2002 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	20 April–6 May 2002
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,615,770
Winner's share	£260,000
Highest break	Matthew Stevens (145)
Final
Champion	Peter Ebdon
Runner-up	Stephen Hendry
Score	18–17
← 2001 2003 →

The 2002 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2002 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 20 April and 6 May 2002 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, but he lost in the semi-finals 13 frames to 17 against Stephen Hendry and became another first time champion who fell to the Crucible curse and could not defend his first World title.

Peter Ebdon won his first world title by defeating seven-time World Champion Hendry 18–17 in the final. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• Stuart Bingham narrowly missed out on a maximum break during his first-round match against Ken Doherty, making it to the final pink.^[1]
• Stephen Hendry reached his record ninth World Championship final and beat the eight set by Steve Davis in the 1980s. Hendry also took the record for century breaks in a world championship, as his 16 bettered John Higgins's total of 14 in 1998.^[2]
• This was Hendry's last appearance in a World final and effectively signalled the start of his decline as major force in the game.
• Davis himself failed to qualify for the Championship for the second year in a row, losing to Finland's Robin Hull 8–10 at Newport.^[3]
• John Williams refereed his tenth World final. He retired from the game soon afterwards.^[4]
• Ebdon's victory made him the first man to win both his semi-final and final in deciding frames. Ebdon also required a snooker to stay in his semi-final match against Matthew Stevens.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[5][6]

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).^[5][7][8]

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 33 frames

20 April[9]

Ronnie O'Sullivan (1)

10

25 & 26 April[10]

Drew Henry

5

Ronnie O'Sullivan (1)

13

24 April[11]

Robert Milkins

2

Fergal O'Brien (16)

8

30 April & 1 May[12]

Robert Milkins

10

Ronnie O'Sullivan (1)

13

23 April[13]

Stephen Lee (8)

10

Paul Hunter (9)

9

28 & 29 April[14]

Quinten Hann

10

Quinten Hann

3

22 & 23 April[15]

Stephen Lee (8)

13

Stephen Lee (8)

10

2, 3 & 4 May[16]

Chris Small

7

Ronnie O'Sullivan (1)

13

21 & 22 April[17]

Stephen Hendry (5)

17

Stephen Hendry (5)

10

27 & 28 April[18]

Shaun Murphy

4

Stephen Hendry (5)

13

24 & 25 April[19]

Anthony Davies

3

Alan McManus (12)

7

30 April & 1 May[20]

Anthony Davies

10

Stephen Hendry (5)

13

20 & 21 April[21]

Ken Doherty (4)

12

Mark King (13)

10

26 & 27 April[22]

David Gray

5

Mark King (13)

12

21 & 22 April[23]

Ken Doherty (4)

13

Ken Doherty (4)

10

Stuart Bingham

8

24 & 25 April[24]

John Higgins (3)

10

28 & 29 April[25]

James Wattana

1

John Higgins (3)

13

20 & 21 April[26]

Graeme Dott (14)

2

Graeme Dott (14)

10

30 April & 1 May[27]

Robin Hull

6

John Higgins (3)

7

22 & 23 April[28]

Matthew Stevens (6)

13

Jimmy White (11)

10

25 & 26 April[29]

Dominic Dale

2

Jimmy White (11)

3

20 & 21 April[30]

Matthew Stevens (6)

13

Matthew Stevens (6)

10

2, 3 & 4 May[31]

Mike Dunn

6

Matthew Stevens (6)

16

22 April[32]

Peter Ebdon (7)

17

Peter Ebdon (7)

10

26 & 27 April[33]

Michael Judge

4

Peter Ebdon (7)

13

20 & 21 April[34]

Joe Perry

7

Joe Swail (10)

6

30 April & 1 May[35]

Joe Perry

10

Peter Ebdon (7)

13

23 & 24 April[36]

Anthony Hamilton

6

Dave Harold (15)

6

27, 28 & 29 April[37]

Anthony Hamilton

10

Anthony Hamilton

13

23 & 24 April[38]

Mark Williams (2)

9

Mark Williams (2)

10

John Parrott

7

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. 5 & 6 May.[39] Referee: John Williams.[40]
Stephen Hendry (5)  Scotland	17–18	Peter Ebdon (7)  England
0–94, 0–140, 13–73, 16–71, 126–0, 73–40, 119–4, 65–36, 0–134, 67–56, 9–68, 68–70, 14–77, 13–69, 70–4, 33–89, 32–69, 126–0, 108–0, 66–21, 89–36, 43–67, 110–0, 97–0, 127–1, 65–58, 22–103, 26–62, 74–30, 21–73, 0–111, 78–39, 4–85, 62–52, 14–72	Century breaks: 8 (Hendry 4, Ebdon 4) Highest break by Hendry: 126 Highest break by Ebdon: 134	0–94, 0–140, 13–73, 16–71, 126–0, 73–40, 119–4, 65–36, 0–134, 67–56, 9–68, 68–70, 14–77, 13–69, 70–4, 33–89, 32–69, 126–0, 108–0, 66–21, 89–36, 43–67, 110–0, 97–0, 127–1, 65–58, 22–103, 26–62, 74–30, 21–73, 0–111, 78–39, 4–85, 62–52, 14–72
Peter Ebdon wins the 2002 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were 68 century breaks in this World Championship, a record which was equalled in 2007 and superseded in 2009.^[41][42] The highest break of the tournament was 145, made by Matthew Stevens during his quarter-final match against Higgins.^[5] This was just the second time that the highest break of the tournament was 145, after Doug Mountjoy's in 1981.^[41] Hendry made 16 century breaks during the tournament, the record for most centuries at a ranking event.^[2][43]

References