the Crucible and will be looking to retain his title. The number two seed is Ronnie O’Sullivan, and the third seed is Judd Trump. The top five is completed by Mark Selby and Mark Allen. However, a few well-known athletes will not receive an automatic berth in the World Championship.Given his difficult season thus far, Brecel would have been comfortably outside the top 16 without his World Championship success. However, he has started to regain form ahead of the Crucible and will be looking to retain his title.The number two seed is Ronnie O’Sullivan, and the third seed is Judd Trump. The top five is completed by Mark Selby and Mark Allen. However, a few well-known athletes will not receive an automatic berth in the World Championship.Neil Robertson, the 2010 winner, knew he would need to win the World Open in China last week in order to return to the top 16. But in the semifinals, he fell short against home favorite Ding Junhui
in an exciting last frame decision; as a result, the latter required police protection to leave the arena. For the first time since 2006, Robertson will thus have to meet the requirements to compete in the Crucible.
