2001 Malta Grand Prix

The 2001 Malta Grand Prix (officially the 2001 Rothmans Malta Grand Prix) was a professional snooker tournament held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, Malta, from 21 to 25 February 2001. It was the seventh and last Malta Grand Prix, and the fourth of the five World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association invitational competitions in the 2000–01 snooker season. It preceded the season's antepenultimate invitational event, the 2001 Masters. The event featured 12 players and was played as a round-robin format until the semi-finals.

Malta Grand Prix
Tournament information
Dates21–25 February 2001
VenueMediterranean Conference Centre
CityValletta
CountryMalta
FormatNon-ranking event
Total prize fund£36,000
Winner's share£10,000
Highest break Stephen Hendry (SCO) (147)
Final
Champion Stephen Hendry (SCO)
Runner-up Mark Williams (WAL)
Score7–1
← 2000
Last →

Ken Doherty was the defending champion of the tournament having defeated Mark Williams nine frames to three (9–3) in the final of the 2000 event but was eliminated from the group stages after finishing second in his group. Stephen Hendry won the competition, beating Williams 7–1 in the final. It was the 69th tournament that Hendry had won and he earned £10,000 from a prize pool of £36,000. In the semi-finals, Hendry defeated fellow Scot John Higgins 6–4 and Williams also beat Fergal O'Brien 6–4. Hendry made a maximum break in the third frame of the final, the highest of the tournament and the 42nd maximum in professional play.

Background
The Mediterranean Conference Centre (pictured in 2013) where the competition was held

The Malta Grand Prix was created by Snooker Promotions (Malta) founders Richard Balani, Wilfred Sultana and Joe Zammit in 1994 as a 12-player competition in Malta's first major professional snooker event. It was held as a non-ranking event for most of its history bar the 2000 tournament.[1][2] The 2001 tournament was the fourth of the five World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association invitational events in the 2000–01 snooker season,[3] and was the seventh Malta Grand Prix,[1] It was held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, between 21 and 25 February 2001, and preceded the 2001 Masters.[3] Sponsored by the cigarette manufacturer Rothmans, it had a total prize fund of £36,000, with £10,000 going to the winner.[4]

A total of 12 players including 3 from Malta were invited to enter the competition.[5][6] The field was composed of Maltese players Alex Borg, Tony Drago and Joe Grech as well as Ken Doherty, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Paul Hunter, Stephen Lee, Fergal O'Brien, Matthew Stevens, Joe Swail and Mark Williams.[5] Ronnie O'Sullivan, a three-time ranking winner in the 2000–01 season, withdrew due to a reoccurring back injury while Marco Fu also withdrew for family reasons, leading O'Brien and Hunter to replace them.[7] Players were put into four groups of three, with each group winner qualifying for the semi-finals.[6] The number of maximum frames in a match increased from 9 in the group stages to 11 in the semi-final, leading up to the final, which was best-of-13 frames.[8]

Group stages

Groups A and B

The twelve best-of-nine frame group stage matches took place from 21 to 23 February.[9] Group A was composed of Borg, Doherty and Higgins.[6] In his first match since losing to O'Brien in the quarter-finals of the 2001 Masters,[10] world number seven and the tournament's defending champion Doherty made breaks of 115, 73, 131, 77 and 79 to defeat Borg 5–1.[8][11] Higgins outscored Borg 449 to 111 as he whitewashed Borg 5–0 with breaks of 83, 81, 77 and 73.[12] The final match of the group saw Higgins play Doherty. Higgins won three of the first five frames with Doherty securing frames three and five for a 3–2 score. Higgins won frames six and seven to progress to the semi-finals with a 5–2 win.[8]

Grech, Hendry and Stevens played in Group B.[6] Grech led 3–0 in the match against Stevens but the latter made breaks of 80, 62, 54, 46 and 43 to win 5–3.[13] During the eighth frame, the electrical cables attached to the television lighting rig some 50 ft (15 m) above the players snapped and swung across the table, causing Stevens, who was about to strike the pink ball, to seek cover.[13][14] While the cables did not cause any damage, play was suspended because they needed to be reattached to their couplings.[13][14][15] Hendry produced his 19th century break of the season and the 524th of his career in the fifth frame of his 5–1 victory over Grech.[16] The following day, Hendry made breaks of 118 and 67 in defeating Stevens 5–3 and earning qualification to the semi-finals.[8]

Groups C and D

Group C was made up of O'Brien, Lee and Swail.[6] O'Brien won the first game of the group with a 5–3 victory over Swail.[8] Lee, the world number five, secured a 5–3 victory over Swail and required a win over O'Brien to go through to the semi-finals.[16] The final match of Group C saw O'Brien win the first frame on a 112 break before Lee took the next two. The next four frames were shared between both players. O'Brien took the eighth to force a final frame decider that he won with a break of 59 for a 5–4 victory and entry to the semi-finals.[8]

Drago, Hunter and Williams were drawn in Group D.[6] Hunter was defeated 5–3 by Drago following breaks of 65, 47 and 40 from the latter after he lost the first frame on the black ball.[13] Drago said post-match: "It wasn't a full house out there but the expectations for me these days are not good because I have fallen down the rankings and I haven't done all that well for a few years".[13] Williams won 5–2 over Hunter and commented that he could not score heavily due to bouncing on the cushions and had difficulty controlling the cue ball.[16] Williams won the final frames of his match against Drago with breaks of 54, 65, 45, 43 and 36 to win 5–2 and took the last spot in the semi-finals.[17]

Knockout rounds

Semi-finals

The two semi-finals were played on 23 and 24 February.[9] Hendry and Higgins played in the first semi-final.[8] The lead was 2–0 to Hendry, which he made 4–2 and later 5–3. Higgins was unable to force a final frame decider when he missed the brown ball to win the tenth frame and tie the score at 5–5.[18] Hendry won the tenth frame 63–62 to claim a 6–4 victory and the first berth in the final.[8] Hendry, who qualified for the 90th final of his career, said: "I played OK in patches then missed an easy one, something you can't afford to do at this level. But a win is a win and while capturing ranking event titles is what I'm after, I'll be happy to lift this trophy as it's been a long time since I won anything."[19]

Stephen Hendry (pictured in 2011) won the 69th tournament of his career with a 7–1 victory over Mark Williams.

The other semi-final was between O'Brien and Williams. The first frame was won by Williams and O'Brien took the next four to lead 4–1.[8] Williams changed his playing style midway through the match as he was unsteady as a result of him jabbing and snatching.[20] Errors from O'Brien meant he could not win frames eight and nine,[20] before missing the final red ball to lead 5–4, allowing Williams to win the tenth frame with a clearance of 31 to the black ball to win 6–4 and the second spot in the final.[21] Williams qualified for his second final of the season and commented on his playing style: "To do that is ludicrous but that shows how my head went. I was disgusted with myself but jabbing and snatching at everything seemed to work so I'll be sticking with that against Stephen."[20]

Final

The best-of-13 frames final between Hendry and Williams was held on the evening of 25 February.[9] Williams won the first frame on a break of 42,[22] and finished with a score of 75–20.[8][23] Hendry won the next six frames with breaks of 57, 70, 56, 41 and 87 and potted the black in the eighth to win by 7–1.[24] He also achieved a maximum break in the third frame for the highest break.[25] It was the eighth maximum of Hendry's career,[22] the third time he had achieved the feat in a major tournament final,[lower-alpha 1][23][26] the third overseas and the first in a European competition away from Great Britain and Ireland.[26][27] It was also professional snooker's 42nd maximum.[8]

Hendry earned £10,000 prize money for winning the tournament and £1,000 for making a maximum break.[25][27] It was the 69th tournament win of his career,[23] and his first since the 2000 Premier League.[8] Hendry commented on the win: "People will say this is only a small tournament but just to be in the winner's circle again is a good feeling."[22] He went on to talk about his maximum break: "As for the maximum, I fancied it from the word go, the balls were perfectly placed by the time the break reached eight and it was then a great opportunity to go all the way. I was never in any trouble at all."[26] Willams, who won £5,000 for finishing runner-up,[22] said of his loss: "I was never in the match. I tried to win but there was nothing there and Stephen deserved to beat me."[26] He conceded that "I'm getting used to a good pummelling" after he lost in the finals of the UK Championship to Higgins and the China Open to O'Sullivan earlier in the season.[24]

Results

The players highlighted in bold text in the table indicate who progressed to the semi-finals. Players in bold to the right of the tables denote match winners.[4][8]

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout draw

Players in bold indicate match winners.[4][8]

Semi-finals
Best of 11 frames 		Final
Best of 13 frames
Stephen Hendry 6
John Higgins 4 Stephen Hendry 7
Mark Williams 6 Mark Williams 1
Fergal O'Brien 4

Final

The bold text in the table indicates all of the winning frame scores and the winning player. Breaks over 50 are displayed in brackets.[8]

Final: Best of 13 frames.[8]
Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta, Malta, 25 February 2001.[8]
Mark Williams
 Wales		 1–7 Stephen Hendry
 Scotland
Evening: 75–20, 41–74 (57), 0–147 (147), 35–79 (70), 46–61 (56), 17–70, 7–87 (87), 50–57
42 Highest break 147
0 Century breaks 1
0 50+ breaks 5

Century breaks

The 2001 Malta Grand Prix featured a total of seven century breaks between three players. The highest break was a maximum recorded by Hendry in the third frame of the final with Williams.[8]

Notes
  1. The other two finals that Hendry made maximum breaks in were the 1997 Charity Challenge and the 1999 British Open.[24][26]

References
  1. Sultana, Wilfred (21 February 2004). "A successful snooker story". The Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  2. Turner, Chris. "Malta Grand Prix, Malta Cup". Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
  3. "Tournament Diary 2000/2001". WWW Snooker. Archived from the original on 29 July 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  4. Layton, Eric. Cuesport Book of Professional Snooker. p. 179.
  5. "O'Sullivan and Fu Withdraw From Malta Trip". Embassy Snooker. 14 February 2001. Archived from the original on 18 June 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  6. Hendon, David (16 February 2001). "Here Comes The Sun". TSN Snooker. Archived from the original on 3 March 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  7. "Sporting digest: Snooker". The Independent. 21 February 2001. p. 27. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020 – via Gale General OneFile.
  8. "2001 Rothmans Malta Grand Prix". AZBilliards.com. Archived from the original on 22 May 2003. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  9. "Malta Grand Prix Order of Play". 110Sport. Archived from the original on 1 May 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  10. "Doherty has easy opening victory". The Irish Times. 21 February 2001. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  11. "Snooker: Doherty wins in Malta Grand Prix". Irish Examiner. 21 February 2001. Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  12. Dee, John (23 February 2001). "Williams on course". The Daily Telegraph. p. 40. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020 – via ProQuest.
  13. Dee, John (21 February 2001). "Stevens Near Miss As Cable Snaps". Embassy Snooker. Archived from the original on 30 April 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  14. Yates, Phil (22 February 2001). "Hunter is caught out by Drago; Snooker". The Times. p. 37. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020 – via Gale Academic OneFile.
  15. "Snooker: Stevens advances in difficult circumstances". Irish Examiner. 21 February 2001. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  16. "Day Two – Scots Produce Double". World Snooker. 22 February 2001. Archived from the original on 6 March 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  17. "Day Three – Semi Finals Take Shape". World Snooker. 23 February 2001. Archived from the original on 6 March 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  18. "Day Four – Hendry Wins Battle of the Scots". World Snooker. 24 February 2001. Archived from the original on 14 April 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  19. Dee, John (24 February 2001). "Hendry Through to Malta Final". Embassy Snooker. Archived from the original on 30 April 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  20. D'Arcy, Jimmy (25 February 2001). "Snooker: O'Brien loses out to Williams". RTÉ Sport. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  21. Dee, John (24 February 2001). "Williams Takes Last Five From O'Brien". Embassy Snooker. Archived from the original on 30 April 2001. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  22. "Maximum credit as Hendry regains touch". The Herald. 26 February 2001. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  23. Dee, John (26 February 2001). "Snooker: Hendry exerts the maximum pressure". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  24. Yates, Phil (26 February 2001). "Hendry back in winner's circle with 147; Snooker". The Times. p. 8. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020 – via Gale Academic OneFile.
  25. "Snooker: Hendry completes Maltese victory". The Independent. 26 February 2001. p. 11. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020 – via Gale General OneFile.
  26. Dee, John (25 February 2001). "Hendry Captures Malta Title". Embassy Snooker. Archived from the original on 29 April 2001. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  27. Baxter, Trevor (26 February 2001). "Hendry back in winning frame". The Scotsman. p. 9. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020 – via Gale OneFile: News.
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