Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	15 April – 1 May 2000 (2000-04-15 – 2000-05-01)
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,460,000
Winner's share	£240,000
Highest break	Matthew Stevens (WAL) (143)
Final
Champion	Mark Williams (WAL)
Runner-up	Matthew Stevens (WAL)
Score	18–16
← 1999 2001 →

The 2000 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2000 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 15 April and 1 May 2000 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.

Stephen Hendry was the defending champion, but he lost in the first round 7–10 against Stuart Bingham.

Mark Williams won his first World title by defeating fellow Welsh player Matthew Stevens 18–16 in the final.^[1] The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

• In the final qualifying round Gary Wilkinson and Jason Ferguson set the record of the longest best-of-19-frames match at 11 hours and 38 minutes.^[2]
• The pre-tournament favourite Stephen Hendry^[3] was eliminated in the first round by Crucible debutant and future world champion Stuart Bingham (10–7). Hendry and Bingham would later meet in the first round again in 2012, this time Hendry winning 10-4 and making a maximum 147 break in what was his final professional tournament.^[4]
• Despite becoming the first player to make 5 centuries in a first round match at The Crucible, and outscoring his opponent, Ronnie O'Sullivan lost 9–10 to David Gray. This record was eventually equalled in 2020 when Mark Allen also made 5 centuries in his first round match.
• This year's edition of the tournament marked the only time that both Hendry and O'Sullivan were eliminated in the first round.
• Gray was unable to maintain his form in the second round and lost 1–13 to Dominic Dale with a session to spare, scoring just 208 points, a record low for a best-of-25 match.
• Joe Swail returned to the top 16 in the snooker world rankings after reaching the semi-final against Matthew Stevens.
• Swail's place in the semi-finals ended Steve Davis' run in the elite top 16 – he had been in since 1980 including holding the world number one spot from 1983 to 1990.^[5] Davis lost 11–13 to John Higgins in the second round. He later returned to the top 16 in 2003/2004.^[5]
• Higgins made a record of 485 unanswered points in his quarter-final match against Anthony Hamilton.^[6]
• Mark Williams became only the third Welsh snooker player to win the world title after Ray Reardon and Terry Griffiths, and the first since 1979.^[7] Trailing 7–13 against fellow countryman Matthew Stevens in the final, Williams recorded a comeback to defeat Stevens 18–16 and win the title.^[8]
• John Newton refereed his first and only World final and retired from refereeing after the match.^[9] This was also the first ever all-Welsh World final and remains the only one to-date.^[10]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[11][12]

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).^{[11][13][14][15][16]}

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

15 April

Stephen Hendry (1)

7

21 & 22 April

Stuart Bingham

10

Stuart Bingham

9

19 & 20 April

Jimmy White (16)

13

Jimmy White (16)

10

25 & 26 April

Billy Snaddon

7

Jimmy White (16)

7

17 & 18 April

Matthew Stevens (9)

13

Matthew Stevens (9)

10

23 & 24 April

Tony Drago

2

Matthew Stevens (9)

13

19 April

Alan McManus (8)

4

Alan McManus (8)

10

27, 28 & 29 April

Nigel Bond

7

Matthew Stevens (9)

17

18 April

Joe Swail

12

John Parrott (5)

10

22, 23 & 24 April

Gary Wilkinson

9

John Parrott (5)

12

15 & 16 April

Joe Swail

13

Paul Hunter (12)

6

25 & 26 April

Joe Swail

10

Joe Swail

13

16 & 17 April

Dominic Dale

9

Peter Ebdon (13)

6

20 & 21 April

Dominic Dale

10

Dominic Dale

13

16 & 17 April

David Gray

1

Ronnie O'Sullivan (4)

9

30 April & 1 May

David Gray

10

Matthew Stevens (9)

16

15 & 16 April

Mark Williams (3)

18

Mark Williams (3)

10

20 & 21 April

John Read

4

Mark Williams (3)

13

15 & 16 April

Drew Henry

9

Mark King (14)

8

25 & 26 April

Drew Henry

10

Mark Williams (3)

13

15 & 16 April

Fergal O'Brien (11)

5

Fergal O'Brien (11)

10

21 & 22 April

Chris Small

8

Fergal O'Brien (11)

13

18 & 19 April

Stephen Lee (6)

8

Stephen Lee (6)

10

27, 28 & 29 April

Kristján Helgason

3

Mark Williams (3)

17

17 & 18 April

John Higgins (2)

15

Ken Doherty (7)

10

22, 23 & 24 April

Darren Morgan

3

Ken Doherty (7)

12

17 April

Anthony Hamilton (10)

13

Anthony Hamilton (10)

10

25 & 26 April

Marco Fu

4

Anthony Hamilton (10)

3

18 & 19 April

John Higgins (2)

13

Steve Davis (15)

10

23 & 24 April

Graeme Dott

6

Steve Davis (15)

11

19 & 20 April

John Higgins (2)

13

John Higgins (2)

10

Dave Harold

8

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 30 April & 1 May 2000. Referee: John Newton[17]
Matthew Stevens (9)  Wales	16–18	Mark Williams (3)  Wales
62–50, 84–28, 33–56, 103–23, 18–65, 61–76, 0–123, 75–35, 64–24, 91–37, 59–21, 117–0, 114–7, 6–79, 73–22, 0–68, 133–0, 66–48, 0–106, 55–54, 0–81, 34–79, 46–71, 37–79, 33–77, 67–0, 6–75, 0–74, 120–16, 13–61, 66–70, 60–29, 8–76, 21–73	Century breaks: 7 (Stevens 5, Williams 2) Highest break by Stevens: 120 Highest break by Williams: 123	62–50, 84–28, 33–56, 103–23, 18–65, 61–76, 0–123, 75–35, 64–24, 91–37, 59–21, 117–0, 114–7, 6–79, 73–22, 0–68, 133–0, 66–48, 0–106, 55–54, 0–81, 34–79, 46–71, 37–79, 33–77, 67–0, 6–75, 0–74, 120–16, 13–61, 66–70, 60–29, 8–76, 21–73
Mark Williams wins the 2000 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were 54 centuries in the Championship.^[18][19] The highest breaks were 143 made by Matthew Stevens in the televised stage and Nick Dyson in the qualifying stage.^[11]

Qualifying

The qualifying matches were held between 3 January and 20 March 2000 at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales.

Round 1–2

Round 1 (Best of 19 frames)	Round 2 (Best of 19 frames)
Stuart Bingham 10–4 Mehmet Husnu	Stuart Bingham 10–8 Ian McCulloch
Dene O'Kane 10–5 Barry Mapstone	Dene O'Kane 10–8 Steve James
Colm Gilcreest 10–0 Karl Burrows	Colm Gilcreest 10–5 Jimmy Michie
Stefan Mazrocis 10–4 Hugh Abernethy	Stefan Mazrocis 10–5 Jason Prince
Ali Carter 10–6 Martin Dziewialtowski	Joe Perry 10–5 Ali Carter
Noppadon Noppachorn 10–7 Sean Storey	Noppadon Noppachorn 10–6 Marcus Campbell
Tony Jones 10–4 Wayne Saidler	Euan Henderson 10–4 Tony Jones
Sean Lanigan 10–8 Dennis Taylor	Peter Lines 10–4 Sean Lanigan
Willie Thorne 10–6 Adrian Gunnell	Jason Ferguson 10–7 Willie Thorne
Tony Knowles 10–8 Chris Shade	Dean Reynolds 10–4 Tony Knowles
Karl Broughton 10–8 Gareth Chilcott	Bradley Jones 10–6 Karl Broughton
Stephen Maguire 10–7 Wayne Brown	Stephen Maguire 10–4 Nick Walker
Patrick Wallace 10–8 Matthew Street	Patrick Wallace 10–6 Gerard Greene
Stuart Pettman 10–5 Mike Dunn	Stuart Pettman 10–8 Alfie Burden
Munraj Pal 10–8 Stephen O'Connor	David Gray 10–5 Munraj Pal
Lee Spick 10–8 Nick Pearce	David Roe 10–5 Lee Spick
Mark Davis 10–9 Mario Geudens	John Read 10–4 Mark Davis
Ryan Day 10–6 Steve Judd	Neal Foulds 10–9 Ryan Day
Leigh Griffin 10–6 Jason Weston	Drew Henry 10–6 Leigh Griffin
Phaitoon Phonbun 10–6 David McDonnell	Matthew Couch 10–7 Phaitoon Phonbun
Craig MacGillivray 10–4 Lee Richardson	Paul Davies 10–3 Craig MacGillivray
Robert Milkins 10–8 Michael Holt	Gary Ponting 10–8 Robert Milkins
Kristján Helgason 10–2 John Lardner	Kristján Helgason 10–5 Joe Johnson
Malcolm Bilclough 10–9 Mark Gray	Rod Lawler 10–6 Malcolm Bilclough
Michael Judge 10–8 Wayne Jones	Michael Judge 10–9 Lee Walker
Tony Chappel 10–6 Paul Sweeny	Tony Chappel 10–7 Martin Clark
Patrick Delsemme 10–4 Shokat Ali	Marco Fu 10–7 Patrick Delsemme
David McLellan 10–9 Chris Scanlon	David Finbow 10–4 David McLellan
Eddie Manning 10–9 Troy Shaw	Eddie Manning 10–9 Jonathan Birch
Andrew Higginson 10–2 Leo Fernandez	Alain Robidoux 10–5 Andrew Higginson
Anthony Davies 10–9 Nick Terry	Anthony Davies 10–2 Mick Price
Mark Bennett 10–1 Nick Dyson	Mark Bennett 10–4 Paul Wykes

Round 3–4

^[11]

Round 3 (Best of 19 frames)	Round 4 (Best of 19 frames)
Stuart Bingham 10–9 Dene O'Kane	Stuart Bingham 10–9 Quinten Hann
Colm Gilcreest 10–9 Stefan Mazrocis	Billy Snaddon 10–6 Colm Gilcreest
Joe Perry 10–8 Noppadon Noppachorn	Tony Drago 10–8 Joe Perry
Euan Henderson 10–8 Peter Lines	Nigel Bond 10–5 Euan Henderson
Jason Ferguson 10–8 Dean Reynolds	Gary Wilkinson 10–9 Jason Ferguson
Stephen Maguire 10–4 Bradley Jones	Joe Swail 10–9 Stephen Maguire
Patrick Wallace 10–4 Stuart Pettman	Dominic Dale 10–8 Patrick Wallace
David Gray 10–3 David Roe	David Gray 10–6 James Wattana
John Read 10–5 Neal Foulds	John Read 10–7 Brian Morgan
Drew Henry 10–9 Matthew Couch	Drew Henry 10–3 Jamie Burnett
Paul Davies 10–4 Gary Ponting	Chris Small 10–6 Paul Davies
Kristján Helgason 10–9 Rod Lawler	Kristján Helgason 10–5 Terry Murphy
Michael Judge 10–3 Tony Chappel	Darren Morgan 10–7 Michael Judge
Marco Fu 10–7 David Finbow	Marco Fu 10–3 Andy Hicks
Eddie Manning 10–9 Alain Robidoux	Graeme Dott 10–3 Eddie Manning
Anthony Davies 10–6 Mark Bennett	Dave Harold 10–7 Anthony Davies

References