World Snooker Championship Betting / David Hendon / 25 April 2009 / Leave a comment

David Hendon surveys the scene following the first week of action at the World Championships where, though plenty of the top seeds remain in contention, the Scottish hot-shot stays as his choice to lift the trophy.

The cream has risen to the top at the Crucible and that guarantees an entertaining second half to the tournament with virtually all of snooker's big guns still in the hunt for the £250,000 top prize.

Only two of the elite top 16 failed to make it through to the second round, with Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry falling by the wayside. Not since 1996 have the seeds progressed in such a number.

My qualifier to watch was Jamie Cope and he duly delivered, beating Perry 10-6 in what was a strong performance, not least because he didn't crack up with the winning line in sight. And Cope can cause twice world champion John Higgins plenty of problems when they clash cues for a place in the quarter-finals.

Indeed, Cope completely outplayed Higgins to beat him 9-3 in the first round of last season's UK Championship. On that occasion he brought his long potting, high scoring game to the fore and will be confident of causing an upset if he watched the Scot's first round clash with Michael Holt.

Higgins did not impress by his own admission. At times he looked like he was there for the taking but the notoriously fragile Holt could not seize the initiative. Cope, a fearless attacking player, may not have such problems, although Higgins is of the class that he can switch up a few gears at any moment.

The top half of the draw remains brutal with Mark Selby - many punters' fancy for the title this year - likely to be pushed hard by 2006 champion Graeme Dott, who seems to be returning to a bit of form after a disappointing couple of years.

Dott's 10-8 victory over Barry Hawkins in the first round went largely unnoticed but he demonstrated the same grit, guile and poise under pressure that helped him land the trophy three years ago. The dogged Glaswegian plays the same sort of hard match snooker favoured by Selby and is certainly capable of springing an upset.

The bottom half of the draw contains plenty of quality, but Stephen Maguire remains my tip for the title. The world no.2 compiled three centuries during his 10-5 opening round win against Jamie Burnett and clearly has plenty more left in the tank.

Maguire next plays Mark King, who took the long and grinding way to victory over Rory McLeod in a match that ran into an extra third session. King is adept at scrapping it out but Maguire should have enough firepower to see him off over 25 frames.

It is hard to judge the relative form of Ali Carter and Neil Robertson, who play each other for a quarter-final place, as each came through against first round opponents who failed to hit form. This was particularly true of Steve Davis, who capitulated to a 10-2 defeat to Aussie Robertson on his 29th Crucible appearance. Gerard Greene pushed Carter a little harder but missed his chances to make it any closer than 10-5.

Robertson's brash, adventurous style is a breath of fresh air and he has a very good chance of progressing if he can get under Carter's skin. This won't be easy as the Essex man has been snooker's most consistent performer during this campaign but Selby was last season and he crashed out in the first round 12 months ago. You may not think about snooker players getting tired but the mental stresses of a full season do take their toll and Robertson will go into the match the fresher man.

I suggested in my tournament preview that the century record was under threat and that is still the case. There were three more tons in the first round this year compared to 2008 and with the quality of the field - which may be the best ever assembled at this stage of the tournament - the century tally looks set to top 70, thus superseding the 68 made in 2002 and 2007.

We still haven't had a 147. Maguire got closest when he missed on 96. I expect someone - O'Sullivan possibly - to get closer but maximums are still rare and can't be taken for granted, even in a field of this quality.