British Open 2001

British Open 2001
Tournament type:	World ranking tournament
Venue:	Telewest Arena , Newcastle , England
Opening:	September 29, 2001
Endgame:	October 7, 2001
Winner:	John Higgins
Finalist:	Graeme Dott
Highest Break:	143 ( Ronnie O'Sullivan )
← 2000   2002 →

The British Open 2002 was a snooker tournament of the 2001/02 season , which was held from September 29 to October 7, 2001 in the Telewest Arena in Newcastle upon Tyne . After eight years in Plymouth , the tournament had moved to the north of England this time. The new sponsor Stan James , a British betting company, also ensured the highest prize money in tournament history that year.

Defending champion Peter Ebdon was eliminated in the quarterfinals. In an all-Scottish final, John Higgins beat his two years younger opponent Graeme Dott 9: 6. Higgins won the British Open for the third time, more often than only Stephen Hendry before .

Prize money / world ranking points

Prize money increased by £ 230,000 from a year earlier to £ 670,000 thanks to a new sponsor . There was no more to win at the British Open before or after. The winner got £ 30,500 more, while the bottom 32 was up by £ 4,500. However, there was only a slight increase in the qualifiers and since there was one less qualifying round, the losers in the round of 128 did not receive any bonuses this time. The points for the world rankings also fell significantly. The winner got 2,400 points, the runner-up 1,265 and the semi-final loser 335 points less. Little changed in the middle rounds, but the losers in the first qualifying rounds were again around 300 points less. Seeded players who lost their opening match only got 50% instead of 60% of the round points as before.

	Prize money	World ranking points a
winner	£ 92,500	4,000
finalist	£ 50,500	3,000
Semi-finalist	£ 25,250	2,500
Quarter finalist	£ 13,600	2,050
Round of 16	£ 10,900	1,750
Last 32	£ 8,400	1,450
Last 48	£ 4,400	1,150
Last 64	£ 3,450	900
Last 80	£ 2,350	650
Last 96	£ 1,550	400
Last 128	-	200
Highest break	TV phase: £ 7,500 before: £ 1,800
All in all	£ 670,250

^a Seeded players who lost their first game only received half the score.

Final round

As in the previous year, the main round in Newcastle was played with 48 players, with the top 16 of the world rankings being set for round 2.

Round 1

16 players had qualified in three rounds in Prestatyn . They competed against the players from 17th to 32nd place in the world rankings.

game Player 1 Result Player 2 1 John Parrott  35 : 35  Peter Lines 2 Billy Snaddon  54: 54th  Andy Hicks 3 Dominic Dale  15 : 15  Euan Henderson 4th Anthony Davies  35 : 35  Neal Foulds 5 Steve Davis  35 : 35  Sean Storey 6th Anthony Hamilton  54: 54th  Ian McCulloch 7th Drew Henry  15 : 15  David Roe 8th David Gray  35 : 35  Shokat Ali 9 Chris Small  53: 53  Gary Wilkinson 10 Tony Drago  54: 54th  Robin Hull 11 Nigel Bond  53: 53  Jonathan Birch 12 Quinten Hann  15 : 15  Alfie Burden 13 Joe Perry  15 : 15  Patrick Wallace 14th Marco Fu  05 : 05  Brian Morgan 15th James Wattana  50: 50  Ali Carter 16 Michael Judge  53: 53  Paul Davies Top 32 to the final The top 16 of the world rankings were set for round 2 and played against the 16 winners from round 1.   Round 1 best of 9 frames Round of 16 best of 9 frames Quarterfinals Best of 9 Frames Semi-final best of 11 frames Final Best of 17 frames                                                 1   Peter Ebdon 5                 22nd   John Parrott 4th   1   Peter Ebdon 5   46   Andy Hicks 3   11   Jimmy White 2 46   Andy Hicks 5   1   Peter Ebdon 0   13   Mark King 5   13   Mark King 5     20th   Dominic Dale 2   13   Mark King 5   31   Anthony Davies 0   6th   Stephen Hendry 1 31   Anthony Davies 5   13   Mark King 0   4th   John Higgins 6th   16   Fergal O'Brien 5 21st   Steve Davis 3   16   Fergal O'Brien 2   8th   Stephen Lee 5   8th   Stephen Lee 5 48   Ian McCulloch 2   8th   Stephen Lee 4th   4th   John Higgins 5   15th   Dave Harold 5     18th   Drew Henry 2   15th   Dave Harold 2   4th   John Higgins 5   4th   John Higgins 5 30th   David Gray 4th   4th   John Higgins 9 14th   Graeme Dott 6th 3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 5 37   Gary Wilkinson 0   3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 5   10   Joe Swail 4th   10   Joe Swail 5 86   Robin Hull 1   3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 5   12   Alan McManus 1   5   Ken Doherty 5     50   Jonathan Birch 2   5   Ken Doherty 4th   12   Alan McManus 5   12   Alan McManus 5 25th   Quinten Hann 2   3   Ronnie O'Sullivan 4th   14th   Graeme Dott 6th   7th   Matthew Stevens 2 27   Joe Perry 5   27   Joe Perry 4th   14th   Graeme Dott 5   14th   Graeme Dott 5 17th   Marco Fu 1   14th   Graeme Dott 5   61   Ali Carter 3   9   Paul Hunter 3     61   Ali Carter 5   61   Ali Carter 5   2   Mark Williams 2   2   Mark Williams 5 57   Paul Davies 4th   final John Higgins and Graeme Dott met for the first time in a final, for Dott it was only the second final of his career. Except for the very first encounter in 1996, Higgins had won all previous duels. He also came into the final as a runner-up world champion and as the winner of the two previous invitation tournaments. But the high favorite got off to a bad start and was 1: 3 behind at the first mid-session break. However, he dominated the second half of the session and turned the result into a 5-3 lead. In the evening, Dott was only able to prevent the gap from getting bigger, but he was unable to shorten it. At 8: 6 he fought hard against the defeat, but Higgins was able to make the 9: 6 perfect. Not only was it his third British Open title, he was the first professional player to win the first three tournaments of a season. Final: Best of 17 Frames Referee: John Williams Telewest Arena ,  Newcastle , England , October 7, 2001 John Higgins 9 : 6 Graeme Dott Afternoon : 48: 78 (78), 57: 81 , 80 : 0 (79), 11: 62 , 62 : 38, 138 : 0 (90), 97 : 16 (61), 68 : 6; Evening : 93 : 6 (93), 0: 100 (100), 45: 70 , 126 : 1 (112), 71 : 43, 14: 75 , 52 : 40 112 Highest break 100 1 Century breaks 1 5 50+ breaks 2 qualification The qualifiers took place from July 26th to August 7th, 2001. In round 1, places 65 to 128 in the world rankings played against each other. From round 2, 32 players played against each other, with places 49 to 64 being set for round 3 and numbers 33 to 48 for round 4. Century breaks 13 players achieved 25 breaks of at least 100 points in the main tournament. Ronnie O'Sullivan scored the highest TV break in the round of 16 with 143 points and the most Centurys overall. The highest tournament break, however, was achieved by Englishman Sean Storey in qualification: he lined up 145 points. Main tournament Ronnie O'Sullivan 143, 131 (2 ×), 102 (2 ×) Ken Doherty 141, 103 David Gray 139 a , 118, 116 a John Higgins 129, 112, 103 (2 ×) Drew Henry 126, 125 a Marco Fu 125 a Joe Swail 124 Andy Hicks 122, 100 Euan Henderson 107 a Alan McManus 104 Dominic Dale 102 Paul Davies 100 a Graeme Dott 100 a scored in round 1 (round of the last 48 without the top 16 players) swell ↑ a b 2001 British Open - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed September 28, 2018 .  ↑ a b 2001 British Open. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed September 28, 2018 .  ^ Stan James British Open 2001. snooker.org, accessed on September 28, 2018 (English).  ↑ a b Rankings - 2001-2002. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed September 28, 2018 .  ↑ The snooker season so far. BBC , January 21, 2002, accessed September 28, 2018 .