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On April 18th the 17 day main stages of the 2009 Betfred.com World Professional Snooker Championship got underway and it started with defending champion Ronnie ?The Rocket' O'Sullivan versus 'Ballrun' Stuart Bingham. Ronnie won 10 frames to 5, but it was known that the Rocket wasn't playing at his best. Also in Round One at the Crucible was Peter Ebdon who suffered a shock first round exit to 1995 finalist Nigel Bond, who defeated Ebdon 10 ? 5. Ebdon has had a terrible season; however, in China for the Bank of Beijing China Open it was a different story, beating John Higgins 10 ? 8 in the final and winning £52,000. His run to victory in the China Open lead many people to believe he would be a serious player in this year's World Championship, Ebdon had to get past Nigel Bond first, and Bond put up too much of a challenge for the 2002 champion.
Mark Allen, a young and attacking player, put Martin Gould's hopes of a World Championship run to an end beating him 10 ? 6. Gould, a part-time croupier, beat Stephen Hendry in the Welsh Open in February and looked to be playing the best he'd played for a long time. Allen didn't have an easy encounter; Gould made a determined comeback before Allen finished him off 10 frames to 6. One of the ties of the round was between one of the most improved players on the circuit, Mark Selby, now amongst the World's top players, against Shanghai Masters champion Ricky Walden, another attacking young player who has a bright future ahead of him. Mark won that match 10 ? 6. Shaun Murphy defeated Andrew Higginson 10 ? 8, a far from easy first round match, Shaun was suffering from a heavy cold and Higginson took advantage of that to make the match a tough one for Murphy.
The two best Chinese players and the only Chinese players in the World Championship played each other in the first round with huge interest. Over in China, it was estimated that over 100 million people tuned in to watch. Many Chinese journalists were present in the Media Room at the Crucible and it certainly was a good match, with Ding winning 10 ? 8, but it could have gone either way.
7 times World Champion Stephen Hendry looked to be back at his best in beating Mark Williams 10 ? 7 in another excellent match. Williams had some problems with his tip during the match but gave Hendry the opportunity to win and as he has done many times over the years, he took advantage. Steve Davis, playing in his 29th World Championship, put up a poor performance in an easy win for Neil Robertson, 10 frames to 2. Mark King and Rory McLeod had a marathon match and it was taking so long and they needed to return after the evening's play to finish. Stephen Maguire and Jamie Burnett met again after the UK Championship ?incident' which I'm sure all readers know about. Here, Maguire won 10 ? 5.
In Round 2, three matches stand out of the rest. Firstly, Mark Allen beating defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 13 ? 11, Ronnie didn't look up for the challenge. As said many times, it's a gamble which Ronnie will turn up. Fair play to Mark Allen however as he wasn't put off by snooker genius O'Sullivan and completed a shock victory, this gave Allen a lot of confidence.
Secondly, John Higgins overcame ?The Shotgun' Jamie Cope in the first final-frame decider of the Championship so far. The match had to be stopped twice due to two spectators being taken ill. On the second occasion, John Higgins was faced with such an important red to the middle pocket, but the players left the arena as a spectator needed medical attention. John Higgins came back with complete concentration and managed to pot the red and win the match. This just confirms how much of a champion John Higgins is.
Another of the key matches was Stephen Hendry versus Ding Junhui. An excellent match, with Hendry winning 13 ? 10, a Crucible classic and Ding Junhui will be hoping next year to progress further into the tournament which he is yet to do.
Shaun Murphy defeated and out-of-sorts Marco Fu 13 ? 3 in a surprisingly one-sided scoreline and Neil Robertson ended Ali Carter's World Championship hopes, 13 ? 8.
The highlight of the Quarter-Finals was without doubt the 147 maximum break by Stephen Hendry, pocketing a £157,000 bonus. £147,000 for the maximum and £10,000 for the highest break, providing no other player matches it in the tournament. The sponsors, Betfred, agreed to donate £147,000 to Sport Relief charity if any player made a maximum in the Championship, because of Hendry's achievement, £147,000 was donated to Sport Relief.
John Higgins defeated Mark Selby in another final frame decider 13 ? 12. John Higgins is one of the best players the game has ever seen when it comes to this department of snooker, when he is under pressure he usually performs his best, and one reason why he has won the World Championship on no less than two occasions.
Mark Allen defeated Ryan Day, 13 ? 11, both young attacking players who are sure to be around at the top of the game for a long time. Neil Robertson defeated Stephen Maguire 13 - 8, Maguire wasn't too pleased with his performance and despite Hendry's 147, he lost to Shaun Murphy, 13 ? 11.
In Semi-Finals, Shaun Murphy defeated Neil Robertson in a very entertaining clash, the score was 17 ? 14. Neil Robertson was aiming to become the first Australian to progress into the final since Eddie Charlton in 1982, 27 years ago!
In the other highly entertaining Semi-Final and one of the matches of the tournament saw John Higgins beat the popular Mark Allen, Higgins won 17 ? 13, but Allen staged a huge comeback displaying attacking snooker, before Higgins won, it was far from easy however.
So then, the final of snooker's best event, the final match of the snooker season, throughout the whole season, in all different countries including Wales, China, Bahrain and the UK, we have what everybody has been waiting for. The World Championship final, between Shaun Murphy and John Higgins, Higgins opened up with a 3 ? 1 lead. Murphy came back to end the Sunday afternoon's play at 4 ? 4. In the evening's play, John Higgins fired ahead, to end the evening's play at 11 ? 5, a key turning point in the match. According to John Higgins, the second session 'swung it'. After the afternoon's play on the final day, Monday, it was 16 ? 8 with Higgins only needing two frames for his third World Championship and join the group of players who have won it more than three times in the modern era, including Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The final session of the final, the best part of the whole snooker season, saw a packed house in the Crucible. Higgins made it to 17 frames and almost everybody knew it would be Higgins' year. It was up to Murphy just to make the final a little longer and play for pride. Murphy did win the frame to make it 17 ? 9, this was Higgins' 1000th frame at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, the home of snooker. In Higgins' 1001st frame, he could sense the title was his. In true Champion's style, he produced a winning break of 73 to win the World Championship. The score: 18 ? 9.
He won the trophy, the £250,000 first prize and the title of 2009 Betfred.com World Professional Snooker Champion. Shaun Murphy won £125,000 and reminded us of how much a sportsman he is.
Stephen Hendry won £157,000 for his 147 maximum and the highest break. The great news that the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, will hold the World Championship for at least another 5 years, until 2014. And a great champion in John Higgins. Also, the previous record for century breaks in a World Championship (68) was beaten.
Now we can look forward to the 2010 World Championship. Can the centuries record be broken again? Will there be at least one 147 for the third consecutive year? Will there be a record three 147 maximums? And will the standard be higher than this year? As many people believe, this year's World Championship was the most successful yet. BBC did a great job once again to broadcast the event; the World Snooker Association did a great job of organising the event and of course, and Betfred in sponsoring the event.
We know the Crucible will hold the event until 2014 at least, and this is great news for snooker. I just can't imagine the last year of it being held at the Crucible, the more years it is held there, the more reasons we find why it should stay there.
A popular feature among snooker fans is the 'Shot of the Championships', a selection of the best shots. This year's selection did not disappoint us. Even though the shot of the championship wasn't announced in the video, in my opinion the best shot was Mark Allen's super screw shot. The distance between the cue ball and object ball was nearly the whole length of the table, Mark was cueing off the cushion, and managed to pot the red and with unbelievable cue power, screwed back up to the blue. Incredible shot. For me, in second place was Ricky Walden's snooker escape against Mark Selby, the pace he played it at was superb, he played it the perfect pace to roll into about the only safe position on the table. I'd say that third place was Neil Robertson's snooker escape against Ali Carter, playing with the spider and landing up to the red near the top cushion, very well judged.
Michaela Tabb became the first woman to referee a World Championship final, and also, a new format of snooker, 'Super Sixes' (6 reds instead of 15) was tried out with some of the BBC commentary team playing, some of the best youngsters where also playing. In the end, the final was played inside the Crucible; Tony Knowles came through beating Ross Muir in the final, with Knowles fluking the last brown!
So then, after 17 days of play and the most successful World Championship ever, we have come to an end. The tournament has been great for the sport of snooker. Everybody is now waiting for the new World Snooker season to start, on September 7th with the Shanghai Masters. There is lots of snooker to be played before next year's World Championship, but I can't wait until we do it all again in 2010! Which will be the 83rd year of the World Championship, another year at the Crucible, and another 17 days of snooker, meanwhile we have the World Series of Snooker during the summer, with its first event of the season on the 16th and 17th of May in Ireland. This time, John Higgins will be organising the event alongside his manager Pat Mooney as well as playing in it.
So then, the 2009 Betfred.com World Professional Snooker Champion is John Higgins of Scotland. Big congratulations to him.
See you again!
bongo