British Open 2003
British Open 2003
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| Tournament type: | World ranking tournament |
| Venue: |
Brighton Center , Brighton , England |
| Opening: | November 8, 2003 |
| Endgame: | November 16, 2003
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| Winner: |
 Stephen Hendry
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| Finalist: |
 Ronnie O'Sullivan
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| Highest Break: |
147 ( John Higgins )
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← 2002
2004 →
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The British Open 2003 was a snooker tournament of the 2003/04 season that was held from November 8 to 16, 2003 at the Brighton Center . After the tournament had permanent venues until 2000, the seaside resort of Brighton was the third venue in three years.
Last year's winner Paul Hunter only made it to the quarter-finals this time. Stephen Hendry met Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final and won 9-6. With his fourth title win, he became the most successful player at the British Open. It was Hendry's 35th ranking win.
John Higgins broke 147 points in Round 2. It was the 48th official maximum break and the sixth at the British Open.
Prize money / world ranking points
The prize money increased by £ 20,000 compared to 2002, the second highest amount in tournament history. The changes were inconsistent, there were more in the quarter-finals and last sixteen, the other placements even got fewer, while the last two qualifying rounds got more. The points for the world ranking did not change.
| Prize money | World ranking points a |
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|---|---|---|
| winner | £ 52,000 | 4,000 |
| finalist | £ 26,000 | 3,000 |
| Semi-finalist | £ 13,000 | 2,500 |
| Quarter finalist | £ 9,500 | 2,050 |
| Round of 16 | £ 7,450 | 1,750 |
| Last 32 | £ 5,600 | 1,450 |
| Last 48 | £ 3,900 | 1,150 |
| Last 64 | £ 2,750 | 900 |
| Last 80 | £ 1,750 | 650 |
| Last 96 | £ 1,100 | 400 |
| Last 128 | - | 200 |
| Highest break | TV phase: £ 5,000 before: £ 1,800 |
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| All in all | £ 470,000 |
For the maximum break there was an additional £ 20,000 for the highest break, for a total of £ 25,000.
Final round
As in the previous year, the main round in Brighton 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.
Top 32 to the finalThe top 16 of the world rankings were set for round 2 and played against the 16 winners from round 1. finalBoth Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry had already won the tournament, the Scot three times. The two had not yet met at the British Open, but in the tournament finals they had already been opponents 10 times, of which O'Sullivan had won 7 games. The Englishman also took the lead 2-0 in this match, but Hendry equalized again. In the second half of the session, O'Sullivan was able to play out and defend an advantage and so he went into the evening with a 5-3 lead. The Scot then clearly determined that. He equalized and after winning five frames in a row, he led 8: 5. The 14th frame went to O'Sullivan, but did not bring a turnaround and Hendry then completed the 9: 6 win. In a high-class final, the two opponents achieved 14 breaks of at least 50 points, six of them with more than 100 points. From the fourth to the eighth frame, they alternately achieved five century breaks in a row. Since the British Open became a ranking tournament in 1985, only John Higgins had also won the tournament three times, now Hendry has become the sole record winner again.
qualificationThe qualifiers took place from September 21-25, 2003 at the Pontin's Center in Prestatyn ( Wales ). 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. Round 1
a Jonathan Birch had to give up his game when the score was 3-0
Century breaks24 players scored 42 breaks of at least 100 points in the main tournament. John Higgins managed a maximum break in his 5-1 win over Michael Judge . Exactly one month earlier he had also made a 147 break at the LG Cup . For the fourth time in his career he managed the perfect break, the sixth in the history of the British Open and the fourth in front of TV cameras. There were 30 Centurys in the qualification divided among 21 players. Main tournament
a scored in round 1 (round of the last 48 without the top 16 players)
qualification
swell
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