2002 World Snooker Championship

The championship was held from 20 April and 6 May 2002 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 25th consecutive time that the tournament was held at the venue.[11] It was the ninth and last ranking event of the 2001–02 snooker season on the World Snooker Tour.[12][13][14] There were a total of 120 entrants from the tour, and the competition's main draw had 32 participants.[15] Following a seven-round amateur qualifying tournament, a six-round knockout qualifying competition was held at Manhattan Club, Harrogate and the Telford International Centre. This qualifying tournament produced the 16 qualifying players who progressed into the main draw to play the top 16 seeds.[16]

The top 16 players in the latest world rankings automatically qualified for the main draw as seeded players. As defending champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan was seeded first for the event with world number one Mark Williams seeded 2; the remaining seeds were allocated based on the payers' world ranking positions.[17] Matches in the first round of the main draw were played as best-of-19-frames. The number of frames needed to win a match increased to 13 in the second round and quarter-finals, and 17 in the semi-finals; the final match was played as best-of-35-frames.[15]

The tournament featured a prize fund of £1,615,770 with the winner receiving £260,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:[18][19]

Dominic Dale snapped his cue after his loss to Jimmy White

The first round was played as the best-of-19 frames matches, played over two sessions. The defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan's opening match against Drew Henry was delayed for 25 minutes due to a problem with the scoreboard. The first six frames were shared, but from 3–3 O'Sullivan won six in a row to lead 9–3, and won the match at 10–5.[20] Quinten Hann became the first Australian player to reach the second round since Eddie Charlton in 1989. Hann, a WEPF World Eight-ball championship winner, had smashed the pack of reds open when breaking off in the fifth frame, from which Paul Hunter made a 77 break and took the frame. Hunter was 6–3 ahead after their first session, but Hann won the match 10–9.[21] Seven-time winner Stephen Hendry recorded a break of 130 in frame three of his match with Shaun Murphy and lead 6–3 at the end of their first session, and won the last frame with a break of 111 as he won 10–4.[22][23][24] Stuart Bingham narrowly missed out on a maximum break during his match against Ken Doherty, failing to pot the final pink ball. Doherty later won the match 10–8.[25][26]

James Wattana won only one frame of his match against John Higgins. Higgins made breaks of 109, 136 and 116 in winning 10–1.[27] Peter Ebdon led Michael Judge 5–4 at the end of their first session then took five frames in-a-row to win 10–4.[28] Dominic Dale, who had been ill with food poisoning in the days before his match with Jimmy White, accused White of making a push shot,[29] pretended to go to sleep in his chair during the final frame, and after losing 2–10, snapped his cue and threw it out of his dressing-room window.[30][31] This and the match between Hunter and Hann was interrupted by a streaker wearing a Sven-Göran Eriksson mask.[22][24][32]

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan won his second round match with a session to spare

The second round featured matches played as the best-of-25 frames held over three sessions. O'Sullivan defeated Robert Milkins 13–2 in just two sessions. When the third session was scheduled to be played O'Sullivan visited a chiropractor.[33] O'Sullivan said "I've got an imbalance in my body and I find it hard to walk, among other things."[33] Hann smashed the pack of reds four times during his 3–13 loss to Stephen Lee.[34] Lee commented after the match "I don't know why Quinten plays like that... perhaps he actually wants to go home early?"[34] Qualifier Anthony Davies trailed 2–6 after the first session, and won just one frame in the second session and was defeated 3–13 by Stephen Hendry.[35] Doherty won eight frames in-a-row to go from 3–7 behind to 11–7 ahead against Mark King. King forced the match to a decider, which was won by Doherty 13–12.[36] Higgins notched up five century breaks and defeated Graeme Dott 13–2.[37] Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry shared the frames in their first session and tied 4–4. However, Ebdon won seven of the next eight frames to lead 11–5 after the second session, and later won 13–7.[24][38]

Jimmy White played Matthew Stevens and lost 3–13 with a session to spare.[39] In the eight frame, the final frame in the first session, White had missed a pot on the black ball, and as the cue ball returned towards him, hit it with such force that both balls were both forced off the table.[39] This was particularly unexpected given White's reputation for good sportsmanship. He issued an apology before resuming play the following day.[24][40] World number one Mark Williams was defeated 9–13 by world number 19 Anthony Hamilton.[41] Hamilton had been defeated Williams in the final of the China Open earlier in the season, said that the previous match spurred him to victory. Williams commented that despite being ranked number one in the world, his performances were not good enough: "I'm sick with the way I performed. I don't enjoy playing that bad but I seem to play like that fairly often. I don't know what it is."[42]

Matthew Stevens reached his third semi-final in-a-row with a 13–7 win over John Higgins

The quarter-finals were played as best-of-25 frames matches, held over three sessions. Having been level at 10–10 with Stephen Lee, O'Sullivan made breaks of 83, 102 and 113 win the match 13–10.[43] Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty were tied after the first session, with Hendry winning four frames in-a-row to lead 8–4, but Doherty won the next four to tie at 8–8.[44] With the match also tied at 12-12, Hendry made a break of 91 to win 13–12.[44] Post-match, Hendry commented: "Ken and I always have brilliant matches, but this one was special".[44]

John Higgins, who had only conceded three frames in his previous two matches trailed 0–3 to Matthew Stephens in the quarter-finals.[45] Higgins won four frames in a row, before Stevens tied the match at 4–4 in the first session. Matthew Stevens made the highest break of the championship, a 145 in frame 11, and held a four frame lead after the second session.[18] Stevens won three of the next four frames to win 13–7 and reach his third successive semi-final.[45] Peter Ebdon reached the semi-finals for the second time, as he beat Hamilton 13–6.[24][46]

Stephen Hendry defeated the defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan to reach his ninth final

The semi-finals were played as best-of-33 frames matches, held over four sessions between 3 and 4 May.[15] Before the match between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry, O'Sullivan made comments due to a dispute from a previous event.[47] He commented "the most satisfying thing for me to send Stephen Hendry back home to Scotland",[43] and that "there is not a lot of respect there at all".[47] He also made comments about Hendry's manager Ian Doyle, who was a previous manager to O'Sullivan.[48] John Dee for the Daily Telegraph commented that O'Sullivan had "blown hot and cold" during interviews, and the comments surprised him.[49]

O'Sullivan experienced the crucible curse as he lost 13–17 to Hendry. O'Sullivan had started the match with a break of 115 in the opening frame and led 5–3 at the end of the first session. In the second session, Hendry moved into a 9–7 lead, with breaks of 125, 122 and 124. The third session ended with the players tied at 12–12. In the final session Hendry took a 16–12 lead and ended up winning 17–13.[24]

In the other semi-final, Ebdon led Stevens 5–3 after the first session and then 9–7 after the second. It was all square after the third, at 12–12. Stevens, however moved within one frame of victory at 16–14. In frame 31, leading by 33 points, with 35 points remaining, Stevens lost position, and Ebdon cleared the table to win the frame.[50] Ebdon made a 138 in the penultimate frame and won a deciding frame with a break of 55 to win the match 17–16.[24][51] After the match, Ebdon commented that he "can't believe he won", and that he felt "sorry" for Stevens, because he knew "how he feels right now".[50]

Peter Ebdon won his only world championship, defeating Hendry 18–17

The final held between Peter Ebdon and Stephen Hendry was played as a best-of-35 frames match over four sessions on 5 and 6 May. Ebdon (seeded seventh) and Stephen Hendry (fifth) also competed in the 1996 final. Hendry had defeated Ebdon 18–12 to gain his sixth world title in 1996.[52] Over eight million viewers watched the 2002 final in the expectation of Hendry winning his eighth world title.[41][53] The final was refereed by John Williams, his tenth final.[54]

Ebdon took the first four frames of the match to lead 4–0 at the first mid-session interval, but Hendry pulled back the next four frames to end the first session tied at 4–4. By the end of the second session, Ebdon was again four frames ahead at 10–6, but Hendry fought back and levelled the score at the end of the third session, 12–12.[53][55]

Hendry made a strong start to the final session, taking the lead for the first time with breaks of 63, 55 and 38, to put him 14–12 ahead. Ebdon won the next two frames to draw level at 14–14, after Hendry missed a relatively simple red in the 28th frame. Hendry then compiled a break of 58 in frame 29, to lead 15–14, but Ebdon took three of the next four frames with breaks of 73, 111 and 85 to move ahead 17–16.[53][55] Poised to win the championship, Ebdon was 52–27 up in frame 34 when he missed a straight pot on the black on its spot, allowing Hendry to clear the colours and level the match at 17–17.[41][56]

This was the second time that Hendry had been taken to a deciding frame in the World Championship final,[53] having also have done so in 1994 when he defeated Jimmy White 18–17.[57] Hendry was the first to score in the decider, just seven points, before Ebdon compiled a break of 59.[41][53] Then with just four reds remaining on the table,[56] Hendry potted the cue ball while attempting to play a snooker, giving Ebdon his chance to take the frame and win the match 18–17.[41][57]

With his win, Ebdon received a cheque for £260,000 and moved up to third place in the end-of-season world rankings (behind Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams).[56][57] In a post-match interview, he said "It's what I have been working for and dreaming about for the last 17 years... I wasn't ready to win it six years ago, but I've improved as a player and as a person".[56] The Guardian's Sean Ingle described the final as "one of the sporting highlights of the year."[55] Many commentators had been expecting Hendry to take his eighth world title.[55] He ultimately blamed his defeat on nerves and poor concentration, but also conceded that Ebdon was a stronger player than he had been in their previous world final encounter in 1996.[57] This was Hendry's last appearance in a World Championship final. His defeat effectively signalled the start of his decline as a major force in the game of snooker; he reached his last ranking final four years later at the 2006 UK Championship, where he again lost to Peter Ebdon.[58] This was the first time a player had won both their semi-final and final match on a deciding frame.[52]

Willie Thorne, in his 27th world championship, lost in the seventh round to Stephen Croft.[89] Thorne was the only entrant in the qualifiers to have played at the first Crucible finals in 1977.[16] Three-times semi-finalist Tony Knowles lost 3–5 to Rob James in the third round. During her fifth-round defeat, Kelly Fisher became the first female player to compile a century break at the open World Championship, making a 106.[89]

Round 7 (Best of 9 frames)[16]
Darren Clarke	5–2	C. Harrison
Ryan Day	5–3	K. Broughton
Joe Jogia	5–0	S. Mellish
James Reynolds	5–1	M. Bilclough
Jason Weston	5–1	Tony Chappel
Lee Spick	5–2	J. Whitty
Martin Gould	5–2	D. Gilbert
Stephen Croft	5–3	Willie Thorne

The first round of qualifying took place in Telford as best-of-19 frames matches.[90]

Best of 19 frames
Darren Clarke	10–9	Brian Salmon
Ryan Day	10–5	Ryan Michael
Joe Jogia	10–3	Wayne Cooper
James Reynolds	10–9	Neil Robertson
Jason Weston	10–1	Edward Davies
Lee Spick	10–5	Atthasit Mahitthi
Craig Butler	10–7	Martin Gould
Stephen Croft	10–9	Sunit Vaswani

There were 32 players eliminated in the second round of qualifying. 1986 Champion Joe Johnson was 4–1 ahead of Ricky Walden but then lost a contact lens and, with impaired vision, ended the first session 4–5 behind. He went on to win 10–5.[90]

Last 128 (best of 19 frames)
Paul Wykes 10–4 Darren Clarke	Matthew Street 10–9 Troy Shaw
Barry Hawkins 10–8 Luke Fisher	Nick Pearce 10–8 Noppadol Sangnil
Ryan Day 10–3 Phaitoon Phonbun	Joe Johnson 10–5 Ricky Walden
Andrew Higginson 10–5 Adrian Rosa	Nick Walker 10–0 Levi Meilleur
Jason Prince 10–7 Chris Melling	Wayne Brown 10–6 Joe Jogia
James Reynolds 10–9 Tony Jones	Jeff Cundy 10–7 Kurt Maflin
Paul Davison 10–6 Hugh Abernethy	Antony Bolsover w/o–w/d Steve Lemmens
Martin Dziewaltowski 10–9 Kwan Poomjang	Andrew Norman 10–5 Noppadon Noppachorn
Jason Wallace 10–6 Alain Robidoux	Jason Weston 10–8 Mark Gray
Stephen Kershaw 10–8 Sean Storey	Lee Spick 10–7 Philip Williams
Matthew Couch 10–1 Chris McBreen	Kristjan Helgason 10–7 Surinder Gill
Robin Hull 10–2 Craig Butler	Neal Foulds 10–4 Alex Borg
Mike Dunn 10–2 Stephen Croft	David McDonnell 10–4 Ian Hurdman
Mark Selby 10–9 Tom Ford	Bjorn Haneveer 10–5 Ian Sargeant
Shaun Murphy 10–5 Euan Henderson	Adrian Gunnell 10–6 Rory McLeod
Barry Pinches 10–3 Eddie Barker	Luke Simmonds 10–6 John Read

There were 16 players eliminated in each of rounds 3 to 6 of qualifying.[18] Joe Johnson experienced problems with his vision, as he had in the previous round, and retired from his third round match against Ryan Day when 1–5 behind.[91] The final qualifying round saw John Parrott qualify for the Crucible stage for the 19the consecutive year, whilst six-times former champion Steve Davis failed to reach the Crucible for only the second time in 24 seasons. Shaun Murphy, ranked 169th and aged 19, was both the lowest-ranked and youngest player to reach the final stages in 2002.[92]

Round 3 (last 96)[91] (Best of 19 frames)	Round 4 (last 80)[91] (Best of 19 frames)	Round 5 (last 64)[93](Best of 19 frames)	Final qualifying round (last 48)[92] (Best of 19 frames)
Kristján Helgason 10–9 Matthew Couch	Kristján Helgason 10–5 Rod Lawler	Stuart Bingham 10–7 Kristján Helgason	Stuart Bingham 10–6 Nigel Bond
Paul Wykes 10–5 Matthew Street	Paul Wykes 10–4 Peter Lines	Paul Wykes 10–8 Bradley Jones	Dominic Dale 10–5 Paul Wykes
Ryan Day 5–1 Joe Johnson(Johnson retired)	Ryan Day 10–8 Mark Davis	Marcus Campbell 10–9 Ryan Day	Anthony Davies 10–9 Marcus Campbell
Mike Dunn 10–8 David McDonnell	Mike Dunn 10–2 Lee Walker	Mike Dunn 10–5 Dave Finbow	Mike Dunn 10–9 Billy Snaddon
Mark Selby 10–8 Bjorn Haneveer	Mark Selby 10–6 Jason Ferguson	Mark Selby 10–6 Alfie Burden	David Gray 10–7 Mark Selby
Jason Weston 10–2 Jason Wallace	Ali Carter 10–4 Jason Weston	Darren Morgan 10–7 Ali Carter	Anthony Hamilton 10–7 Darren Morgan
James Reynolds 10–6 Jeff Cundy	Gerard Greene 10–7 James Reynolds	Michael Holt 10–7 Gerard Greene	Quinten Hann 10–6 Michael Holt
Jason Prince 10–9 Wayne Brown	David Roe 10–2 Jason Prince	David Roe 10–3 Jimmy Michie	Drew Henry 10–5 David Roe
Robin Hull 10–1 Neal Foulds	Robin Hull 10–5 Gary Ponting	Robin Hull 10–6 Gary Wilkinson	Robin Hull 10–8 Steve Davis
Barry Hawkins 10–5 Nick Pearce	Stuart Pettman 10–6 Barry Hawkins	Stuart Pettman 10–5 Brian Morgan	Michael Judge 10–9 Stuart Pettman
Anthony Bolsover 10–3 Paul Davison	Robert Milkins 10–7 Anthony Bolsover	Robert Milkins 10–3 Andy Hicks	Robert Milkins 10–8 Tony Drago
Shaun Murphy 10–5 Adrian Gunnell	Shaun Murphy 10–7 Nick Dyson	Shaun Murphy 10–5 Jamie Burnett	Shaun Murphy 10–4 Marco Fu
Nick Walker 10–6 Andrew Higginson	Jonathan Birch 10–7 Nick Walker	Shokat Ali 10–6 Jonathan Birch	John Parrott 10–9 Shokat Ali
Barry Pinches 10–5 Luke Simmonds	Barry Pinches 10–7 Stephen Maguire	Terry Murphy 10–9 Barry Pinches	Joe Perry 10–9 Terry Murphy
Stephen Kershaw 10–7 Lee Spick	Paul Davies 10–5 Stephen Kershaw	Paul Davies 10–5 Patrick Wallace	Chris Small 10–7 Paul Davies
Andrew Norman 10–7 Martin Dziewialtowski	Andrew Norman 10–6 Steve James	Ian McCulloch 10–3 Andrew Norman	James Wattana 10–7 Ian McCulloch