Black-ball deciders?

[TheStranger]

I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often - how many (televised) professional matches have ended in a deciding frame on the very last black, with that ball being necessary for victory (as opposed to simply completing the clearance)? This would include any situation in which the black was respotted with the scores even after clearance.

The most famous example of this would be the 1985 World Championship final, but a couple of others come to mind as well:

- Mike Hallett's epic final frame against John Parrott in the 1988 Masters semifinal, where he came back from four snookers required to clear it all, needing that final black to take the lead in the frame for the first and only time. Not quite as dramatic as the former or latter examples, but it does fit the criteria and was one hell of a fightback.

- Mark Williams's conquest of Stephen Hendry in the 1998 Masters, where he came back from 9-6 down in the match, and 56-34 down in the last frame, to force the black-ball tiebreak.

- Kinda like Hallett's, John Higgins's win in the 2006 Masters also qualifies, coming back with a 64 clearance after a break of 60 by the Rocket.

[Templeton Peck]

The 1975 Masters final famously finished on a re-spotted black too.

[April madness]

how about that respotted black in Stephen Hendry vs Nigel Bond 2006 world championship round 1 match?

[Le Ball Sack]

That makes my blood boil.

how about that respotted black in Stephen Hendry vs Nigel Bond 2006 world championship round 1 match?

[bobbond]

what a match that was, i couldn't believe it when nigel went in off after potting the black, forcing a respot

[TheStranger]

Another one I just discovered was the 1986 Mercantile Credit Classic - Jimmy White's first ranking win, after being down 17 points with only the pink and black remaining, forcing him to set a brilliant snooker that Cliff Thorburn did not successfully escape from.

[The Statman]

There have been eight matches at the Crucible which went down to the final black:
1977 first round, Mountjoy beat Alex Higgins 13-12 (final frame 51-49)
1985 final, see previous post
1996 first round, Griffiths beat Burnett 10-9 having been 0-6 down (72-61)
1997 first round, Williams beat Griffiths 10-9 (62-59), Griffiths's 999th and last Crucible frame
1999 first round, Joe Perry beat Steve Davis 10-9 (55-52). Perry overcut the last red but it went in-off the pink, bringing the pink out to make the clearance an easier one.
1999 first round, Chris Small beat Hamilton 10-9 (63-57). Astonishingly Small only scored 41% of the points in the match; Hamilton outscored him 1271-879.
2003 first round, Doherty beat Shaun Murphy 10-9 (56-42)
2006 first round, Bond beat Hendy on re-spot (see previous post)

Terry Griffiths also won the Lada Classic beating Steve Davis 9-8 on the final black; the tournament will be remembered more, of course, for the first televised maximum – by Steve Davis earlier in the week.