1999 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	17 April–3 May 1999
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,400,000
Winner's share	£230,000
Highest break	John Higgins (142)
Final
Champion	Stephen Hendry
Runner-up	Mark Williams
Score	18–11
← 1998 2000 →

The 1999 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1999 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 April–3 May 1999 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

John Higgins was the defending champion, but he lost in the semi-finals 10–17 against Mark Williams and became another World Champion who fell to the Crucible curse and could not defend his first World title.

Stephen Hendry won his seventh and final World title by defeating Mark Williams in the final by 18 frames to 11.^[1] The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• Stephen Hendry won the world title for a seventh time, a record in the modern era, beating Ray Reardon and Steve Davis' six titles. Hendry won all his titles in the 1990s while Davis won his six in the 1980s and Reardon won his in the 1970s.^[2]
• During his first round match, Steve James compiled the 500th century break at the Crucible in frame seven.^[3]
• Ronnie O'Sullivan came close to a maximum break in his semi-final match with Hendry. He missed the last pink to the middle pocket and his break ended at 134.^[4]
• O'Sullivan and Hendry made the most century breaks in a single match at the World Championship with eight.^[5]
• Dominic Dale scored 167 points in one frame in his match against Nigel Bond. He earned 44 penalty points and then made a century break. This is the highest number of points ever scored by a player in one frame in any ranking event.^[6]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[7][8][9]

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).^{[7][8][10][11]}

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

John Higgins (1)

10

22, 23 & 24 April

Gerard Greene

2

John Higgins (1)

13

19 & 20 April

Mark King (16)

4

Mark King (16)

10

27 & 28 April

Darren Morgan

8

John Higgins (1)

13

21 & 22 April

Stephen Lee (9)

6

Stephen Lee (9)

10

25 & 26 April

John Lardner

7

Stephen Lee (9)

13

21 April

Alan McManus (8)

7

Alan McManus (8)

10

29, 30 April & 1 May

Jimmy White

7

John Higgins (1)

10

20 April

Mark Williams (5)

17

Mark Williams (5)

10

24, 25 & 26 April

Ian McCulloch

4

Mark Williams (5)

13

18 & 19 April

Nick Walker

7

Alain Robidoux (12)

6

27 & 28 April

Nick Walker

10

Mark Williams (5)

13

17 & 18 April

Ken Doherty (4)

9

Nigel Bond (13)

10

23 & 24 April

Dominic Dale

6

Nigel Bond (13)

11

18 & 19 April

Ken Doherty (4)

13

Ken Doherty (4)

10

Steve James

3

21 & 22 April

Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)

10

24, 25 & 26 April

Leo Fernandez

3

Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)

13

20 & 21 April

Joe Perry

8

Steve Davis (14)

9

27 & 28 April

Joe Perry

10

Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)

13

17 & 18 April

John Parrott (6)

9

Anthony Hamilton (11)

9

22 & 23 April

Chris Small

10

Chris Small

12

17 & 18 April

John Parrott (6)

13

John Parrott (6)

10

29, 30 April & 1 May

Terry Murphy

8

Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)

13

19 April

Stephen Hendry (2)

17

Peter Ebdon (7)

7

23 & 24 April

Matthew Stevens

10

Matthew Stevens

13

17 & 18 April

Tony Drago (10)

8

Tony Drago (10)

10

27 & 28 April

Fergal O'Brien

4

Matthew Stevens

5

19 & 20 April

Stephen Hendry (2)

13

James Wattana (15)

10

25 & 26 April

Marco Fu

8

James Wattana (15)

7

20 & 21 April

Stephen Hendry (2)

13

Stephen Hendry (2)

10

Paul Hunter

8

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 2 & 3 May 1999. Referee: Colin Brinded[12]
Mark Williams (5)  Wales	11–18	Stephen Hendry (2)  Scotland
47–82, 6–120, 16–51, 60–77, 75–0, 16–101, 73–16, 92–24, 24–77, 15–76, 65–20, 4–133, 75–49, 67–30, 22–64, 23–100, 85–51, 72–32, 0–78, 84–29, 10–106, 13–71, 62–75, 48–60, 45–72, 19–71, 89–0, 73–67, 40–88	Century breaks: 2 (Hendry 2) Highest break by Williams: 89 Highest break by Hendry: 132	47–82, 6–120, 16–51, 60–77, 75–0, 16–101, 73–16, 92–24, 24–77, 15–76, 65–20, 4–133, 75–49, 67–30, 22–64, 23–100, 85–51, 72–32, 0–78, 84–29, 10–106, 13–71, 62–75, 48–60, 45–72, 19–71, 89–0, 73–67, 40–88
Stephen Hendry wins the 1999 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were 53 century breaks in the championship.^[13] The highest break was 142 made by John Higgins and 143 made by both Stephen Maguire and Barry Pinches at the televised and the qualifying stages respectively.^[7]

References