2007 World Snooker Championship
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Dates | 21 April – 7 May 2007 |
Venue | Crucible Theatre |
City | Sheffield |
Country | England |
Organisation(s) | WPBSA |
Format | Ranking event |
Total prize fund | £941,000 |
Winner's share | £220,000 |
Highest break | ![]() |
Final | |
Champion | ![]() |
Runner-up | ![]() |
Score | 18–13 |
← 2006 2008 → |
The 2007 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2007 888.com World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was scheduled to take place from 21 April through 7 May 2007, but continued into the early hours of 8 May 2007, ending at 12:54 am BST. The final broke the record of the time for the latest finish in a World Snooker Championship final, narrowly beating the 2006 final by two minutes.
Graeme Dott was the defending champion, but lost in the first round 7–10 to Ian McCulloch and became another World Champion who fell to the Crucible curse and could not defend his first World title.
John Higgins won his second World title by defeating qualifier Mark Selby 18–13 in the final. The tournament was sponsored by online casino 888.com.
Tournament summary[]
- This year's tournament saw 5 debutants. With only future Masters champion Mark Allen winning his opening match, knocking out third seed and 1997 Champion Ken Doherty 10–7. Future world champion and future world number one Judd Trump won 4 qualifying matches, but lost 6–10 to Shaun Murphy after having led 6–5. Another future world number one, Ding Junhui, lost heavily to Ronnie O'Sullivan 2–10. David Gilbert led 7 time champion Stephen Hendry 5-1 at one stage before eventually losing 10-7. Irishman Joe Delaney who won 2 final frame deciders in Qualifying against Barry Pinches and double World Semi Finalist Alan McManus but was well beaten by Matthew Stevens 10-2 having trailed 5-0.
- Former World champion John Parrott made his final appearance at the Crucible beating Steve Davis 10–9 in the first round before losing 13–8 to Shaun Murphy in the last 16.[1]
- There where also final frame opening round wins for qualifiers and Joe Swail over Barry Hawkins and Mark Williams respectively, Swail coming from 4-0 down. Mark Selby was even further behind 5-0 against Stephen Lee before his 10-7 win.
- Ian McCulloch qualified for the first time since his Semi Final appearance in 2005 having beaten defending champion Graeme Dott in round 1 he lost 13-8 to Anthony Hamilton in the last 16, and this would prove to also be his final ever appearance at the crucible.
- Before the tournament began Ronnie O'Sullivan alleged that the WPBSA draw had been fixed,[2] after having been drawn in the first round against Ding, considered by bookmakers to be among the favourites for the title,[2][3] and noting that he had drawn European Open and UK Champion, Stephen Maguire, in both 2004 and 2005.[2] O'Sullivan later withdrew the accusation,[4] and made no formal complaint to the WPBSA, who maintain that the draw was genuine.[2]
- Shaun Murphy came back from 7–12 down to win his quarter-final match 13–12 against Matthew Stevens, a feat never before accomplished in a best of 25 frame match.[5]
- During his semi-final match, John Higgins compiled the Crucible's 1,000th century break in frame 29.[6][7]
- Future four-time world champion Mark Selby reached his first final this year. Selby's run was a surprising one as he was a qualifier, had only made his debut in 2005 and had never previously got beyond the Last 16.
- The final had the latest finish in history, with the conclusion of the 31st and final frame coming at 12:54 am BST, just two minutes later than in 2006.[8]
- John Higgins' second title came nine years after his first, the longest gap between wins since his namesake Alex Higgins. Until 2018 this was the longest gap between titles at the Crucible.
Prize fund[]
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[9][10]
|
|
Main draw[]
Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers). The first round draw was done by presenters Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams of BBC Breakfast on 19 March and it was announced on Breakfast at 7.30 am BST the next day.[9][11][12][13][14]
First round | Second round | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | |||||||||||
Best of 19 frames | Best of 25 frames | Best of 25 frames | Best of 33 frames | |||||||||||
21 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
7 | |||||||||||||
26, 27 & 28 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
8 | |||||||||||||
21 & 22 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
1 & 2 May | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
3 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
7 | |||||||||||||
23 & 24 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
27 & 28 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
3 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
24 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
8 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
9 | |||||||||||||
3, 4 & 5 May | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
15 | |||||||||||||
25 & 26 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
17 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
28, 29 & 30 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
4 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
22 & 23 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
4 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
9 | |||||||||||||
1 & 2 May | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
25 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
9 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
29 & 30 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
5 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
22 & 23 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
2 | |||||||||||||
23 & 24 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
7 | |||||||||||||
27 & 28 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
9 | |||||||||||||
21 & 22 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
1 & 2 May | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
2 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
12 | |||||||||||||
21 & 22 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
9 | |||||||||||||
26 & 27 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
8 | |||||||||||||
23 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
3, 4 & 5 May | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
6 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
16 | |||||||||||||
21 & 22 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
17 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
29 & 30 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
7 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
8 | |||||||||||||
24 & 25 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
7 | |||||||||||||
1 & 2 May | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
25 & 26 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
12 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
28, 29 & 30 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
4 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
13 | |||||||||||||
24 & 25 April | ||||||||||||||
![]() |
6 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
10 | |||||||||||||
![]() |
7 | |||||||||||||
Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 6 & 7 May 2007. Referee: ![]() | ||
John Higgins (5)![]() |
18–13 | Mark Selby ![]() |
73–25, 58–32, 19–95, 25–76, 10–132, 97–0, 98–24, 86–5, 75–0, 85–9, 101–24, 70–61, 59–75, 98–0, 78–55, 116–0, 36–73, 0–110, 36–65, 4–74, 0–66, 48–72, 81–40, 63–70, 75–2, 22–82, 54–77, 71–33, 57–43, 129–1, 78–1 | Century breaks: 5 (Higgins 3, Selby 2) Highest break by Higgins: 129 |
73–25, 58–32, 19–95, 25–76, 10–132, 97–0, 98–24, 86–5, 75–0, 85–9, 101–24, 70–61, 59–75, 98–0, 78–55, 116–0, 36–73, 0–110, 36–65, 4–74, 0–66, 48–72, 81–40, 63–70, 75–2, 22–82, 54–77, 71–33, 57–43, 129–1, 78–1 |
![]() |
Preliminary qualifying[]
The preliminary qualifying rounds for the tournament took place in Pontin's Prestatyn, Wales.[9][16]
Round 1
![]() |
5–0 | ![]() |
![]() |
5–4 | ![]() |
Round 2
![]() |
5–0 | ![]() |
![]() |
w/o-w/d | ![]() |
![]() |
0–5 | ![]() |
![]() |
5–0 | ![]() |
Qualifying[]
Qualifying for the 2007 World Snooker Championship, was held between 23 February to 2 March 2007 at Pontin's, Prestatyn, Wales. The final qualifying round took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield between the 12–15 March 2007.[9][16]
Round 1
![]() |
8–10 | ![]() |
![]() |
10–7 | ![]() |
![]() |
10–3 | ![]() |
![]() |
10–8 | ![]() |
Rounds 2–5
Century breaks[]
Televised stage centuries[]
There were 68 centuries scored in the televised stage of the 2007 championship, which was joint equal highest in the history of the tournament (with the tournament held in 2002) until 2009.[17][18]
|
|
Qualifying stage centuries[]
|
|
References[]
- ^ "Parrott edges out colleague Davis". BBC Sport. BBC News. 22 April 2007. Archived from the original on 27 May 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d "O'Sullivan Draw Fix Claim Denied". BBC Sport. BBC News. 17 April 2007. Archived from the original on 28 April 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2007.
- ^ "World Championship – Outright". EasyOdds.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2007.
- ^ Viner, Brian. "Interview: Snooker player Ding Junhui". The Independent. UK. Archived from the original on 9 February 2010. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ "Stevens hit for six as Murphy Prevails Archived 13 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine" WorldSnooker.com – Tournament News, 2 May 2007
- ^ "Snooker: Selby pockets a place in the final ; SNOOKER: 888.COM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FROM SHEFFIELD". Sunday Sun on HighBeam Research. Archived from the original on 11 June 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2012.(subscription required)
- ^ Lyon, Sam; Dirs, Ben (5 May 2007). "John Higgins (Sco) 17–15 Stephen Maguire (Sco)". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
- ^ "Higgins beats brave Selby in epic". BBC Sport. 8 May 2007. Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "World Snooker Championship 2007". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
- ^ "888.Com World Championship 2007". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ "2007 World Championships Results". Snooker Database. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ^ "2007 888.com World Championship". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 19 August 2007.
- ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 64–65.
- ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "2007 888.com World Championship Qualifying". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 19 August 2007.
- ^ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 152.
- ^ "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
- World Snooker Championships
- 2007 in snooker
- 2007 in English sport
- Sports competitions in Sheffield
- April 2007 sports events in the United Kingdom
- May 2007 sports events in the United Kingdom