Paul Hunter Classic 2009

Paul Hunter Classic 2009
Tournament type:	Pro-Am tournament
Venue:	Stadthalle, Fürth , Germany
Opening:	August 13, 2009
Endgame:	August 16, 2009
Winner:	Shaun Murphy
Finalist:	Jimmy White
Highest Break:	139 ( Shaun Murphy )
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The Paul Hunter Classic 2009 (or the Paul Hunter Classics 2009) took place from August 13th to 16th in Fürth . It is considered the largest pro-am snooker tournament in the world. The tournament was held for the fourth time in a row in the town hall in Fürth. The winner was the British snooker player Shaun Murphy , who had already won in 2008.

Exterior view of the Fürth town hall - the venue for the Paul Hunter Classic since 2006

Tournament course

Group stage

"Best of 3" frames was played in the group phase.

With the exception of John Higgins , all Main Tour players in their group were able to confidently become group winners and thus advance directly into round 2. Higgins, however, lost his group game against Warren Smith and had to complete one game more than the other Main Tour stars as second in the group. Of the group heads, only Armin Lesiv did not make it into the next round.

Finals

In the final round, “Best of 5” frames were played up to the final.

1 round

John Higgins made it to the next round with an expected 3-0 win over Belgian Peter Bullen . The German hope Lasse Münstermann , who made it to the quarter-finals in 2008, easily reached the next round.

2nd round

In the round of the last 64 world champion John Higgins surprisingly lost 3-1 against Barry Pinches (winner of the Paul Hunter Classic 2007 ). The only 14-year-old Belgian Luca Brecel defeated the Main Tour professional Joe Perry with a smooth 3-0. For the ambitious German players Lasse Münstermann and Sascha Lippe it was also over after defeats against the Main Tour pros Ryan Day and Dominic Dale . With Luca Brecel from Belgium, Maurice Le Duc from the Netherlands and the German-Brazilian Itaro Santos , only three players who did not come from the British Isles reached the 3rd round.

3rd round

From the third round onwards, there was an increasing number of Main Tour professionals. For some professionals such as Barry Hawkins , Ricky Walden , Michael Judge , Barry Pinches , Dominic Dale , Jamie Cope or Stephen Maguire , this was already over. Also Luca Brecel retired after a 0: 3 defeat to the Englishman Jimmy Michie from.

Round of 16

The last remaining amateur Itaro Santos , who was defeated by Joe Swail from Northern Ireland, ended in the round of 16 . Mark Selby was surprisingly clearly defeated by Rory McLeod with 0: 3, while the two ex-world champions Shaun Murphy and Ken Doherty could safely move into the next round. Jimmy White , who had previously thrown the world number two Maguire from the tournament, also retained the upper hand against the higher-placed Michael Holt .

Quarter finals

In the first quarter-finals, defending champion Shaun Murphy managed a 3-1 win over Ken Doherty . Rory McLeod didn't give Ryan Day a chance and secured the semi-finals with a 3-0 win. Joe Swail moved into the next round with a sovereign victory over Jimmy Michie and Mark Davis could not stop the former multiple vice world champion Jimmy White on the way to the semi-finals.

Semifinals

Rory McLeod faced the third top 8 player in a row and managed to put last year's winner Shaun Murphy under a lot of pressure. After a 2-0 lead for McLeod, Murphy managed to equalize to 2-2. In the end, he also won the contested decision frame in which each color was punched individually at the end on the very last remaining black ball.

In the second semi-final, Joe Swail was able to take the momentum of his quarter -final victory with him and took a 1-0 lead against Jimmy White . In a varied match there were several major, but no decisive breaks, so that audience favorite White was able to take the frame from Northern Irish Swail twice despite a high deficit and in the end won with 3: 1.

final

Last year's winner Shaun Murphy benefited from the more open positions and was able to use his strong breakbuilding better than in the semi-finals. He also made significantly fewer mistakes and was able to use the inaccuracies of Jimmy White , whom he was always one ball ahead of. Thanks to high breaks, the final in the “Best of 7” mode turned out to be a clear one and Murphy took the title 4-0 for the second time in a row.

Statistics from the round of 16

	Round of 16 August 16, 2009					Quarter finals August 16, 2009					Semifinals August 16, 2009					final August 16, 2009
		Shaun Murphy	3
		Alan McManus	0
							Shaun Murphy	3
							Ken Doherty	1
		Ken Doherty	3
		Daniel Wells	1
												Shaun Murphy	3
												Rory McLeod	2
		Mark Selby	0
		Rory McLeod	3
							Rory McLeod	3
							Ryan Day	0
		Stuart Bingham	1
		Ryan Day	3
																	Shaun Murphy	4th
																	Jimmy White	0
		Itaro Santos	1
		Joe Swail	3
							Joe Swail	3
							Jimmy Michie	1
		Marcus Campbell	0
		Jimmy Michie	3
												Joe Swail	1
												Jimmy White	3
		Mark Davis	3
		Andrew Higginson	1
							Mark Davis	1
							Jimmy White	3
		Michael Holt	1
		Jimmy White	3

Final (Best of 7 Frames) August 16, 2009.
Shaun Murphy	4 : 0	Jimmy White

Web links

• Participants ( Memento from April 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
• Official website ( Memento of February 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive )