Tournament information | |
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Dates | 17 April – 3 May 2004 |
Venue | Crucible Theatre |
City | Sheffield |
Country | England |
Organisation | WPBSA |
Format | Ranking event |
Total prize fund | £1,378,920 |
Winner's share | £250,000 |
Highest break | Joe Perry (ENG) (145) |
Final | |
Champion | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) |
Runner-up | Graeme Dott (SCO) |
Score | 18–8 |
← 2003 2005 → |
The 2004 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2004 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 17 April and 3 May 2004 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
Mark Williams was the defending champion, but he lost in the second round 11–13 against Joe Perry.
Ronnie O'Sullivan won his second world title by defeating Graeme Dott 18–8 in the final, despite having trailed Dott 0–5. This was the fourth biggest margin in a World final, subsequently equalled by O'Sullivan against Ali Carter in 2008, and Kyren Wilson in 2020.[1] The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
Tournament summary
- Ryan Day and Stephen Maguire were the only debutants this year. Day narrowly lost 9–10 to 1998 champion John Higgins and Maguire lost 6–10 to eventual winner and 2001 champion Ronnie O'Sullivan; both in round one.
- Chris Small was forced to retire from his first round match against Alan McManus due to pain from a degenerative spinal disease.[2] His condition would later force him to retire from the game permanently.[3]
- Andy Hicks reached the second round by beating Quinten Hann in a match memorable for a near punch-up between the two players at the end, triggered by Hicks pointing out to Hann that he was likely to drop out of the top 16 as a result of the loss.[4]
- Barry Pinches reached the last 16 for the first time in his career. defeated Jimmy White 10–8 in a match which overran and had to be completed after other matches. In the second round, he led Stephen Hendry 11–9 before losing a tight match 12–13. The 13-year gap between Pinches' first two Crucible appearances (1991–2004) remains an all-time record.
- Six seeded players, Stephen Lee; Hann; Steve Davis; Peter Ebdon; Ken Doherty and Jimmy White, lost in the first round. Lee was defeated 7–10 by Lee Walker and Davis lost to Anthony Hamilton by the same score; 1997 champion Doherty was beaten by two-time semi-finalist Joe Swail 6–10 and Ebdon lost 8–10 against Ian McCulloch.
- Paul Hunter and Matthew Stevens met in the last 16 for the second consecutive year. Stevens avenged his 6–13 defeat the previous year, coming from behind in the final frames to win a close match. Hunter found himself 2-up-with-3-to-play at 12–10 before missing a frame-ball pink in the 23rd frame which would have given him the match. Stevens took all 3 frames to win the match 13–12.[5]
- Doherty's defeat was the first time he had lost in round one since 1995.
- O'Sullivan won both his quarter-final and semi-final matches with a session to spare; he defeated Hamilton 13–3 in the last eight.
- O'Sullivan's 17–4 against Hendry was the biggest ever semi-final victory, replacing Hendry's 16–4 win over Terry Griffiths in 1992.[6]
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[7][8][9]
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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).[7][10][11]
Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 2 & 3 May 2004.[40] Referee: Paul Collier[41] | ||
Graeme Dott (13) Scotland |
8–18 | Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) England |
71–34, 77–9, 108–0, 97–0, 61–0, 0–100, 17–63, 0–87, 0–87, 59–0, 47–64, 0–78, 87–0, 48–68, 1–68, 0–69, 1–71, 0–85, 119–2, 30–76, 43–85, 8–69, 44–91, 13–72, 8–92, 16–88 | Century breaks: 2 (Dott 1, O'Sullivan 1) Highest break by Dott: 106 |
71–34, 77–9, 108–0, 97–0, 61–0, 0–100, 17–63, 0–87, 0–87, 59–0, 47–64, 0–78, 87–0, 48–68, 1–68, 0–69, 1–71, 0–85, 119–2, 30–76, 43–85, 8–69, 44–91, 13–72, 8–92, 16–88 |
Ronnie O'Sullivan wins the 2004 Embassy World Snooker Championship |
Qualifying
The matches were played at Pontin's, Prestatyn Sands in between 10 and 20 February 2004.[42]
1st Round (Best of 19 frames)
Brian Salmon 10–9 Chris Melling Ian Preece 10–8 Justin Astley |
Joe Delaney 10–6 Rodney Goggins Adrian Rosa 10–6 Steve James Adam Davies 10–8 David Hall |
2nd Round (Best of 19 frames)
Rounds 3–6
Century breaks
There were 55 centuries in this year's championship. The highest break of the tournament was 145 made by Joe Perry.[8][44][45]
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References
- ↑ Turner, Chris. "World Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
- 1 2 3 Shea, Julian (17 April 2004). "Small pulls out". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ "Small forced to give up snooker". BBC Sport. 23 September 2005. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ↑ Tracey, Ted. "SNOOKER: Tempers flare as things get out of Hann". Daily Record on HighBeam Research. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- ↑ Final frames | Paul Hunter vs Matthew Stevens | 2004 World Championship - Last 16, retrieved 17 September 2021
- ↑ Yates, Phil (2 May 2004). "Unstoppable O'Sullivan". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
- 1 2 "World Snooker Championship 2004". Global Snooker. Archived from the original on 10 March 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- 1 2 "2004 Embassy World Championship". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 25 December 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
- ↑ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 130.
- ↑ "2004 World Snooker draw". BBC Sport. 26 April 2004. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. pp. 58–59.
- ↑ Harlow, Phil (17 April 2004). "Williams battles through". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Harlow, Phil (24 April 2004). "Williams crashes out". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Harlow, Phil (19 April 2004). "Perry overcomes Milkins". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Warren, Dan (28 April 2004). "Stevens makes semis". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Harlow, Phil (18 April 2004). "Stevens battles through". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Harlow, Phil (24 April 2004). "Stevens shoots down Hunter". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Harlow, Phil (22 April 2004). "Hunter polishes off Parrott". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Warren, Dan; Jones, Clive (1 May 2004). "Dott into final after epic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Warren, Dan (26 April 2004). "Gray into last eight". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Harlow, Phil (21 April 2004). "Gray ousts Carter". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Warren, Dan (28 April 2004). "Dott eases past Gray". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Harlow, Phil (20 April 2004). "Dott edges out King". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Warren, Dan (26 April 2004). "Dott ends Higgins fightback". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Harlow, Phil (19 April 2004). "Higgins wins thriller". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Shea, Julian (21 April 2004). "O'Sullivan downs Maguire". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Shea, Julian (23 April 2004). "O'Sullivan overcomes Hicks". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Shea, Julian (18 April 2004). "Bad-tempered Hann exits". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Jones, Clive (27 April 2004). "O'Sullivan crushes Hamilton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Shea, Julian (22 April 2004). "Hamilton ousts Davis". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Shea, Julian (24 April 2004). "Hamilton stuns Swail". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Shea, Julian (18 April 2004). "Swail overpowers Doherty". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Jones, Clive; Warren, Dan (1 May 2004). "O'Sullivan races into final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Shea, Julian (19 April 2004). "McCulloch stuns Ebdon". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Jones, Clive (26 April 2004). "McCulloch seals victory". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Jones, Clive; Warren, Dan (27 April 2004). "O'Sullivan crushes Hamilton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Shea, Julian (20 April 2004). "White falls to Pinches". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Jones, Clive (26 April 2004). "Hendry wins thriller". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Shea, Julian (21 April 2004). "Hendry races to victory". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Jones, Clive; Warren, Dan (3 May 2004). "O'Sullivan wins World crown". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
- ↑ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 143.
- ↑ "2004 Embassy World Championship Stage 3 Qualifying". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 25 December 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
- ↑ "Joe Johnson on brink of retirement". Snooker Scene. March 2004. p. 9.
- ↑ "Crucible Centuries". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
- ↑ Downer, Chris (2012). Crucible Almanac. p. 151.