 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 20 April – 6 May 2013 (2013-04-20 –2013-05-06) |
| Venue | Crucible Theatre |
| City | Sheffield |
| Country | England |
| Organisation | World Snooker |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £1,111,000 |
| Winner's share | £250,000 |
| Highest break |  Neil Robertson (AUS) (143) |
| Final | |
| Champion |  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) |
| Runner-up | Barry Hawkins (ENG) |
| Score | 18–12 |
←2012 2014 → | |
The2013 World Snooker Championship (officially the2013 Betfair World Snooker Championship) was a professionalsnooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2013 at theCrucible Theatre inSheffield, England. It was the 37th consecutive year the Crucible had hosted theWorld Snooker Championship; the 2013 event was the lastranking tournament of the2012–13 snooker season. Sports betting companyBetfair sponsored the event for the first time.
Despite having missed virtually the entire season, defending championRonnie O'Sullivan did not lose one session in the tournament and defeatedBarry Hawkins 18–12 in the final to become a five-time World Champion, joiningSteve Davis andStephen Hendry as the only players to have successfully defended their titles at the Crucible. O'Sullivan broke Hendry's record of 127 career centuries at the Crucible, finishing the tournament with 131, and also became the first player to make sixcentury breaks in a World Championship final. Of the 55 century breaks made during the event,Neil Robertson made the highestbreak, a 143, in his first-round loss toRobert Milkins.
TheWorld Snooker Championship is an annualcue sport tournament and the official professional world championship of the game ofsnooker.[1] Since 1977, theCrucible Theatre in Sheffield has hosted the event.[2] During the tournament, 32 professional players compete in one-on-one snooker matches in asingle elimination format, each of which is played over severalframes. The event's 32-player lineup is selected using thesnooker world rankings and a pre-tournament qualification round.[3][4] English playerRonnie O'Sullivan won theprevious year's championship by defeating fellow countrymanAli Carter in the final 18–11.[5] The winner of the 2013 event earned prize money of £250,000, from a pool of £1,111,000.[6] Sports betting companyBetfair sponsored the event for the first time in 2013.[7]
The 2013 World Snooker Championship was held between 20 April and 6 May 2013 inSheffield, England.[4] It was the last of 11 rankings events in the2012–13 snooker season on theWorld Snooker Tour.[8][9] The tournament featured a 32-player main draw that took place at the Crucible Theatre and a 92-player qualifying draw that was played on 6 and 11 April 2015 at theEnglish Institute of Sport.[10] This was the 45th successive world championship to be contested using the knockout format after reverting from a challenge match system in the 1960s.[4]
Ordinarily the top-16 players in the world rankings automatically qualified for the main draw asseeded players.[11] Despite not playing a competitive event since the last world championship, Ronnie O'Sullivan was seeded first overall as the defending champion; the remaining 15 seeds were allocated using the latest world rankings, which were released after theChina Open, the penultimate event of the season.[11] The number of frames needed to win a match increased with each round of the main draw, starting with best-of-19-frames matches in the first round and ending with the final, which was played as a best-of-35-frames match.[11][4]
The event had a prize fund of £1,111,000, of which the winner received £250,000. A breakdown of prize money for 2013 is shown below:[6]
The first round was played between 20 and 25 April 2013; matches were held as the best-of-19 frames over twosessions. PlayersJack Lisowski,Michael White,Ben Woollaston,Dechawat Poomjaeng,Matthew Selt andSam Baird made their debuts at the main stages of the event.[12][13][14] Poomjaeng was only the third player from Thailand, afterJames Wattana andTai Pichit, to reach the event.[15] Two of the debuting players progressed to the second round; Michael White advanced by defeating two-time championMark Williams 10–6,[16] while Dechawat Poomjaeng advanced by beatingStephen Maguire 10–9.[17]
Four Chinese players—a record for the event—had played in the 2012 competition butDing Junhui was the only Chinese player to appear in 2013.[18] Ding defeatedAlan McManus 10–5 to reach the second round.[18]Peter Ebdon was playing in his 22nd consecutive World Championship, equalling the number of consecutive appearances made bySteve Davis and putting him third for consecutive appearances behindStephen Hendry on 27 and O'Sullivan on 26.[19] In a repeat of the final ofthe 2006 event, Ebdon facedGraeme Dott;[20] the match overran and was played over three sessions. Dott was ahead 8–6 after the second session and eventually won 10–6.[20][21] The match lasted for more than seven hours; Ebdon had a high break of 37.[20] Dott criticised Ebdon for his perceived slow play and called for a rule to limit the time a player could spend over a shot.[22]
The ending of the match between defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan andMarcus Campbell was not aired on theBBC, which instead broadcast a repeat episode of the 1970s sitcomSome Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em. The match was also unavailable on theBBC Red Button service, leading to viewers expressing their anger on social networks. The CEO ofWorld SnookerBarry Hearn, apologised to fans on Twitter and wrote a formal letter of complaint to the BBC.[23] O'Sullivan won the match 10–4;[24] he had only played one competitive match in the minor-rankingPTC event since winning the title the year before.[25] O'Sullivan said he wanted to "take some time off" and had refused to sign the player's contract for the following season.[26]
Robert Milkins defeated the2010 championNeil Robertson 8–10.[27] Robertson made the highest break of the event—a 143 in frame six—and led 5–2 but Milkins tied the match at 8–8 before winning the next two frames.[27] In other matches, four-time championJohn Higgins lost 6–10 toMark Davis[28] whilst former finalistMatthew Stevens lost 7–10 to qualifierMarco Fu.[29]
The second round was played between 25 and 30 April as the best of 25 frames over three sessions.Shaun Murphy defeated Graeme Dott 13–11[30] after leading 6–2 after the first session.[31] Dott's elimination meant there were no Scottish players in the last eight for the first time since1988.[32] Michael White reached his first ranking event quarter-final by defeating Poomjaeng 13–3 after two of the three scheduled sessions.[33] In the fourth frame, Poomjaeng used thespider to bridge over theblue ball but missed ared ball on three occasions and forfeited the frame.[34]
O'Sullivan became the first defending champion since Murphy in2006 to reach the quarter-finals when he defeatedAli Carter, his opponent in the 2008 and 2012 World Championship finals, 13–8.[35]Ricky Walden, in his first world championship second-round appearance, defeatedRobert Milkins 13–11.[36] Milkins trailed 3–9 but recovered to 10–11 and 11–12 but Walden won the frame he needed for victory.[37]Barry Hawkins also reached his first Crucible quarter-final after defeating world number oneMark Selby 13–10.[38]
The quarter-finals were played on 30 April and 1 May as best-of-25 frames matches over three sessions. In his match againstStuart Bingham, O'Sullivan won 11 of the first 12 frames and won the match 13–4 in the first frame of the third session.[39]Judd Trump trailed 3–8 against Shaun Murphy but tied the score at 12–12 to force adeciding frame. The final frame lasted 53 minutes and was won by Trump.[40][41] Ricky Walden defeated Michael White 13–6 and Hawkins defeatedDing Junhui 13–7, eliminating the two remaining non-English competitors from the tournament.[29] Walden reached the semi-finals of the World Championship on his third attempt, despite not having previously won a match in his earlier appearances in the main stages of the event in2009 and2011.[42]
The semi-finals were played between 2 and 4 May 2013 over four sessions as the best-of-33 frames. This was the third semi-finals round in the modern history of snooker in which all of the players were English.[43] O'Sullivan played Judd Trump in the first semi-final; in the 23rd frame, O'Sullivan received a reprimand from refereeMichaela Tabb for allegedly making an obscene gesture with his cue. A World Snooker spokesman later stated eyewitnesses had also observed O'Sullivan making an inappropriate gesture but it was not captured on camera.[44] O'Sullivan defeated Trump 17–11[29] and became the first defending champion to reach the final sinceKen Doherty in1998.[45] In the other semi-final, Barry Hawkins trailed Ricky Walden 8–12 but won nine of the next eleven frames to win 17–14.[46][47]
The 2013 final between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Barry Hawkins was played on 5 and 6 May as the best-of-35 frames over four sessions and officiated byJan Verhaas.[48] O'Sullivan led 5–3 after the first session; Hawkins drew level at 7–7 but O'Sullivan won the last three frames of the day to take a 10–7 overnight lead.[49] O'Sullivan's break of 103 in the 15th frame was his 128thcentury break at the Crucible Theatre, breakingStephen Hendry's record of 127 Crucible centuries,[50] and he extended the record to 131 century breaks.[51] O'Sullivan won the third session by five frames to three to lead 15–10.[52] O'Sullivan went on to win the final 18–12 to take his fifth world title[53] and become the first defending champion to retain his title since Hendry in 1996[54] and the first player to score six century breaks in a world championship final.[53]
Eight century breaks were scored in the final, equalling the record set in the2002 final between Hendry and Peter Ebdon.[55] At the age of 37, O'Sullivan became the oldest World Snooker Champion since 45-year-oldRay Reardon in1978.[56] This was O'Sullivan's fifth world championship but he did not rule out a similar season away from the tour, saying; "I had my year out and enjoyed my year out. I intend to play in some small events. Come December or January I'll have a better idea of what I'm going to do."[54][57] As world champion, O'Sullivan was awarded awild card place at the2014 Masters, which he also won.[58]
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).[29][59][60] The draw for the first round took place on 15 April 2013, one day after the qualifying, and was broadcast live byTalksport at 1:30 pmBST.[61]
| First round Best of 19 frames | Second round Best of 25 frames | Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames | Semi-finals Best of 33 frames | Final Best of 35 frames | |||||||||||||||||||
| 20 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)(1) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 27, 28 & 29 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Marcus Campbell (SCO) | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ronnie O'Sullivan(1) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22 & 23 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ali Carter(16) | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ali Carter (ENG)(16) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30 April & 1 May | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ben Woollaston (ENG) | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ronnie O'Sullivan(1) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24 & 25 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stuart Bingham(9) | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stuart Bingham (ENG)(9) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 28 & 29 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sam Baird (ENG) | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stuart Bingham(9) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 & 22 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Davis | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| John Higgins (SCO)(8) | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2, 3 & 4 May | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Davis (ENG) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ronnie O'Sullivan(1) | 17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 & 21 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Judd Trump(4) | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shaun Murphy (ENG)(5) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 25 & 26 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Martin Gould (ENG) | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shaun Murphy(5) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 & 22 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Graeme Dott(12) | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Graeme Dott (SCO)(12) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30 April & 1 May | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Peter Ebdon (ENG) | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shaun Murphy(5) | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 & 24 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Judd Trump(4) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Matthew Stevens (WAL)(13) | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26 & 27 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Marco Fu (HKG) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Marco Fu | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 & 24 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Judd Trump(4) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Judd Trump (ENG)(4) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 & 6 May | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dominic Dale (WAL) | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ronnie O'Sullivan(1) | 18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24 & 25 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barry Hawkins(15) | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Neil Robertson (AUS)(3) | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 28 & 29 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robert Milkins (ENG) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robert Milkins | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 & 21 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ricky Walden(14) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ricky Walden (ENG)(14) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30 April & 1 May | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michael Holt (ENG) | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ricky Walden(14) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 & 21 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michael White | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Williams (WAL)(11) | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 25 & 26 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michael White (WAL) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michael White | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22 & 23 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Dechawat Poomjaeng | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stephen Maguire (SCO)(6) | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2, 3 & 4 May | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dechawat Poomjaeng (THA) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ricky Walden(14) | 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 22 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barry Hawkins(15) | 17 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Mark Allen (NIR)(7) | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 27, 28 & 29 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mark King (ENG) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mark King | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 & 24 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Ding Junhui(10) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ding Junhui (CHN)(10) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30 April & 1 May | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alan McManus (SCO) | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ding Junhui(10) | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 & 21 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barry Hawkins(15) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barry Hawkins (ENG)(15) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26 & 27 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jack Lisowski (ENG) | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barry Hawkins(15) | 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 & 24 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Selby(2) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Selby (ENG)(2) | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Matthew Selt (ENG) | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Final: (Best of 35 frames)Crucible Theatre,Sheffield, 5 & 6 May. Referee:Jan Verhaas.[48] | ||||||||||
| Ronnie O'Sullivan (1) England | 18–12 | Barry Hawkins (15) England | ||||||||
| Session 1: 5–3 | ||||||||||
| Frame | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O'Sullivan | 87 | 92 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 76 | 113 | 104 | N/A | N/A |
| Hawkins | 4 | 10 | 98 | 81 | 101 | 7 | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A |
| Session 2: 5–4 | ||||||||||
| Frame | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| O'Sullivan | 0 | 83 | 9 | 75 | 0 | 4 | 103 | 117 | 69 | N/A |
| Hawkins | 73 | 37 | 61 | 0 | 91 | 133 | 0 | 5 | 62 | N/A |
| Session 3: 5–3 | ||||||||||
| Frame | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| O'Sullivan | 36 | 134 | 57 | 0 | 133 | 75 | 38 | 124 | N/A | N/A |
| Hawkins | 71 | 0 | 56 | 90 | 0 | 49 | 87 | 7 | N/A | N/A |
| Session 4: 3–2 | ||||||||||
| Frame | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| O'Sullivan | 0 | 18 | 77 | 89 | 89 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Hawkins | 131 | 76 | 25 | 8 | 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 133 | Highest break | 133 | ||||||||
| 6 | Century breaks | 2 | ||||||||
| ??? | 50+ breaks | ??? | ||||||||
| † = Winner of frame | ||||||||||
Four preliminary qualifying rounds for the tournament were for invited amateur players and members not on theMain Tour; they took place on 4 and 5 April 2013 at theWorld Snooker Academy in Sheffield. Names in bold denote match winners.[62][63][64]
Round 1
| Ali Bassiri | 0–5 | Surinder Gill |
| Del Smith | 4–5 | Ian Barry Stark |
| Paul Wykes | 5–2 |  Robin Hull |
| Stephen Ormerod | 5–0 |  Bill Kelly |
Round 2
| Andrew Norman | 5–1 | Philip Minchin |
| Les Dodd | 5–4 | Surinder Gill |
| David Morris | 1–5 | Joe Swail |
| Stephen Rowlings | 5–4 | Ian Barry Stark |
| Justin Astley | 5–2 | Tony Knowles |
 Lucky Vatnani | 3–5 | Paul Wykes |
| David Singh | 2–5 | Tony Chappel |
| Patrick Wallace | 5–0 | Stephen Ormerod |
Round 3
| Andrew Norman | 1–5 | Les Dodd |
| Joe Swail | 5–2 | Stephen Rowlings |
| Justin Astley | 5–2 | Paul Wykes |
| Tony Chappel | 1–5 | Patrick Wallace |
Round 4
| Les Dodd | 1–5 | Joe Swail |
| Justin Astley | 5–2 | Patrick Wallace |
The first three qualifying rounds for the tournament took place between 6 and 11 April 2013 at theEnglish Institute of Sport inSheffield,. The final round of qualifying took place between 13 and 14 April 2013 at the same venue.[10][64][65]
A total of 55 century breaks were made during the main stage of the World Championship.[66][67][68]Neil Robertson, the player who compiled the highest break of the tournament, received acue stick made of gold.[69]
A total of 63 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the World Championship:[70][71]
| Early events | |
|---|---|
| Match-play | |
| Challenges | |
| Knock-outs | |
| Crucible era | |
| Related articles | |
