Betfred.com World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	18 April – 4 May 2009 (2009-04-18 – 2009-05-04)
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,111,000
Winner's share	£250,000
Highest break	Stephen Hendry (SCO) (147)
Final
Champion	John Higgins (SCO)
Runner-up	Shaun Murphy (ENG)
Score	18–9
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The 2009 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2009 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. This was the first time that the World Snooker Championship had been sponsored by Betfred.^[1]

Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, but he lost in the second round 11–13 against Mark Allen.

John Higgins won his third World title by defeating Shaun Murphy 18–9 in the final. It was Higgins' 20th ranking title.

Tournament summary

First round

• Debutants at the Crucible were Rory McLeod, Martin Gould,^[2] Andrew Higginson,^[3] and Ricky Walden.^[4] They were all defeated in the first round.
• Rory McLeod became the first ever black player at the Crucible.^[5]
• Only two out of the sixteen seeded players lost their first round matches. Peter Ebdon lost 5–10 against Nigel Bond, while Joe Perry lost 6–10 against Jamie Cope.
• Steve Davis qualified for the World Championship for a record 29th time, but lost his first round match 2–10 against Neil Robertson.^[6]
• In September 2013 Stephen Lee was found guilty of conspiring to lose his first round match 4–10 against Ryan Day,^[7] for which as part of other offences Lee received a 12-year ban and was ordered to pay £40,000 in costs.^[8]

Second round

• Hendry won his 1,000th frame at the Crucible during his match against Ding Junhui. In this very frame Hendry compiled a 140 break. In total, at that moment Hendry had played over 1,700 frames at the Crucible, more than any other player. Hendry went on to win the match 13–10 and qualified for the quarter-finals for a record 18th time.^[9] This was the second consecutive year that Hendry had knocked out Ding in the Last 16.
• Mark Allen beat defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 13–11.^[9] Allen made his best appearance at the tournament, ultimately reaching the semi-finals.^[10] This would be the last time that O'Sullivan failed to reach the quarter-finals until 2016.
• Neil Robertson won four frames on the final black during the second session of his match with Ali Carter, and went on to win the match 13–8.^[11]
• John Higgins beat Jamie Cope 13–12 having trailed 10–12.
• Stephen Maguire and Mark King set a new record for the longest frame ever played at the Crucible at 74 minutes 58 seconds,^[12] breaking the previous record of 74 minutes 8 seconds set in the 2006 final between Peter Ebdon and Graeme Dott.^[13]
• The match between Mark Selby and Graeme Dott saw a controversial decision by referee Alan Chamberlain. Dott was going in-off, but stopped the cue ball with his fist before it dropped into the pocket, believing that the in-off was obvious. Chamberlain called a foul and awarded four points to Selby. Convinced that he now had the cue ball in hand, as would be the norm after an in-off, Selby picked up the ball to place it inside the "D". However, Chamberlain then called a foul on him and awarded four points back to Dott. Chamberlain's reasoning was that since the cue ball had never left the bed of the table, Selby should have played the shot from where the cue ball finished. Both players and even members of the audience disputed Chamberlain's decision, but it remained unchanged.^[14][15]

Quarter-finals

• Hendry made the ninth 147 break of his career in the seventh frame of his match against Shaun Murphy. Hendry equalled Ronnie O'Sullivan's record for most 147s and became the second man to score a Crucible 147 more than once, having done it for the first time in 1995.^[16]
• Neil Robertson beat Stephen Maguire - who had eliminated him in the second round the year before - 13–8. He became only the second player from Australia in 27 years (since Eddie Charlton) to play a semi-final at the Crucible.^[17]
• John Higgins advanced to the semi-finals against Mark Selby by winning his second consecutive match of the tournament in the final frame, again coming from behind before the last frames, this time 11–12. The final frame required two re-racks.^[18]
• Mark Allen and Neil Robertson both reached the first world championship semi-finals of their careers.

Semi-finals

Both semi-finals featured impressive comebacks from the eventual losers. Allen came back from a 3–13 deficit against Higgins to 12–15 before losing the match 13–17.^[19] In a similar manner, Robertson brought a 7–14 deficit back to 14–14 in his match against Murphy, but lost the final three frames.^[20]

Final

• Michaela Tabb made history by becoming the first woman to referee a World Snooker Championship final.^[21][22]
• This was the first final contested by two former world champions since 2003, when Mark Williams defeated Ken Doherty 18–16.^[23]
• After the first session ended all-square at 4–4, John Higgins opened up an 11–5 lead over Shaun Murphy, winning the second session 7–1.^[24] After the third session, Higgins led 16–8, having won that session 5–3.^[25]
• The second frame of the fourth session was Higgins's 1000th frame in the Crucible Theatre.^[26]
• The fourth and final session lasted only three frames before John Higgins defeated Shaun Murphy 18–9. In doing so, Higgins became only the ninth player to lift the trophy more than twice,^[23] and only the sixth player to have won more than two titles in the modern era (Ray Reardon, John Spencer, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan being the others).^[27]
• By winning the title two weeks before his 34th birthday, Higgins became the oldest World Snooker Champion since 36-year-old Dennis Taylor in 1985.^[28]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[29][30]

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).^[31][32] The draw for the televised stage of the World Snooker Championship was made on Wednesday, 11 March 2009 at 9:45 a.m. GMT on Radio Sheffield.^[3]

First round Best of 19 frames

Second round Best of 25 frames

Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames

Semi-finals Best of 33 frames

Final Best of 35 frames

18 April

Ronnie O'Sullivan (1)

10

23, 24 & 25 April

Stuart Bingham

5

Ronnie O'Sullivan (1)

11

19 & 20 April

Mark Allen (16)

13

Mark Allen (16)

10

28 & 29 April

Martin Gould

6

Mark Allen (16)

13

21 April

Ryan Day (8)

11

Peter Ebdon (9)

5

24 & 25 April

Nigel Bond

10

Nigel Bond

5

22 April

Ryan Day (8)

13

Ryan Day (8)

10

30 April 1 & 2 May

Stephen Lee

4

Mark Allen (16)

13

22 & 23 April

John Higgins (5)

17

John Higgins (5)

10

25, 26 & 27 April

Michael Holt

5

John Higgins (5)

13

20 & 21 April

Jamie Cope

12

Joe Perry (12)

6

28 & 29 April

Jamie Cope

10

John Higgins (5)

13

18 & 19 April

Mark Selby (4)

12

Graeme Dott (13)

10

26 & 27 April

Barry Hawkins

8

Graeme Dott (13)

10

19 & 20 April

Mark Selby (4)

13

Mark Selby (4)

10

3 & 4 May

Ricky Walden

6

John Higgins (5)

18

21 & 22 April

Shaun Murphy (3)

9

Shaun Murphy (3)

10

24 & 25 April

Andrew Higginson

8

Shaun Murphy (3)

13

20 April

Marco Fu (14)

3

Marco Fu (14)

10

28 & 29 April

Joe Swail

4

Shaun Murphy (3)

13

20 & 21 April

Stephen Hendry (6)

11

Ding Junhui (11)

10

23 & 24 April

Liang Wenbo

8

Ding Junhui (11)

10

18 & 19 April

Stephen Hendry (6)

13

Stephen Hendry (6)

10

30 April 1 & 2 May

Mark Williams

7

Shaun Murphy (3)

17

18 & 19 April

Neil Robertson (10)

14

Ali Carter (7)

10

25, 26 & 27 April

Gerard Greene

5

Ali Carter (7)

8

21 & 22 April

Neil Robertson (10)

13

Neil Robertson (10)

10

28 & 29 April

Steve Davis

2

Neil Robertson (10)

13

18 & 19 April

Stephen Maguire (2)

8

Mark King (15)

10

26 & 27 April

Rory McLeod

6

Mark King (15)

6

22 & 23 April

Stephen Maguire (2)

13

Stephen Maguire (2)

10

Jamie Burnett

5

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 3 May & 4 May 2009. Referee: Michaela Tabb
John Higgins (5)  Scotland	18–9	Shaun Murphy (3)  England
83–0, 85–6, 79–20, 7–83, 50–96, 4–114, 49–63, 69–34, 98–1, 12–87, 70–51, 95–11, 70–45, 132–0, 82–0, 128–6, 64–42, 0–91, 60–49, 76–43, 28–70, 49–79, 94–26, 80–59, 106–21, 0–78, 105–0	Century breaks: 3 (Higgins 2, Murphy 1) Highest break by Higgins: 128 Highest break by Murphy: 109	83–0, 85–6, 79–20, 7–83, 50–96, 4–114, 49–63, 69–34, 98–1, 12–87, 70–51, 95–11, 70–45, 132–0, 82–0, 128–6, 64–42, 0–91, 60–49, 76–43, 28–70, 49–79, 94–26, 80–59, 106–21, 0–78, 105–0
John Higgins wins the 2009 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship

Preliminary qualifying

The preliminary qualifying rounds for the tournament took place on 25 February 2009 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. (World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association members not on The Tour.)^[33][34]

Round 1

Bill Kelly	1–5	David Singh
Neil Selman	5–3	Paul Cavney
Barry Stark	5–3	Les Dodd
Stephen Ormerod	5–0	Christopher Flight
Del Smith	5–0	Adam Osbourne
Phil Seaton	5–2	Philip Minchin
Ali Bassiri	1–5	Tony Knowles

Round 2

Colin Mitchell	5–1	David Singh
Neil Selman	5–1	Barry Stark
Stephen Ormerod	1–5	Del Smith
Phil Seaton	2–5	Tony Knowles

Qualifying

The qualifying rounds 1–4 for the tournament took place between 26 February and 4 March 2009 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. The final round of qualifying took place between 8 and 10 March 2009 at the same venue.^[33][34]

Round 1

Li Hang	10–2	Colin Mitchell
Declan Hughes	wd–wo	Neil Selman
Chris McBreen	10–8	Del Smith
Stefan Mazrocis	9–10	Tony Knowles

Rounds 2–5

	Round 2 Best of 19 frames				Round 3 Best of 19 frames				Round 4 Best of 19 frames				Round 5 Best of 19 frames
	Matthew Couch	10			Andrew Norman	4			John Parrott	3			Joe Swail	10
	Michael Georgiou	8			Matthew Couch	10			Matthew Couch	10			Matthew Couch	1
	Lee Spick	10			Barry Pinches	5			Adrian Gunnell	2			Steve Davis	10
	Stephen Craigie	5			Lee Spick	10			Lee Spick	10			Lee Spick	8
	Jimmy White	10			Andy Hicks	10			Rory McLeod	10			Ian McCulloch	7
	Vincent Muldoon	8			Jimmy White	8			Andy Hicks	8			Rory McLeod	10
	Daniel Wells	10			Ian Preece	9			Marcus Campbell	9			Barry Hawkins	10
	Li Hang	9			Daniel Wells	10			Daniel Wells	10			Daniel Wells	9
	Supoj Saenla	10			Liu Song	10			Gerard Greene	10			Ken Doherty	5
	Liu Chuang	5			Supoj Saenla	9			Liu Song	6			Gerard Greene	10
	Scott MacKenzie	9			Joe Delaney	10			Judd Trump	10			Stephen Lee	10
	Wayne Cooper	10			Wayne Cooper	8			Joe Delaney	1			Judd Trump	8
	Patrick Wallace	10			Mark Joyce	6			Tom Ford	10			Mark Williams	10
	Neil Selman	2			Patrick Wallace	10			Patrick Wallace	8			Tom Ford	5
	Matthew Selt	10			Rod Lawler	10			Ricky Walden	10			Anthony Hamilton	5
	Robert Stephen	3			Matthew Selt	5			Rod Lawler	1			Ricky Walden	10
	James McBain	10			David Morris	10			Liang Wenbo	10			Dave Harold	3
	Chris McBreen	2			James McBain	3			David Morris	8			Liang Wenbo	10
	Simon Bedford	10			David Roe	7			Jamie Burnett	10			Fergal O'Brien	6
	David Grace	6			Simon Bedford	10			Simon Bedford	8			Jamie Burnett	10
	Jamie Jones	10			Robert Milkins	7			Andrew Higginson	10			Michael Judge	4
	Atthasit Mahitthi	9			Jamie Jones	10			Jamie Jones	8			Andrew Higginson	10
	Lewis Roberts	10			Paul Davies	10			Jimmy Michie	6			Jamie Cope	10
	Aditya Mehta	8			Lewis Roberts	7			Paul Davies	10			Paul Davies	5
	Kuldesh Johal	8			David Gray	8			Mike Dunn	10			Nigel Bond	10
	Jin Long	10			Jin Long	10			Jin Long	7			Mike Dunn	7
	Peter Lines	10			Mark Davis	10			Michael Holt	10			Dominic Dale	7
	Andy Lee	8			Peter Lines	6			Mark Davis	9			Michael Holt	10
	Paul Davison	5			Stuart Pettman	10			Alan McManus	10			Stuart Bingham	10
	Andrew Pagett	10			Andrew Pagett	3			Stuart Pettman	8			Alan McManus	6
	Rodney Goggins	10			Martin Gould	10			Dave Gilbert	8			Matthew Stevens	4
	Tony Knowles	4			Rodney Goggins	7			Martin Gould	10			Martin Gould	10

Century breaks

This is complete list of century breaks scored in both the qualifying and the televised stages.^[35]

Televised stage centuries

There were 83 century breaks in the televised stage of the World Championship, a new record beating 2002's and 2007's 68; this record was surpassed in 2015.^{[citation needed]}

Qualifying stage centuries

There were 69 century breaks in the qualifying stage of the World Championship:^{[citation needed]}