World Snooker Championship 2019

World Snooker Championship 2019 Betfred World Snooker Championship 2019
Tournament type:	World ranking tournament
Venue:	Crucible Theater , Sheffield , England
Opening:	April 20, 2019
Endgame:	5th / 6th May 2019
Defending champion:	Mark Williams
Winner:	Judd Trump
Finalist:	John Higgins
Highest Break:	143 ( John Higgins )
← 2018   2020 →

The 2019 Betfred World Snooker Championship was held from April 20 to May 6, 2019 at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield . The tournament was the final highlight of the 2018/19 season of the Snooker Main Tour .

After several favorite players, such as Ronnie O'Sullivan and defending champion Mark Williams , were eliminated in the first rounds , John Higgins achieved for the third time in a row and Judd Trump for the second time after 2011 , when Higgins had defeated him at 18:15 Final. With 18: 9 Trump won his first world title and also became the eleventh member of the Triple Crown Club .

Prize money

The total prize money to be distributed had risen to currently £ 2.231 million.

	Prize money
winner	£ 500,000
finalist	£ 200,000
Semi-finalist	£ 100,000
Quarter finalist	£ 50,000
Round of 16	£ 30,000
Last 32	£ 20,000
Last 48	£ 15,000
Last 80	£ 10,000
Highest break (main round / qualification)	£ 10,000 £ 1,000
All in all	£ 2,231,000

For a maximum break in the main round, World Snooker had increased the award to £ 50,000.

Main round

The 16 leading players in the world rankings were set. Your 16 first-round opponents had previously prevailed in the qualification.

Tournament course

Round 1

James Cahill caused the biggest surprise on the first lap . As the first amateur to reach the World Cup finals at the Crucible Theater , he met tournament favorite Ronnie O'Sullivan . The 43-year-old was the most successful player of the season with five tournament victories and had recently taken first place in the world rankings . However, he made a lot of mistakes and enabled the 20 years younger Cahill to keep up and win the first session 5-4. He even managed to pull away to 8: 5 in the second session and was unimpressed when O'Sullivan equalized to 8: 8. The next two contested frames went back to him and the former and future professional moved into the round of 16 with 10: 8. For O'Sullivan it was the first World Cup loss since 2003.

Another favorite due to the preliminary performances was Judd Trump , but he had a hard time against the fastest player on the tour Thepchaiya Un-Nooh . The Thai led 6: 3 and 7: 4 before Trump was able to secure four frames in a row and took the lead 8: 7. Thepchaiya held back and saved himself in the contested decider, which he lost after a decisive mistake. The third big favorite was Neil Robertson , who had won the previous China Open convincingly. Against Crucible debutant Michael Georgiou he won just as convincingly after a 9-0 session with 10-1. Only Shaun Murphy made it better , who won the 10th frame after a 9-0 lead against Luo Honghao and only managed the second " whitewash " in the main round at the Crucible Theater. (In 1992, John Parrott also won 10-0 against Eddie Charlton .) The 19-year-old Luo scored only 89 points in the ten games together, setting a negative record. His compatriot Li Hang, who was nine years his senior, also had no chance at 1:10 against Barry Hawkins .

In contrast, Stuart Bingham's 10: 9 against Graeme Dott was spectacular . Bingham led 8: 1 after Session 1 and after the 9: 4 he was only one frame missing. When he was denied the 15th frame because he missed a directly playable ball three times (" three-miss rule "), his nerves were on edge. Dott actually managed to equalize, but showed nerves himself in the decision-making frame and could not top the chase.

Defending champion Mark Williams , who took the lead 6: 3 against Martin Gould in Session 1 and defended the lead up to 10: 7, showed no nakedness . With the same result, the former number 1 Mark Selby beat the lowest placed professional Zhao Xintong after 1: 5 deficit . Kyren Wilson , John Higgins , Stephen Maguire and Ding Junhui also achieved unspectacular favorites. Besides Ding, only one Chinese came in round 2: Zhou Yuelong managed the second surprise of the opening round with a 10: 7 win over the world number 6. Mark Allen after a 7-2 lead after the first session. Jack Lisowski could not confirm his entry into the finals at the China Open two weeks earlier and his best season so far, he also lost against Ali Carter with 7:10. Also Luca Brecel could not crown a good season. Although he led 5: 3 and 7: 5 against Gary Wilson , the Englishman was able to equalize again and again and after four frame wins in a row he took the lead 9: 7. After Brecel's 8: 9, the second session had to be canceled because there was not enough time left before the next scheduled match. When a table was free again, the Belgian managed to equalize and it went to the decider. After both players got stuck, the game was set up a second time and again a position arose in which not much progressed. After a tactical fight that lasted a total of 79 minutes and 31 seconds, Wilson had won the game and with it the match. It was the longest frame in Crucible history.

Round of 16

David Gilbert had confirmed his first direct World Cup qualification with an opening win against Joe Perry . The previous season had been his best so far, he had reached two tournament finals and his game against Mark Williams was the replay of the final at the World Open at the beginning of the season. Gilbert retaliated for the narrow 9:10 defeat and threw the defending champion from the tournament with 13: 9. Although Williams was handicapped by health problems the night before in the crucial session, Gilbert had already dominated the match and was almost consistently in the lead.

Despite his sovereign first win, Barry Hawkins lost his round of 16 match against Kyren Wilson 11:13. The player, who had reached the final once and the semifinals four times in the last six years, was 4-0 and 6-2 ahead and had already scored four Centurys, but in the second session Wilson shortened after 4-8- Back to 7: 9. In the third session he immediately equaled to 9: 9. They then shared the next 4 frames before Wilson took two Centurys to a 13:11 win. Both players together scored nine century breaks in the match, the Crucible record was ten before this tournament.

In addition to Hawkins, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson had won the most clearly in Round 1 and the two had to compete against each other in the round of 16. The Australian took the lead from the start, but Murphy was able to keep the game open until 6-8. Then he missed the frame ball in the next game, Robertson still got the frame and increased to 10: 6 at the end of the session. The last three frames to the 13: 6 victory he got in session 3 with breaks of 120, 88 and 95 points and left the Englishman only one point.

Stuart Bingham was recovered from the trembling game against Dott and had a slight advantage up to 5: 4 in his game against John Higgins. Then the Scot got a little overweight, but could not play out a great lead. When the score was 11:11, the match was reduced to "Best of 3" and it was Higgins who secured the next two frames to the 13:11 victory.

In the second half of the tournament tree, Gary Wilson developed into a surprise player. He dominated the game against world number two, Mark Selby, and kept taking the lead, even if Selby kept equalizing. Only once, at 6: 7, did he fall behind. When it was 10:10, Wilson started a small series and won with 13:10.

With Ali Carter and Zhou Yuelong two qualifiers met in a changeable match. The Englishman got a false start and was already 1: 5 behind before he could shorten again. When the score was 4: 6, he cleared the table in the 11th frame and was about to leave the arena because he believed he had won. But he only equalized on points and had to be held back for the "respotted black". He won the frame and then took a 7-6 lead before Zhou turned the match back to 9-7. In the last session, however, the 21-year-old Chinese's lack of experience became apparent, Carter won frame by frame and after winning six games in a row, prevailed 13: 9.

Stephen Maguire had already stopped the advance of the only amateur. James Cahill had struggled violently and demanded everything from the Scot. For the second time Maguire had to make the decider and for the second time he won and went one round.

In the last round of 16 game, the favored Judd Trump prevailed against Ding Junhui and thus took the last of the five Chinese players out of the tournament. The first session went 5: 3 to the Englishman, Ding turned the second session into a 9: 7 lead, but could not win a single frame in the last session and Trump won 13: 9.

Quarter finals

In the quarter-finals, David Gilbert had the opportunity, after defeating Mark Williams , to take revenge for his second defeat in the final of this season at the German Masters . In the first session he shared the eight frames with Kyren Wilson, but he won the second session 6-2. In Berlin, Gilbert had lost four frames in a row and thus the match, but this time he successfully defended his lead and sealed the 13: 8 victory in the 21st frame. In his fifth participation in the World Cup, he made it to the semi-finals for the first time.

In the quarter-final game against John Higgins, tournament favorite Neil Robertson lacked the previous sovereignty and he got increasingly problems with the complicated positions. Up to 7: 5 he dominated the match, but was never able to extend the lead beyond two frames. Then Higgins took advantage of the Australian's weaker streak and won five frames in a row. Robertson did not recover from this, even if he shortened from 7:10 to 10:11. The Scot took the next two frames and won with 13:10.

In the third match, the two remaining qualifiers fought for the semi-finals. Ali Carter got off to a good start this time and took the lead 3-0, but then Gary Wilson got 5 frames in a row and thus the first session. He then defended this lead in the second part of the game. In the final session, Carter again failed to get close, instead it was at 11: 9 Gary Wilson who pulled away and finally won with 13: 9. In the history of the world championships, only four players who had reached the semi-finals were placed worse than the world number 32.

The clearest quarter-final result of 13: 6 was achieved by Judd Trump against Stephen Maguire. After a convincing first session, Trump was already leading 7: 1 and even increased to 9: 1. The Scot used a weaker phase of the 29-year-old to make the result more pleasant. Nevertheless, Maguire was 5:11 behind after Session 2 and Trump then only gave one frame before he got the two missing frames for his fourth semi-final.

Semifinals

In the semifinals there was a sensation when David Gilbert and Gary Wilson, both outsiders, got off to a better start. Gilbert lost the first two frames against John Higgins, but turned the result to 5: 3 at the end of the session. He took the momentum with him into the second session and pulled away to 8: 3 before Higgins was able to win another frame with a "steal" with the last black. The two shared the next four frames and thus Gilbert had a clear 10: 6 advantage at halftime. The semi-final debutant was able to defend the lead up to 13: 9, then Higgins managed to win two contested frames and shorten them. The Scot tackled the decisive session offensively. Although he lost the first frame after a hole error, he won the next three frames and thus achieved an even score again after the 3: 3. The cautious tension became apparent when frame 29 had to be put back on twice after the opponents had become stuck. Higgins took the frame and only took the lead for the second time in the match, but the Englishman didn’t let him go, he equalized and used a failed attempt by Higgins to make the lead 16:15. After an unsuccessful safety he allowed the Scotsman to equalize with a 139 break. This meant that the decider had to decide on the final. Gilbert had the first chance, but was just as unable to build a decisive break as Higgins afterwards. In the following safety duel, the Scot was the more successful and won with 73:32 points.

In the second game, Gary Wilson and Judd Trump initially fought head-to-head. Again, the favorite won the first frame, but Wilson equalized immediately and took the lead with a 140 break, which Trump then equalized. Leadership and immediate compensation followed several times. Only when Trump was able to pull away from 6: 6 to 9: 6 for the first time, the direction of the game was predetermined. Wilson no longer came much closer, instead Trump extended the lead. His Century to 12: 8 was the 87th in the tournament, which broke the previous World Cup Century record. The last session started at 2:10 p.m. and the first frame in a broken game went back to the favorites. Wilson could only shorten one more time, then Trump produced the final score of 17:11 with two high breaks.

Tournament schedule

	Round of the last 32 Best of 19 Frames Sessions (9/10) 20. – 25. April					Round of 16 Best of 25 Frames Sessions (8/8/9) 25. – 29. April					Quarterfinals Best of 25 Frames Sessions (8/8/9) April 30th / May 1st					Semifinals Best of 33 Frames Sessions (8/8/8/9) 2-4. May					Final Best of 35 Frames Sessions (8/9/8/10) 5./6. May
	1	Mark Williams	10
	29	Martin Gould	7th
						1	Mark Williams	9
						16	David Gilbert	13
	16	David Gilbert	10
	18th	Joe Perry	7th
											16	David Gilbert	13
											8th	Kyren Wilson	8th
	9	Barry Hawkins	10
	28	Li Hang	1
						9	Barry Hawkins	11
						8th	Kyren Wilson	13
	8th	Kyren Wilson	10
	39	Scott Donaldson	4th
																16	David Gilbert	16
																5	John Higgins	17th
	5	John Higgins	10
	38	Mark Davis	7th
						5	John Higgins	13
						12	Stuart Bingham	11
	12	Stuart Bingham	10
	21st	Graeme Dott	9
											5	John Higgins	13
											4th	Neil Robertson	10
	13	Shaun Murphy	10
	91	Luo Honghao	0
						13	Shaun Murphy	6th
						4th	Neil Robertson	13
	4th	Neil Robertson	10
	52	Michael Georgiou	1
																					5	John Higgins	9
																					7th	Judd Trump	18th
	3	Mark Selby	10
	66	Zhao Xintong	7th
						3	Mark Selby	10
						32	Gary Wilson	13
	14th	Luca Brecel	9
	32	Gary Wilson	10
											32	Gary Wilson	13
											19th	Ali Carter	9
	11	Jack Lisowski	6th
	19th	Ali Carter	10
						19th	Ali Carter	13
						35	Zhou Yuelong	9
	6th	Mark Allen	7th
	35	Zhou Yuelong	10
																32	Gary Wilson	11
																7th	Judd Trump	17th
	7th	Judd Trump	10
	43	Thepchaiya Un-Nooh	9
						7th	Judd Trump	13
						10	Ding Junhui	9
	10	Ding Junhui	10
	24	Anthony McGill	7th
											7th	Judd Trump	13
											15th	Stephen Maguire	6th
	15th	Stephen Maguire	10
	80	Tian Pengfei	9
						15th	Stephen Maguire	13
						A.	James Cahill	12
	2	Ronnie O'Sullivan	8th
	A.	James Cahill	10

final

On March 20, 2019, the World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association announced that the Scot Leo Scullion would host the final of the World Championship. For the 61-year-old Scullion it was the first World Cup final.

The match (best of 35 frames) was a re-run of the 2011 finals , when Higgins and Trump had already played the World Cup final. At that time, Higgins won at 18:15 and took his fourth world title. It was only the second final for Trump, while Higgins played for the title for the eighth time. Only Stephen Hendry had made it to the final again. The Scot had also reached the final in the two years before, but lost both times.

The first session was evenly balanced and ended 4: 4. At the beginning of the second session, Higgins won the 9th frame and was 5: 4 for the only time in the entire game. Trump then won the remaining eight frames of the session and took the lead 12-5. This stage of the game has been described by several commentators as the best they have ever seen. Six-time world champion Steve Davis commented, “I've seen some astonishing snooker here, a lot of it from Ronnie O'Sullivan, but that was a different type of astonishing. I am a little bit in shock. He is making a lot of very difficult shots seem very easy " . (I've seen amazing snooker, much in the style of Ronnie O'Sullivan, but that's a different kind of astonishment. I'm a little shocked. It makes a lot of very difficult shots look very easy.) At the start of the third session, Higgins tried his hand at it on a maximum break and punched red and black 14 times until he lost his position on the last red ball. He also won the next frame and shortened to 7:12, but Trump won the next three frames and moved away to 15: 7. The following two frames went back to Higgins and he prevented the final from ending in three sessions. However, Trump won the last frame and before the last session it was 16: 9 for the Englishman. In the fourth session he won the two frames he was missing and finally won with 18: 9.

With eleven century breaks , this game broke the record previously held by Alan McManus and Ding Junhui with ten Centurys ( semi-finals of the 2016 World Cup ). After the game, Higgins praised Trump's way of playing "I was the lucky one to not have to pay for a ticket, he was just awesome" (I was lucky enough not to have to pay anything for the ticket, he was just fantastic). Steve Davis commented on the BBC: "The standard in that final may have been the greatest we have ever seen and Judd Trump was at the heart of it." (The level of this final was perhaps the highest that we have ever seen, and Judd Trump was the focus.)

Final: Best of 35 Frames Referee: Leo Scullion Crucible Theater ,  Sheffield , England , 5th / 6th May 2019
John Higgins	9: 18	Judd Trump
First session : 1: 66 (51), 45: 72 (63), 139 : 0 (139), 0: 105 (105), 70 : 8 (69), 74 : 0, 101 : 0 (101), 4th : 103 (103), Second session : 125 : 1 (125), 0: 66 , 4: 139 (135), 45: 67 , 0: 118 (114), 30: 64 , 28: 95 (71), 20 : 70 (58), 19: 85 (70), third session : 113 : 0 (113), 60 : 35 (59), 0: 101 (101), 0: 72 (71), 0: 126 (126) , 92 : 16 (67), 79 : 11 (70), 0: 104 (104), fourth session: 0: 94 (94), 1: 63 (62)
139	Highest break	135
4th	Century breaks	7th
8th	50+ breaks	15th

qualification

The top 16 of the world rankings were set for the main tournament, their 16 challengers were determined through qualification. The 128 participants included the professional players from 17th place, except for the Welshman Jamie Jones , who was banned from the world association, and the Chinese Li Yuan . For the 21 remaining places, the WPBSA selected 16 amateur players who were successful in continental and junior championships or who qualified according to other criteria. The remaining 5 places were awarded to the best players of the Q School 2018 who had not yet qualified otherwise. In addition, the Chinese Zhang Jiankang canceled shortly before the tournament. He was replaced by Michael Judge from Ireland.

The three qualifying rounds took place from April 10-17, 2019 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield . All games were played in best-of-19 mode .

Round 1

At the end of the season, the world championship as the most highly endowed tournament offers another opportunity to correct a bad season and improve in the world rankings . Mostly, however, only the tendency of the previous season is confirmed. Marco Fu was the top ranked player to be eliminated in Round 1. In autumn it was still in 13th place and has since dropped to 40th place. With the end, his series of 14 World Cup finals in a row ended.

Other players missed the last chance to make their way into the top 64, where they would automatically have qualified for the next season. Rory McLeod fell out of the top 64 for the first time after 15 years due to his opening defeat, and Alexander Ursenbacher from Switzerland, who returned in 2017, and Peter Lines also missed the opportunity to extend their two-year Tourcard. The English fought for more than 10 hours and was defeated by Michael Judge at 3 a.m. in the decision frame. The Irishman was not originally intended as a participant and moved up at short notice. The German Lukas Kleckers was also unable to take advantage of his already slim chance against the second best Chinese player Yan Bingtao and said goodbye to the tour after his first two years. The game of Joe O'Connor against Joe Swail indicated a generation change . The 23-year-old O'Connor won 10-1 in his first World Cup participation as a professional. The 49-year-old Northern Irishman fell off the tour after 27 years as a professional and left it open whether he would try to return again.

Only four players outside the top 80 and four amateurs managed to win against higher-placed professionals in round 1. The biggest surprise came from the wildcard player Pang Junxu from China, who knocked number 44 in the world rankings Stuart Carrington out of the tournament with 10: 6. Even James Cahill won unexpectedly against Andrew Higginson , he had nevertheless already boast four years of experience as a professional. The match of the friendly players took a curious course: Cahill was 7-0 and 8-2 ahead and couldn't use it. Higginson now took seven frames in a row and took the lead 9: 8, only to then miss the decision and still lose with 9:10. Michael Judge and David Grace were the other two ex-pros to win their opening game, but Grace had already secured a return next season through the Challenge Tour .

game Player 1 Result Player 2 1 (17)  Ryan Day  6th10 : 610  Oliver Lines  (95) 2 (80)  Tian Pengfei  510 : 510  Soheil Vahedi  (101) 3 (48)  Matthew Stevens  310 : 310  Thor Chuan Leong  (107) 4th (49)  Chris Wakelin  510 : 510  Fan Zhengyi  (121) 5 (32)  Gary Wilson  510 : 510  Sanderson Lam  (112) 6th (65)  Dominic Dale  510 : 510  Chris Totten  (97) 7th (33)  Liang Wenbo  010 : 010  Basem Eltahhan  (123) 8th (64)  Rory McLeod  108 108th  David Grace  (toilet) 9 (57)  Robbie Williams  8th10 : 810  Sam Baird  (83) 10 (40)  Marco Fu  107: 107th  Luo Honghao  (91) 11 (72)  Sam Craigie  210 : 210  Rhys Clark  (120) 12 (25)  Tom Ford  310 : 310  Ross Muir  (93) 13 (56)  Sunny Akani  6th10 : 610  Chen Zifan  (99) 14th (41)  Robert Milkins  4th10 : 410  Luke Simmonds  (A) 15th (73)  Duane Jones  510 : 510  Kishan Hirani  (116) 16 (24)  Anthony McGill  8th10 : 810  Ashley Hugill  (103) 17th (21)  Graeme Dott  210 : 210  Hamza Akbar  (104) 18th (76)  Xu Si  210 : 210  Sean O'Sullivan  (113) 19th (44)  Stuart Carrington  106: 106th  Pang Junxu  (toilet) 20th (53)  Kurt Maflin  310 : 310  Mitchell Mann  (toilet) 21st (28)  Li Hang  510 : 510  Niu Zhuang  (98) 22nd (69)  Ian Burns  7th10 : 710  Farakh Ajaib  (A) 23 (37)  Ben Woollaston  7th10 : 710  Elliot Slessor  (92) 24 (60)  Mike Dunn  107: 107th  Nigel Bond  (82) 25th (61)  Daniel Wells  510 : 510  Jamie Clarke  (109) 26th (36)  Hossein Vafaei  4th10 : 410  Zhang Anda  (85) 27 (68)  Gerard Greene  7th10 : 710  Aaron Hill  (toilet) 28 (29)  Martin Gould  010 : 010  Mostafa Dorgham  (toilet) 29 (52)  Michael Georgiou  7th10 : 710  Lee Walker  (102) 30th (45)  Peter Ebdon  4th10 : 410  Harvey Chandler  (115) 31 (77)  Mei Xiwen  310 : 310  Florian Nüßle  (toilet) 32 (20)  Yan Bingtao  310 : 310  Lukas Kleckers  (108)

game Player 1 Result Player 2 33 (19)  Ali Carter  110 : 110  Paul Davison  (89) 34 (78)  Jimmy White  510 : 510  Ross Bulman  (toilet) 35 (46)  Michael White  4th10 : 410  Andy Hicks  (A) 36 (51)  Yuan Sijun  108 108th  John Astley  (100) 37 (30)  Ricky Walden  7th10 : 710  Alfie Burden  (94) 38 (67)  Eden Sharav  7th10 : 710  David Lilley  (toilet) 39 (35)  Zhou Yuelong  7th10 : 710  Robin Hull  (87) 40 (62)  Liam Highfield  7th10 : 710  Hammad Miah  (117) 41 (59)  Fergal O'Brien  4th10 : 410  Jackson Page  (toilet) 42 (38)  Mark Davis  6th10 : 610  Rod Lawler  (81) 43 (70)  Alexander Ursenbacher  104: 104th  Jordan Brown  (111) 44 (27)  Lü Haotian  510 : 510  Ashley carty  (105) 45 (54)  Mark Joyce  210 : 210  Billy Castle  (96) 46 (43)  Thepchaiya Un-Nooh  4th10 : 410  Jonathan Bagley  (toilet) 47 (75)  Joe O'Connor  110 : 110  Joe Swail  (86) 48 (22)  Jimmy Robertson  010 : 010  Chen Feilong  (98) 49 (23)  Xiao Guodong  510 : 510  Jak Jones  (90) 50 (74)  Peter Lines  109: 109  Michael Judge  (A) 51 (42)  Michael Holt  510 : 510  Brandon Sargeant  (toilet) 52 (55)  Andrew Higginson  109: 109  James Cahill  (A) 53 (26)  Mark King  4th10 : 410  Igor Figueiredo  (WC) 54 (71)  Lu Ning  4th10 : 410  Allan Taylor  (88) 55 (39)  Scott Donaldson  8th10 : 810  Craig Steadman  (84) 56 (58)  Ken Doherty  8th10 : 810  Andy Lee  (119) 57 (63)  Anthony Hamilton  910 : 910  James Wattana  (106) 58 (34)  Matthew Selt  310 : 310  Dylan Emery  (toilet) 59 (66)  Zhao Xintong  210 : 210  Adam Lilley  (toilet) 60 (31)  Noppon Saengkham  310 : 310  Adam Stefanów  (118) 61 (50)  Alan McManus  6th10 : 610  Ng On Yee  (WC) 62 (47)  Martin O'Donnell  6th10 : 610  Adam Duffy  (A) 63 (79)  Zhang Yong  210 : 210  Reanne Evans  (toilet) 64 (18)  Joe Perry  110 : 110  Simon Lichtenberg  (122)

round 2

There were more surprises in round 2 than at the start. Ryan Day , who was ranked 17th in the world. had just missed the direct Crucible qualification, clearly lost 3:10 against Tian Pengfei , who was still fighting for a top 64 place. With Michael Judge and James Cahill, two of the four amateurs survived the second round. The Irishman defeated the number 23 Xiao Guodong with his second 10: 9 result and Cahill also prevailed against a clear favorite, the number 42 Michael Holt . In the course of the season, thanks to the Q-School ranking of the previous year, Cahill had already successfully taken part in several professional tournaments and, among other things, reached the second round of the Indian Open . With this victory at the World Cup, he moved up to the top 8 in the one-year ranking of the prize money ranking without the top 64 professionals and thus secured his return to the Main Tour for the next season.

Lu Ning knocked Mark King out of the top 32 and Eden Sharav saved his chance of remaining in the top 64 with a 10: 9 against number 30 Ricky Walden . The Israeli was already on the verge of defeat , when Walden had scored the 9: 6, but he kept his nerve and then got four frames in a row. Another coup was achieved by Joe O'Connor . After his clear first round success, he defeated Jimmy Robertson, a top seeded player, in a hard-fought match in the Decider. Robertson had won his opening match against Chen Feilong 10-0 .

No surprise, however, was the second round of the oldest World Cup participant Jimmy White . Against top player Ali Carter , who had always reached the finals for the previous 17 years, he lost 4:10. The 56-year-old played his 103rd World Cup match, making him the sole record holder this year ahead of Steve Davis with 101 World Cup games.

game Player 1 Result Player 2 65 (17)  Ryan Day  103: 103  Tian Pengfei  (80) 66 (48)  Matthew Stevens  7th10 : 710  Chris Wakelin  (49) 67 (32)  Gary Wilson  310 : 310  Dominic Dale  (65) 68 (33)  Liang Wenbo  7th10 : 710  David Grace  (toilet) 69 (57)  Robbie Williams  108 108th  Luo Honghao  (91) 70 (72)  Sam Craigie  108 108th  Tom Ford  (25) 71 (56)  Sunny Akani  105: 105  Robert Milkins  (41) 72 (73)  Duane Jones  105: 105  Anthony McGill  (24) 73 (21)  Graeme Dott  4th10 : 410  Xu Si  (76) 74 (WC)  Pang Junxu  107: 107th  Kurt Maflin  (53) 75 (28)  Li Hang  8th10 : 810  Ian Burns  (69) 76 (37)  Ben Woollaston  4th10 : 410  Nigel Bond  (82) 77 (61)  Daniel Wells  6th10 : 610  Hossein Vafaei  (36) 78 (68)  Gerard Greene  106: 106th  Martin Gould  (29) 79 (52)  Michael Georgiou  8th10 : 810  Peter Ebdon  (45) 80 (77)  Mei Xiwen  108 108th  Yan Bingtao  (20)

game Player 1 Result Player 2 81 (19)  Ali Carter  4th10 : 410  Jimmy White  (78) 82 (46)  Michael White  106: 106th  John Astley  (100) 83 (30)  Ricky Walden  109: 109  Eden Sharav  (67) 84 (35)  Zhou Yuelong  510 : 510  Liam Highfield  (62) 85 (59)  Fergal O'Brien  104: 104th  Mark Davis  (38) 86 (111)  Jordan Brown  100: 100  Lü Haotian  (27) 87 (54)  Mark Joyce  105: 105  Thepchaiya Un-Nooh  (43) 88 (75)  Joe O'Connor  910 : 910  Jimmy Robertson  (22) 89 (23)  Xiao Guodong  109: 109  Michael Judge  (A) 90 (42)  Michael Holt  107: 107th  James Cahill  (A) 91 (26)  Mark King  105: 105  Lu Ning  (71) 92 (39)  Scott Donaldson  4th10 : 410  Ken Doherty  (58) 93 (63)  Anthony Hamilton  107: 107th  Matthew Selt  (34) 94 (66)  Zhao Xintong  510 : 510  Noppon Saengkham  (31) 95 (50)  Alan McManus  108 108th  Martin O'Donnell  (47) 96 (79)  Zhang Yong  101: 101  Joe Perry  (18)

Round 3

The first sensation was already clear before the start of round 3: Since the two remaining amateurs competed against each other, an amateur would qualify for the finals at the Crucible Theater for the first time. It was the young Englishman James Cahill who prevailed 10: 6 against the 43-year-old Michael Judge. Unlike in round 1, he defended a quick 4-0 lead until the end.

Besides him, only three players who did not make it into the top 64 made it into the main tournament, the three Chinese Luo Honghao , Zhao Xintong and Tian Pengfei . Tian had previously been unsuccessful in qualifying for the World Cup ten times and threatened to lose a 9: 3 lead against Matthew Stevens , but still won 10: 8. Overall, despite the elimination of some higher-placed Chinese, six players from the Middle Kingdom reached the round of 32 at the World Cup for the first time. The highest placed qualifier was the world number 18. Joe Perry , who had only lost 5 frames in the three rounds together, ahead of number 19 Ali Carter with 9 lost frames. The number 21 Graeme Dott only gave 8 frames in the three successful qualifiers. Kleckers conqueror Yan Bingtao, however, lost as number 20 against Michael Georgiou with 8:10. The native Englishman is the first player to start for Cyprus in a World Cup and one of seven players who made it into the Crucible for the first time in their career. Scott Donaldson , who lost a 9-4 lead against Lu Ning , made it particularly exciting . In the decider, Lu already needed two snookers and even that didn't seem to have enough lead, as the Scot actually committed two fouls. Ultimately, however, the Chinese could not benefit and Donaldson punched the decisive balls to 10: 9.

Robert Milkins , however, was not enough to have a 7-2 lead over Anthony McGill . The Scot still won 10: 8 and reached the Crucible Arena for the fifth year in a row. Mark Davis even made it to the finals through the qualifying tournament for the tenth time, setting a new record. The 46-year-old was also the oldest player among the 32 finals in Sheffield.

game Player 1 Result Player 2 97 (80)  Tian Pengfei  8th10 : 810  Matthew Stevens  (48) 98 (32)  Gary Wilson  6th10 : 610  Liang Wenbo  (33) 99 (91)  Luo Honghao  8th10 : 810  Tom Ford  (25) 100 (41)  Robert Milkins  108 108th  Anthony McGill  (24) 101 (21)  Graeme Dott  210 : 210  Kurt Maflin  (53) 102 (28)  Li Hang  8th10 : 810  Ben Woollaston  (37) 103 (61)  Daniel Wells  108 108th  Martin Gould  (29) 104 (52)  Michael Georgiou  8th10 : 810  Yan Bingtao  (20)

game Player 1 Result Player 2 105 (19)  Ali Carter  4th10 : 410  John Astley  (100) 106 (67)  Eden Sharav  106: 106th  Zhou Yuelong  (35) 107 (38)  Mark Davis  7th10 : 710  Lü Haotian  (27) 108 (43)  Thepchaiya Un-Nooh  6th10 : 610  Joe O'Connor  (75) 109 (A)  Michael Judge  106: 106th  James Cahill  (A) 110 (71)  Lu Ning  109: 109  Scott Donaldson  (39) 111 (34)  Matthew Selt  104: 104th  Zhao Xintong  (66) 112 (47)  Martin O'Donnell  103: 103  Joe Perry  (18)

Century breaks

Main tournament

23 players achieved a total of 100 century breaks , which clearly surpassed the old record of 86 Centurys.

John Higgins 143 , 139 (2 ×), 135, 132 (2 ×), 130, 125, 113, 101 (2 ×), 100 Judd Trump 141, 135, 131, 126, 123, 114 (2 ×), 106, 105, 104, 103 (2 ×), 101 (2 ×) Gary Wilson 140, 134 (2 ×), 117, 115, 109, 106, 100 David Gilbert 139, 125, 113, 109, 105, 102, 100 Shaun Murphy 138, 123, 112, 109, 102, 101 Kyren Wilson 138, 132, 131, 125, 111, 104, 100 Barry Hawkins 137, 136, 130, 105 Joe Perry 136 Ali Carter 135, 128, 102 Ding Junhui 134, 129, 106 Mark Selby 131 (2 ×), 120, 102 Stephen Maguire 131, 125, 122, 121, 110, 105, 103

Mark Allen 131 Luca Brecel 131 Mark Williams 129, 105, 101 Neil Robertson 127, 120 (2 ×), 114, 106, 100 Jack Lisowski 124, 104 Graeme Dott 114 Stuart Bingham 112, 107, 106 Zhou Yuelong 106, 105, 101 Tian Pengfei 104, 100 Ronnie O'Sullivan 104 James Cahill 101

qualification

In the qualification, 57 players played a total of 122 century breaks .

Noppon Saengkham 146, 121, 118, 113 Matthew Stevens 143 (2 ×), 116, 114, 111 Liang Wenbo 141, 133, 122, 119, 114 Graeme Dott 140, 135, 103 Chris Wakelin 139, 109, 107 Marco Fu 138, 128 Joe O'Connor 138, 124, 122, 102, 100 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 138, 107 Zhou Yuelong 136 (2 ×), 115, 106 Daniel Wells 136, 113, 107, 100 (2 ×) Michael Holt 136, 106 Elliot Slessor 136 Lu Ning 135, 113 Lü Haotian 135, 100 Gary Wilson 134, 112, 100 Tian Pengfei 133, 125 Xiao Guodong 133, 119, 105 Martin Gould 132, 102, 100 Eden Sharav 132 James Cahill 131, 119, 118, 113, 103, 100 Anthony McGill 131, 118, 116 Scott Donaldson 130, 102 Andy Hicks 130 Alan McManus 130 Yan Bingtao 128, 103 Hossein Vafaei 128 Ali Carter 127, 120, 102, 101 Joe Perry 127, 110, 102, 100 Sam Craigie 127, 106

Zhao Xintong 124, 103 Mark Davis 122, 109, 102 Michael Georgiou 121, 117, 101 Kurt Maflin 121 Alexander Ursenbacher 121 Jonathan Bagley 120 Stuart Carrington 119, 100 Gerard Greene 118 Ashley Carty 117 Brandon Sargeant 116 Soheil Vahedi 116 Xu Si 116 Ben Woollaston 114, 100 Robbie Williams 114 Zhang Anda 112 John Astley 111, 108 Li Hang 111 Niu Zhuang 109 Ian Burns 108, 102 Tom Ford 106, 101 Sam Baird 106 Luo Honghao 106 Mei Xiwen 105, 101 Lukas Kleckers 103 David Lilley 102 Martin O'Donnell 101 Sunny Akani 101 Dominic Dale 100

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Indicative Prize Money Rankings Schedule 2018/2019 Season. (PDF; 105 kB) In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , July 18, 2018, accessed April 8, 2019 .  
2. ↑ Provisional Format of Play. (PDF; 75 kB) In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, accessed April 18, 2019 .  
3. ↑ Betfred World Championship (2019). In: snooker.org. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .  
4. ↑ Cahill Stuns Rocket In Crucible Shock , World Snooker, April 23, 2019
5. ↑ Trump Edges Un-Nooh In Quickfire Showdown , World Snooker, April 24, 2019
6. ^ Murphy Scores Rare Crucible Whitewash , World Snooker, April 22, 2019
7. ↑ Bingham Holds Off Dott Fightback In Thriller , World Snooker, April 24, 2019
8. ↑ Wilson Downs Brecel In Crucible's Longest Frame , World Snooker, April 21, 2019
9. ↑ Gilbert Floors Champ Williams , World Snooker, April 27, 2019
10. ↑ Red-Hot Robertson Burns Off Murphy , World Snooker, April 26, 2019
11. ↑ Warrior Cuts Hawk's Advantage , World Snooker April 28, 2019
12. ↑ Wonderful Wilson Into Semis , World Snooker, May 1, 2019
13. ↑ Trump Powers Past Maguire , World Snooker, May 1, 2019
14. ↑ Higgins Into Eighth World Final After Thriller , World Snooker, May 4, 2019
15. ↑ Trump Extends Semi-Final Advantage , World Snooker May 4, 2019
16. ↑ Scullion Selected to Referee First World Final. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, March 20, 2019, accessed March 22, 2019 .  
17. ↑ Higgins Into Eighth World Final After Thriller , World Snooker, May 4, 2019
18. ↑ He is making a lot of very difficult shots seem very easy. Steve Davis on BBC. Retrieved May 7, 2019
19. ^ Criteria Set For Crucible Qualifiers. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, March 11, 2019, accessed April 8, 2019 .  
20. ↑ World Championship 2019 Qualifiers Draw. (PDF; 394 kB) In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, April 8, 2019, accessed April 8, 2019 .  
21. ↑ World Snooker Qualifying Format. (PDF; 57.5 kB) In: worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, April 8, 2019, accessed April 8, 2019 .  
22. ↑ Betfred World Championship Qualifiers (2019). In: snooker.org. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .  
23. ↑ O'Connor Eases Through As Swail Drops Off Tour , World Snooker, April 10, 2019
24. ↑ Cahill Downs Higginson In Thriller , World Snooker, April 11, 2019
25. ^ Judge and Cahill To Meet For Crucible History , World Snooker, April 11, 2019
26. ↑ Captain Sets Course For Judgment Day , World Snooker, April 16, 2019
27. ↑ Whirlwind And Captain Set Up Showdown , World Snooker, April 13, 2019
28. ↑ Cahill Close To Crucible Debut , World Snooker, April 16, 2019
29. ↑ Four Chinese Potters Set For Crucible Debut , World Snooker, April 17, 2019
30. ↑ Betfred World Championship Draw , World Snooker, April 13, 2019
31. ↑ Amateur Cahill To Make Crucible History , World Snooker, April 17, 2019
32. ↑ Betfred World Championship 2019 - Centuries. In: worldsnookerdata.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, accessed May 6, 2018 .  
33. ↑ Betfred World Championship 2019 Qualifiers - Centuries. In: worldsnookerdata.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, accessed April 17, 2018 .