2008 World Snooker Championship

888.com World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	19 April–5 May 2008
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,050,000
Winner's share	£250,000
Highest break	Ronnie O'Sullivan (147) Ali Carter (147)
Final
Champion	Ronnie O'Sullivan
Runner-up	Ali Carter
Score	18–8
← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2008 888.com World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 19 April and 5 May 2008 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

John Higgins was the defending champion, but he lost in the second round 9–13 against Ryan Day.

Ronnie O'Sullivan won his third World title by defeating Ali Carter 18–8 in the final. It was O'Sullivan's 20th ranking title.^[1] The tournament was sponsored by online casino 888.com.

Tournament summary

First round

• Debutants at the Crucible this year were Jamie Cope,^[2] Liu Chuang^[3] and Liang Wenbo.^[4]
• The previous year's runner up Mark Selby was knocked out by qualifier Mark King 10–8.^[5]
• Matthew Stevens's 5–10 defeat to John Higgins was the first time he had ever lost in the first round.^[6] Matthew Stevens attempted a 147 after fluking a black in the middle pocket, but failed when the break ended on 112.^[7]
• Ding Junhui's 10–9 victory over Marco Fu was his first ever win at the Crucible.^[8]
• Ken Doherty's 5–10 defeat to qualifier Liang Wenbo caused him to drop out of the top 16 of the World Rankings for the first time since the 1992/93 season.^[9]
• Stephen Maguire took the first eight frames in the first session of his first round match against Anthony Hamilton. Hamilton then won the last frame of the session, thus avoiding a whitewash.^[10]

Second round

• Ryan Day reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the first time in his career by beating the defending champion John Higgins 13–9.^[11]
• Stephen Hendry reached the quarter-finals for the seventeenth time in his career.^[12]
• Liang Wenbo suffered embarrassment when he punched the air in premature celebration of a 13–10 victory over Swail, only for Swail to gain a snooker and take the frame. Swail recovered to level at 12–12, only to miss the brown while clearing the colours in the final frame and lose the match 13–12. The result meant that he would not be in the top 16 the following season. After the match Swail complained bitterly that in the final frame the referee had incorrectly replaced the cue ball after calling a miss, giving Liang an easier escape from a snooker, and accused Liang of unprofessional conduct for not pointing out the referee's mistake.^[13]
• Ronnie O'Sullivan scored a maximum break against Mark Williams in the final frame of their match, the ninth of his career in competitive competition, beating Stephen Hendry's record of eight. This was Ronnie's third at the Crucible.^[14]
• Following his loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams dropped out of the top 16 of the World Rankings after twelve seasons in it.^[15]
• Stephen Maguire repeated his first round feat by winning the first eight frames in the first session of his match against Neil Robertson.^[10]

Quarter-finals

• Ali Carter made the third maximum break of the year (seventh of the 2007/2008 season). This came just a day after Ronnie O'Sullivan's maximum, the first time there have been two 147 breaks in the main draw of the same ranking tournament. Peter Ebdon came very close to a maximum of his own just a frame earlier, but narrowly missed the fifteenth black. Just minutes before on the other table, Stephen Hendry was also attempting a maximum of his own but missed the fifteenth red.^[16]
• Stephen Hendry reached the 12th Crucible semi-final of his career.^[17]
• Liang Wenbo became the first player from mainland China to reach this stage.^[16]

Semi-finals

• Ronnie O'Sullivan whitewashed Stephen Hendry 8–0 in their second session, extending O'Sullivan's streak to eleven consecutive frames against the former seven-time world champion. With winning the opening frame of the third session, he extended the winning streak to 12 consecutive frames. At one point O'Sullivan scored 448 points without reply. This was the first time Hendry had lost every frame in a full session at the Crucible.^[18] O'Sullivan won the match 17–6 with a session to spare.^[19]
• Ali Carter reached his first ever ranking final by beating Joe Perry 17–15.^[20]

Final

• For the first time in the history of any snooker tournament, both finalists had compiled maximum breaks in earlier rounds.
• For the first time since 1991 that two Englishmen played in the final. In 1991 John Parrott defeated Jimmy White 18–11.^[21]
• Ronnie O'Sullivan became only the third player after Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry to win more than two World titles at the Crucible.^[21]
• The start of the final session was briefly interrupted by a streaker who ran onto the stage and then crawled under the snooker table.^[22]
• In post-match interviews, both players admitted to not having played particularly well, with O'Sullivan commenting "Ali and I are disappointed not to put on a better performance". Carter's performance was described as "jaded".^[23]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[10][24]

Winner: £250,000 Runner-up: £125,000 Semi-final: £52,000 Quarter-final: £22,000 Last 16: £14,000 Last 32: £10,600 Last 48: £7400 Last 64: £4500

Stage one highest break: £1000 Stage two highest break: £10,000 Stage one maximum break: £5000 Stage two maximum break: £147,000 Total: £1,050,000

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).^[10][25]

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 33 frames

19 April

John Higgins (1)

10

24, 25 & 26 April

Matthew Stevens

5

John Higgins (1)

9

20 & 21 April

Ryan Day (16)

13

Ryan Day (16)

10

29 & 30 April

Michael Judge

6

Ryan Day (16)

7

22 April

Stephen Hendry (8)

13

Ding Junhui (9)

10

25 & 26 April

Marco Fu

9

Ding Junhui (9)

7

20 & 21 April

Stephen Hendry (8)

13

Stephen Hendry (8)

10

1 & 2 May

Mark Allen

9

Stephen Hendry (8)

6

23 & 24 April

Ronnie O'Sullivan (5)

17

Ronnie O'Sullivan (5)

10

26, 27 & 28 April

Liu Chuang

5

Ronnie O'Sullivan (5)

13

21 & 22 April

Mark Williams (12)

7

Mark Williams (12)

10

29 & 30 April

Mark Davis

3

Ronnie O'Sullivan (5)

13

19 & 20 April

Liang Wenbo

7

Stephen Lee (13)

4

27 & 28 April

Joe Swail

10

Joe Swail

12

23 April

Liang Wenbo

13

Ken Doherty (4)

5

Liang Wenbo

10

22 & 23 April

Shaun Murphy (3)

10

25 & 26 April

Dave Harold

3

Shaun Murphy (3)

4

19 & 20 April

Ali Carter (14)

13

Ali Carter (14)

10

29 & 30 April

Barry Hawkins

9

Ali Carter (14)

13

21 & 22 April

Peter Ebdon (6)

9

Mark Selby (11)

8

24 & 25 April

Mark King

10

Mark King

9

19 & 20 April

Peter Ebdon (6)

13

Peter Ebdon (6)

10

1, 2 & 3 May

Jamie Cope

9

Ali Carter (14)

17

19 & 20 April

Joe Perry

15

Neil Robertson (7)

10

26, 27 & 28 April

Nigel Bond

4

Neil Robertson (7)

7

23 & 24 April

Stephen Maguire (10)

13

Stephen Maguire (10)

10

29 & 30 April

Anthony Hamilton

3

Stephen Maguire (10)

12

21 April

Joe Perry

13

Steve Davis (15)

8

27 & 28 April

Stuart Bingham

10

Stuart Bingham

9

22 & 23 April

Joe Perry

13

Graeme Dott (2)

7

Joe Perry

10

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 4 May & 5 May 2008. Referee: Jan Verhaas[26]
Ronnie O'Sullivan (5)  England	18–8	Ali Carter (14)  England
81–56, 127–0, 99–0, 0–104, 86–4, 62–76, 65–18, 73–0, 78–0, 36–60, 86–4, 28–93, 45–80, 123–0, 77–32, 110–5, 66–48, 74–0, 25–64, 85–0, 0–84, 58–42, 4–89, 68–39, 75–32, 62–16	2 century breaks: 1 (Carter) 1 (O'Sullivan) Highest break by O'Sullivan: 106 Highest break by Carter: 104	81–56, 127–0, 99–0, 0–104, 86–4, 62–76, 65–18, 73–0, 78–0, 36–60, 86–4, 28–93, 45–80, 123–0, 77–32, 110–5, 66–48, 74–0, 25–64, 85–0, 0–84, 58–42, 4–89, 68–39, 75–32, 62–16
Ronnie O'Sullivan wins the 2008 888.com World Snooker Championship

Preliminary qualifying

The preliminary qualifying rounds for the tournament took place at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales between 3 and 5 January 2008.^[10]

Round 1

Phil Seaton	5–2	Donald Newcombe

Round 2

Colin Mitchell	5–4	Phil Seaton
Les Dodd	1–5	David Singh
Adam Osbourne	0–5	Sean Storey
Tony Knowles	5–1	Ali Bassiri
Neil Selman	5–1	John Wilson
Ian Stark	5–4	Del Smith
Tony Brown	5–1	Christopher Flight
Stephen Ormerod	w/o–w/d	Paul Wykes

Round 3

Colin Mitchell	5–3	David Singh
Sean Storey	5–0	Tony Knowles
Neil Selman	4–5	Ian Stark
Tony Brown	3–5	Stephen Ormerod

Qualifying

The qualifying rounds 1–4 for the tournament that place at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales between 6 and 11 January 2008. The final round of qualifying took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield between 7 and 10 March.^[10]

Round 1

Patrick Wallace	10–1	Sean Storey
Jimmy Robertson	10–5	Stephen Ormerod
Rodney Goggins	10–4	Ian Stark
Liu Chuang	10–0	Colin Mitchell

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
	Alex Davies	10		Ian Preece	10		Adrian Gunnell	10		Stuart Bingham	10
	Steve Mifsud	2		Alex Davies	9		Ian Preece	9		Adrian Gunnell	3
	Mark Joyce	10		Jimmy Michie	10		Michael Judge	10		Michael Holt	6
	Patrick Wallace	8		Mark Joyce	4		Jimmy Michie	6		Michael Judge	10
	James McBain	10		Marcus Campbell	9		Fergal O'Brien	10		Jamie Cope	10
	Kevin Van Hove	2		James McBain	10		James McBain	4		Fergal O'Brien	5
	Tian Pengfei	10		Mike Dunn	10		Andrew Norman	2		Dave Harold	10
	Ashley Wright	4		Tian Pengfei	2		Mike Dunn	10		Mike Dunn	4
	Munraj Pal	8		David Roe	10		Andy Hicks	10		Barry Hawkins	10
	Xiao Guodong	10		Xiao Guodong	5		David Roe	5		Andy Hicks	8
	Matthew Selt	10		Jimmy White	10		A Higginson	7		Mark King	10
	Fraser Patrick	6		Matthew Selt	4		Jimmy White	10		Jimmy White	3
	Liu Song	10		Scott MacKenzie	10		James Wattana	8		Anthony Hamilton	10
	Jimmy Robertson	6		Liu Song	5		Scott MacKenzie	10		Scott MacKenzie	2
	Kurt Maflin	9		Paul Davies	8		John Parrott	10		Joe Perry	10
	Gareth Coppack	10		Gareth Coppack	10		Gareth Coppack	3		John Parrott	8
	Shailesh Jogia	4		Barry Pinches	10		Robert Milkins	4		Nigel Bond	10
	Michael White	10		Michael White	4		Barry Pinches	10		Barry Pinches	7
	Lee Spick	9		Judd Trump	10		Jamie Burnett	2		Joe Swail	10
	Rodney Goggins	10		Rodney Goggins	4		Judd Trump	10		Judd Trump	9
	Jamie O'Neill	8		Stuart Pettman	4		Rory McLeod	10		Matthew Stevens	10
	Martin Gould	10		Martin Gould	10		Martin Gould	8		Rory McLeod	5
	Liang Wenbo	10		Rod Lawler	6		David Gilbert	3		Ian McCulloch	5
	Ben Woollaston	3		Liang Wenbo	10		Liang Wenbo	10		Liang Wenbo	10
	Lee Walker	9		Joe Delaney	5		David Gray	5		Dominic Dale	9
	Liu Chuang	10		Liu Chuang	10		Liu Chuang	10		Liu Chuang	10
	Leo Fernandez	10		Drew Henry	2		Mark Davis	10		Gerard Greene	2
	Alfred Burden	4		Leo Fernandez	10		Leo Fernandez	9		Mark Davis	10
	David Morris	9		Robin Hull			Alan McManus	10		Marco Fu	10
	Supoj Saenla	10		Supoj Saenla	W/O		Supoj Saenla	2		Alan McManus	3
	Tony Drago	9		Tom Ford	5		Ricky Walden	10		Mark Allen	10
	I Kachaiwong	10		I Kachaiwong	10		I Kachaiwong	4		Ricky Walden	8

Century breaks

^[10]

Qualifying stage centuries

139, 113, 103 Patrick Wallace 138 Leo Fernandez 138 Gerard Greene 137 Mark Davis 136, 112, 105, 101 Liang Wenbo 135 Rod Lawler 132, 110 Dominic Dale 132, 103 Andy Hicks 129, 100 Alex Davies 127 Xiao Guodong 126 Robert Milkins 123, 107 Matthew Stevens 122 Rory McLeod 119 Adrian Gunnell 118 Michael White 116 Marco Fu 112 Jamie Burnett

112 Fergal O'Brien 110 Tom Ford 109 Michael Judge 109 Ian McCulloch 109 Steve Mifsud 109 Munraj Pal 108 Liu Chuang 106 David Roe 105 Marcus Campbell 104 Mark Allen 104 Tian Pengfei 103 Jamie O'Neill 102, 101, 100 Ian Preece 101 James McBain 101 Joe Perry 101 Jimmy White 100 Anthony Hamilton

Televised stage centuries

The highest break received a prize of £10,000, and a 147 break received a prize of £147,000 – a total of £157,000. This prize was shared, as two players made a 147, thus winning £78,500 each. In total there were 63 century breaks made at this year's world championships.

147, 140, 138, 135, 133, 126, 123, 109, 106, 102, 102, 100 Ronnie O'Sullivan 147, 128, 128, 106, 104, 100 Ali Carter 143, 113, 109, 103 Peter Ebdon 140, 124, 112, 112, 110 Stephen Hendry 137 Stuart Bingham 133, 105 Joe Swail 132, 127, 121, 110, 104, 102 Joe Perry 131, 118, 112, 110, 100 Stephen Maguire 126, 101 Jamie Cope 126 Graeme Dott 125 Nigel Bond 123, 104 Liang Wenbo

121, 116, 112 Mark King 120, 103 John Higgins 114, 113 Ding Junhui 112 Matthew Stevens 108 Mark Selby 104 Ryan Day 104 Michael Judge 103, 100 Marco Fu 102 Mark Allen 102 Anthony Hamilton 102 Shaun Murphy

References

1. "O'Sullivan completes world hat-trick". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 8 May 2008. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
2. "Higgins shrugs off early nerves to thwart Stevens' fightback". The Independent on Sunday on HighBeam Research. Retrieved 20 November 2012. (subscription required)
3. "End Of The World For White". Global Snooker. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
4. "Liang stuns Doherty; Liu hangs on". China Internet Information Center. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
5. Roopanarine, Les (22 April 2008). "King reigns supreme as Selby makes early exit". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
6. Casey, Phil. "Higgins wary of Stevens threat". Sporting Life. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
7. King, John (20 April 2008). "Red has Matt feeling blue". Sunday Mirror on FindArticles. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
8. "Ding Junhui". betfred.com. Betfred. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
9. Everton, Clive (24 April 2008). "Liang downs off-form Doherty". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
10. "World Snooker Championship 2008". Global Snooker. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
11. Yates, Phil (27 April 2008). "Cut of the cloth leaves Higgins out and angry". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
12. Yates, Phil (28 April 2008). "Steady approach gets Stephen Hendry to last eight". The Times. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
13. "Liang edges out Swail in classic". BBC Sport. 28 April 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
14. Everton, Clive (28 April 2008). "O'Sullivan hits maximum to complete win". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
15. "World Rankings 2008/2009". Snooker.org. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
16. Everton, Clive (30 April 2008). "Carter's 'pure adrenaline rush' takes him to a maximum". London: guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
17. "O'Sullivan joins Carter, Perry and Hendry in semi-finals". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
18. "O'Sullivan sends Hendry reeling". London: guardian.co.uk. 2 May 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
19. Humphries, Adrian. "Brilliant Rocket 7-1 to win with a session to spare". Racing Post on TheFreeLibrary.com. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
20. "Carter reaches first snooker World Championship final after epic victory over Perry". London: Mail Online. 4 May 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
21. Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
22. Eagle, Jenny (6 May 2008). "Streaker's 'on the ball'". London: The Sun. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
23. "O'Sullivan wins third world title". BBC Sport. 5 May 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
24. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
25. "888.Com World Championship 2008". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
26. Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.

External links

• Video of O'Sullivan's 147