2010 World Snooker Championship

Betfred.com
World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	17 April – 3 May 2010
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,111,000
Winner's share	£250,000
Highest break	Graeme Dott (146) Mark Allen (146)
Final
Champion	Neil Robertson
Runner-up	Graeme Dott
Score	18–13
← 2009 2011 →

The 2010 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2010 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 April and 4 May 2010 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

John Higgins, who entered the tournament as the defending champion, lost in the second round 11–13 against Steve Davis.

In the semi-finals, Neil Robertson defeated Ali Carter 17–12 and Graeme Dott beat Mark Selby 17–14. Robertson won the final 18–13, becoming the first Australian in the modern era to win the title. Ivan Speck of the Daily Mail said that if "it not been the world championship final, it would have been unwatchable", further expanding that "it was unbearable".^[1] The tournament was sponsored by online casino Betfred.com.

Tournament summary

First round

• Debutants at the Crucible were Tom Ford^[2] and Zhang Anda.^[3] It was also the first time that Zhang has qualified for the main event of any ranking event. Ford played against Mark Allen and Zhang against Stephen Hendry, losing 4–10 and 9–10 respectively.
• Leo Scullion refereed at the Crucible for the first time in his career.^[4]
• Steve Davis qualified for the World Championship for a record 30th time, spanning over five different decades since his first appearance in 1979.^[5] He defeated Mark King 10–9 in the first round, making him the oldest man since Eddie Charlton in 1989 to win a match at the Crucible.^[6]
• Four out of the sixteen seeded players lost their first-round matches. Mark King lost 9–10 against Steve Davis, Marco Fu lost 9–10 against Martin Gould, Peter Ebdon lost 5–10 against Graeme Dott and Ryan Day lost 8–10 against Mark Davis.

Second round

• Steve Davis defeated defending champion John Higgins 13–11. With this he reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the first time since 2005, and became the oldest player to reach the quarter-finals since Eddie Charlton in 1983.^[7]
• In the same match Higgins made his 100th century break at the Crucible, becoming only the second player after Stephen Hendry to reach this milestone. It was a break of 115 and it came in the 18th frame of the match.^[8]
• Meanwhile, Neil Robertson came back from 0–6 and 5–11 to defeat Martin Gould 13–12.^[9]
• Mark Allen made the first 146 break in the history of the Crucible during his match against Mark Davis.^[10]

25th anniversary rematch of the 1985 final

• Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor played a one-frame exhibition match on 29 April, marking the 25th anniversary of the 1985 World Championship final which saw Taylor defeat Davis 18–17 on the final black.^[11]
• In the re-creation, all but one of their attempts to recreate missed shots on black failed, which means the black was potted on each occasion and Taylor's attempt to recreate the frame-winning ball also went wrong.^[12]

Semi-finals

• Robertson defeated Ali Carter 17–12, becoming the first overseas player since Cliff Thorburn in 1983 and the first Australian since Eddie Charlton in 1975 to reach the final of the World Championship, and the first Australian finalist at the Crucible.^[13][14]
• Graeme Dott beat Mark Selby 17–14, to reach his third final after also doing so in 2004 and 2006.^[15]

Final

• Before the start of the final it was announced that provisional world No. 1 John Higgins had been suspended by the WPBSA following a News of the World story alleging that he had agreed to lose frames in future tournaments in return for money.^{[16][17][18][19]}
• The final was between Scot Graeme Dott and Australian Neil Robertson, marking the first time since 2003 that no English player appeared in the final.^[15]
• Robertson won the title, having defeated only one top sixteen player during the tournament. In the first round he beat Fergal O'Brien (No. 31), in the second round Martin Gould (No. 46), in the quarter-final Steve Davis (No. 23) and in the final he beat Graeme Dott (No. 28). Robertson's only match with a top-sixteen player was in the semi-finals, where he beat Ali Carter (No. 5) decisively.
• Robertson became the first Australian to win the title in the modern era, and only the second after Horace Lindrum, who won the controversial 1952 championship.^[20] Robertson also became the first player from outside Britain and Ireland to win the title since Cliff Thorburn in 1980 and the first non-British player to win the title since Ken Doherty in 1997.^[21]
• Robertson hoped his win would help lift the low profile of snooker in his home country,^[22] a prospect supported by a number of local sports promoters.^[23]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[24][25]

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).^[26][27][28] The draw for the televised stage of the World Championship was made on Thursday, 11 March at 11 am BST.^[29]

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 33 frames

17 April[30]

John Higgins (1)

10

22, 23 & 24 April[31]

Barry Hawkins

6

John Higgins (1)

11

19 & 20 April[32]

Steve Davis

13

Mark King (16)

9

27 & 28 April[33]

Steve Davis

10

Steve Davis

5

20 & 21 April[34]

Neil Robertson (9)

13

Neil Robertson (9)

10

23 & 24 April[35]

Fergal O'Brien

5

Neil Robertson (9)

13

18 & 19 April[36]

Martin Gould

12

Marco Fu (8)

9

29, 30 April & 1 May[37]

Martin Gould

10

Neil Robertson (9)

17

18 & 19 April[38]

Ali Carter (5)

12

Ali Carter (5)

10

24, 25 & 26 April[39]

Jamie Cope

4

Ali Carter (5)

13

17 & 18 April[40]

Joe Perry (12)

11

Joe Perry (12)

10

27 & 28 April[41]

Michael Holt

4

Ali Carter (5)

13

20 & 21 April[42]

Shaun Murphy (4)

12

Ding Junhui (13)

10

25 & 26 April[43]

Stuart Pettman

1

Ding Junhui (13)

10

21 & 22 April[44]

Shaun Murphy (4)

13

Shaun Murphy (4)

10

Gerard Greene

7

21 & 22 April[45]

Stephen Maguire (3)

10

23 & 24 April[46]

Stephen Lee

4

Stephen Maguire (3)

6

20 & 21 April[47]

Graeme Dott

13

Peter Ebdon (14)

5

27 & 28 April[48]

Graeme Dott

10

Graeme Dott

13

17 & 18 April[49]

Mark Allen (11)

12

Mark Allen (11)

10

22 & 23 April[50]

Tom Ford

4

Mark Allen (11)

13

20 & 21 April[51]

Mark Davis

5

Ryan Day (6)

8

29, 30 April & 1 May[52]

Mark Davis

10

Graeme Dott

17

17 & 18 April[53]

Mark Selby (7)

14

Mark Selby (7)

10

25 & 26 April[54]

Ken Doherty

4

Mark Selby (7)

13

17 & 18 April[55]

Stephen Hendry (10)

5

Stephen Hendry (10)

10

27 & 28 April[56]

Zhang Anda

9

Mark Selby (7)

13

19 April[57]

Ronnie O'Sullivan (2)

11

Mark Williams (15)

10

24, 25 & 26 April[58]

Marcus Campbell

5

Mark Williams (15)

10

19 & 20 April[59]

Ronnie O'Sullivan (2)

13

Ronnie O'Sullivan (2)

10

Liang Wenbo

7

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 2 & 3 May 2010.[60][61] Referee: Eirian Williams.[62]
Neil Robertson (9)  Australia	18–13	Graeme Dott  Scotland
10–87, 65–55, 1–93, 35–62, 68–56, 62–56, 24–73, 47–74, 66–5, 90–6, 79–72, 79–53, 52–11, 4–71, 27–70, 113–23, 23–87, 69–56, 82–1, 31–66, 89–12, 2–116, 12–81, 116–13, 36–72, 69–15, 63–49, 53–78, 74–23, 58–10, 94–1	Century breaks: 1 (Dott) Highest break by Robertson: 90 Highest break by Dott: 112	10–87, 65–55, 1–93, 35–62, 68–56, 62–56, 24–73, 47–74, 66–5, 90–6, 79–72, 79–53, 52–11, 4–71, 27–70, 113–23, 23–87, 69–56, 82–1, 31–66, 89–12, 2–116, 12–81, 116–13, 36–72, 69–15, 63–49, 53–78, 74–23, 58–10, 94–1
Neil Robertson wins the 2010 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship

Preliminary qualifying

The preliminary qualifying rounds for the tournament took place on 26 February 2010 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. (WPBSA members not on The Tour.)^[63][64][65]

Round 1

Les Dodd	5–0	Philip Minchin
Paul Wykes	5–1	David Taylor
David Singh	5–2	Colin Mitchell
Ali Bassiri	1–5	Neil Selman
Barry West	w/o–w/d	Christopher Flight
Del Smith	5–2	Phil Seaton
Bill Oliver	1–5	Nic Barrow
Stephen Ormerod	5–4	Paul Cavney

Round 2

Les Dodd	2–5	Paul Wykes
David Singh	5–3	Neil Selman
Barry West	1–5	Del Smith
Nic Barrow	5–0	Stephen Ormerod

Qualifying

The qualifying rounds 1–4 for the tournament took place between 27 February and 5 March 2010 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. The final round of qualifying took place between 7 and 9 March 2010 at the same venue.^[63][64][65]

Round 1

James Wattana	10–6	Paul Wykes
Michael White	10–4	David Singh
Jordan Brown	10–7	Del Smith
Brendan O'Donoghue	10–8	Nic Barrow

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
		Lee Page	6			Peter Lines	8			Marcus Campbell	10			Matthew Stevens	9
		James Wattana	10			James Wattana	10			James Wattana	5			Marcus Campbell	10
		Matthew Selt	10			Barry Pinches	10			Mark Davis	10			Dave Harold	7
		Thepchaiya Un-Nooh	8			Matthew Selt	8			Barry Pinches	7			Mark Davis	10
		Stephen Rowlings	6			Joe Delaney	10			Adrian Gunnell	10			Steve Davis	10
		Sam Baird	10			Sam Baird	0			Joe Delaney	7			Adrian Gunnell	4
		Lee Spick	8			Paul Davies	10			Alan McManus	10			Fergal O'Brien	10
		Joe Jogia	10			Joe Jogia	7			Paul Davies	9			Alan McManus	4
		Noppadol Sangnil	10			Rod Lawler	10			Dominic Dale	5			Liang Wenbo	10
		Michael White	9			Noppadol Sangnil	7			Rod Lawler	10			Rod Lawler	2
		Bjorn Haneveer	10			David Gilbert	6			Martin Gould	10			Nigel Bond	4
		Jordan Brown	9			Bjorn Haneveer	10			Bjorn Haneveer	8			Martin Gould	10
		Patrick Wallace	7			Jimmy White	10			Ken Doherty	10			Joe Swail	1
		Mark Boyle	10			Mark Boyle	8			Jimmy White	3			Ken Doherty	10
		Li Hang	9			Tom Ford	10			Anthony Hamilton	6			Judd Trump	3
		David Hogan	10			David Hogan	3			Tom Ford	10			Tom Ford	10
		Xiao Guodong	9			Liu Song	7			Ian McCulloch	10			Barry Hawkins	10
		Tony Drago	10			Tony Drago	10			Tony Drago	6			Ian McCulloch	7
		Chris Norbury	4			David Morris	10			Jamie Burnett	6			Michael Holt	10
		Mei Xiwen	10			Mei Xiwen	8			David Morris	10			David Morris	6
		Craig Steadman	4			John Parrott	6			Andrew Higginson	8			Ricky Walden	8
		Zhang Anda	10			Zhang Anda	10			Zhang Anda	10			Zhang Anda	10
		Matthew Couch	8			Jin Long	10			Rory McLeod	10			Gerard Greene	10
		Brendan O'Donoghue	10			Brendan O'Donoghue	6			Jin Long	3			Rory McLeod	9
		Ben Woollaston	10			David Roe	10			Stuart Pettman	10			Stuart Bingham	2
		Andrew Norman	5			Ben Woollaston	9			David Roe	6			Stuart Pettman	10
		Atthasit Mahitthi	4			Mark Joyce	10			Michael Judge	8			Jamie Cope	10
		Jimmy Robertson	10			Jimmy Robertson	9			Mark Joyce	10			Mark Joyce	5
		Simon Bedford	10			Robert Milkins	10			Mike Dunn	10			Stephen Lee	10
		Ian Preece	4			Simon Bedford	6			Robert Milkins	8			Mike Dunn	2
		Daniel Wells	7			Andy Hicks	7			Jimmy Michie	10			Graeme Dott	10
		David Gray	10			David Gray	10			David Gray	2			Jimmy Michie	5

Century breaks

^[66]

Qualifying stage centuries

There were 50 century breaks in the qualifying stage of the World Championship:

Televised stage centuries

There were 60 centuries in the televised stage of the World Championship.^[67]

References

External links

• Official YouTube Site's channel on YouTube
• Picture Perfect: Crucible Corner I at Pro Snooker Blog
• Picture Perfect: Crucible Corner II at Pro Snooker Blog
• Picture Perfect: Crucible Corner III at Pro Snooker Blog