2007 World Snooker Championship

888.com 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	Ali Carter (144)
Final
Champion	John Higgins
Runner-up	Mark Selby
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. The event began on 21 April and ran until 7 May 2007 (with the final continuing into the early hours of 8 May) at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

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

• Before the tournament began Ronnie O'Sullivan alleged that the WPBSA draw had been fixed,^[1] after having been drawn in the first round against Ding Junhui, considered by bookmakers to be among the favourites for the title,^[1][2] and noting that he had drawn European Open and UK Champion, Stephen Maguire, in both 2004 and 2005.^[1] O'Sullivan later withdrew the accusation,^[3] and made no formal complaint to the WPBSA, who maintain that the draw was genuine.^[1]
• Defending champion Graeme Dott fell to the Crucible curse and became the 14th first-time champion who could not defend his title, as he lost in the first round by 7 frames to 10 against Ian McCulloch.^[4]
• In the first round battle of the champions, John Parrott beat Steve Davis by 10 frames to 9.^[5]
• Shaun Murphy came back from 7–12 down to win his quarter-final match against Matthew Stevens, a feat never before accomplished in a best of 25 frame match.^[6]
• During his semi-final match, John Higgins compiled the Crucible's 1,000th century break in frame 29.^[7][8]
• The final had the latest finish in history, with the conclusion of the 31st and final frame coming at 00:54 am BST, just two minutes later than in 2006.^[9]
• John Higgins' second title came nine years after his first, the longest gap between wins since his namesake Alex Higgins. It is the longest gap between wins at the Crucible.^[10]
• This year's tournament saw the debut of future world number one Judd Trump.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[11][12]

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.^{[11][13][14][15][16]}

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

Graeme Dott (1)

7

26, 27 & 28 April

Ian McCulloch

10

Ian McCulloch

8

21 & 22 April

Anthony Hamilton (16)

13

Anthony Hamilton (16)

10

1 & 2 May

Marco Fu

3

Anthony Hamilton (16)

7

23 & 24 April

Stephen Maguire (9)

13

Stephen Maguire (9)

10

27 & 28 April

Joe Perry

3

Stephen Maguire (9)

13

24 April

Joe Swail

8

Mark Williams (8)

9

3, 4 & 5 May

Joe Swail

10

Stephen Maguire (9)

15

25 & 26 April

John Higgins (5)

17

John Higgins (5)

10

28, 29 & 30 April

Michael Holt

4

John Higgins (5)

13

22 & 23 April

Fergal O'Brien

4

Barry Hawkins (12)

9

1 & 2 May

Fergal O'Brien

10

John Higgins (5)

13

25 April

Ronnie O'Sullivan (4)

9

Neil Robertson (13)

10

29 & 30 April

Ryan Day

5

Neil Robertson (13)

10

22 & 23 April

Ronnie O'Sullivan (4)

13

Ronnie O'Sullivan (4)

10

Ding Junhui

2

23 & 24 April

Ken Doherty (3)

7

27 & 28 April

Mark Allen

10

Mark Allen

9

21 & 22 April

Matthew Stevens (14)

13

Matthew Stevens (14)

10

1 & 2 May

Joe Delaney

2

Matthew Stevens (14)

12

21 & 22 April

Shaun Murphy (6)

13

Steve Davis (11)

9

26 & 27 April

John Parrott

10

John Parrott

8

23 April

Shaun Murphy (6)

13

Shaun Murphy (6)

10

3, 4 & 5 May

Judd Trump

6

Shaun Murphy (6)

16

21 & 22 April

Mark Selby

17

Peter Ebdon (7)

10

29 & 30 April

Nigel Bond

7

Peter Ebdon (7)

8

24 & 25 April

Mark Selby

13

Stephen Lee (10)

7

1 & 2 May

Mark Selby

10

Mark Selby

13

25 & 26 April

Ali Carter (15)

12

Ali Carter (15)

10

28, 29 & 30 April

Andy Hicks

4

Ali Carter (15)

13

24 & 25 April

Stephen Hendry (2)

6

Stephen Hendry (2)

10

David Gilbert

7

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 6 & 7 May 2007. Referee: Eirian Williams[17]
John Higgins (5)  Scotland	18–13	Mark Selby  England
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 Highest break by Selby: 116	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
John Higgins wins the 2007 888.com World Snooker Championship

Preliminary qualifying

The preliminary qualifying rounds for the tournament took place in Pontin's Prestatyn, Wales.^[11][18]

Round 1

Bradley Jones	5–0	Neil Selman
Del Smith	5–4	Tony Knowles

Round 2

Bradley Jones	5–0	Stephen Ormerod
Les Dodd	w/o-w/d	David Singh
Ali Bassiri	0–5	Phil Seaton
Del Smith	5–0	Barry Stark

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.^[11][18]

Round 1

Issara Kachaiwong	8–10	Bradley Jones
Roy Stolk	10–7	Phil Seaton
Ben Woollaston	10–3	Del Smith
James Leadbetter	10–8	Les Dodd

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
	Alfie Burden	10		David Gilbert	10		Gerard Greene	6		Mark King	6
	Robert Stephen	9		Alfie Burden	9		David Gilbert	10		David Gilbert	10
	Liu Song	10		Tony Drago	9		Adrian Gunnell	10		Michael Holt	10
	Dene O'Kane	3		Liu Song	10		Liu Song	8		Adrian Gunnell	7
	Judd Trump	10		Shokat Ali	7		Jamie Cope	7		James Wattana	5
	Bradley Jones	8		Judd Trump	10		Judd Trump	10		Judd Trump	10
	Tian Pengfei	10		Joe Jogia	10		Drew Henry	10		Joe Perry	10
	Roy Stolk	2		Tian Pengfei	4		Joe Jogia	7		Drew Henry	5
	Mark Joyce	10		Robin Hull	w/d		Fergal O'Brien	10		Stuart Bingham	5
	Mohammed Shehab	6		Mark Joyce	w/o		Mark Joyce	4		Fergal O'Brien	10
	Paul Wykes	3		Rory McLeod	10		Tom Ford	8		Andy Hicks	10
	Alex Borg	10		Alex Borg	6		Rory McLeod	10		Rory McLeod	4
	Lee Page	10		Paul Davies	10		Michael Judge	10		Marco Fu	10
	Dermot McGlinchey	1		Lee Page	1		Paul Davies	5		Michael Judge	9
	Matthew Couch	10		Jimmy Michie	10		Mark Davis	10		Ding Junhui	10
	Jamie Jones	5		Matthew Couch	4		Jimmy Michie	2		Mark Davis	6
	Ian Preece	10		Joe Delaney	10		Barry Pinches	9		Alan McManus	9
	Ben Woollaston	8		Ian Preece	7		Joe Delaney	10		Joe Delaney	10
	Liang Wenbo	10		Mike Dunn	10		Dave Harold	10		Joe Swail	10
	Jeff Cundy	5		Liang Wenbo	3		Mike Dunn	3		Dave Harold	9
	Paul Davison	10		Jamie Burnett	10		Jimmy White	4		Nigel Bond	10
	Peter Lines	8		Paul Davison	5		Jamie Burnett	10		Jamie Burnett	6
	Passakorn Suwannawat	10		David Roe	8		Marcus Campbell	10		Ryan Day	10
	Patrick Einsle	4		Passakorn Suwannawat	10		Passakorn Suwannawat	9		Marcus Campbell	5
	Chris Melling	6		Andrew Norman	10		Dominic Dale	10		Ian McCulloch	10
	David Morris	10		David Morris	8		Andrew Norman	8		Dominic Dale	4
	Lee Spick	10		Mark Allen	10		Rod Lawler	5		Robert Milkins	4
	Sean Storey	4		Lee Spick	5		Mark Allen	10		Mark Allen	10
	Chris Norbury	9		Stuart Pettman	3		John Parrott	10		David Gray	7
	James Leadbetter	10		James Leadbetter	10		James Leadbetter	7		John Parrott	10
	Andrew Higginson	10		Scott MacKenzie	6		Ricky Walden	10		Mark Selby	10
	Mark Boyle	4		Andrew Higginson	10		Andrew Higginson	9		Ricky Walden	6

Century breaks

Qualifying stage centuries

^[11]

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.^[19][20]

References