World Snooker Championship 2021

2021 World Snooker Championship Betfred World Snooker Championship 2021
Tournament type:	World ranking tournament
Attendees:	144
Venue:	Crucible Theater , Sheffield , England
Opening:	April 17, 2021
Endgame:	2nd / 3rd May 2021
Winner:	Mark Selby
Finalist:	Shaun Murphy
Highest Break:	144 ( Shaun Murphy)
← 2020

The 2021 Betfred World Snooker Championship was held from April 17th to May 3rd, 2021 at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield . It was the most important tournament on the World Snooker Tour and ended the 2020/21 season . Mark Selby won the tournament and was snooker world champion for the fourth time. Finalist Shaun Murphy played the tournament's highest break with a 144 break.

Ronnie O'Sullivan had won his sixth world title last year and, with the exception of one win, was close to Stephen Hendry's crucible record . Due to his narrow knockout knockout round defeat by Anthony McGill he missed his chance for the seventh title in this edition.

Prize money

For the third year in a row, the premiums for the placements achieved remained unchanged.

	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
Last 112	£ 5,000
Highest break	£ 15,000
A total of	£ 2,395,000

Main round

Tournament schedule

16 players were placed due to their world rankings. Your 16 first-round opponents had previously prevailed in the qualification. The draw for the first round games took place on April 15, 2021.

Round of the last 32 Best of 19 Frames Sessions (9/10) April 17-22

Round of 16 Best of 25 Frames Sessions (8/8/9) April 22nd to 26th

Quarterfinals Best of 25 Frames Sessions (8/8/9) April 27th and 28th

Semi-final Best of 33 Frames Sessions (8/8/8/9) April 29th to May 1st

Final Best of 35 Frames Sessions (8/9/8/10) May 2nd and 3rd

1

Ronnie O'Sullivan

10

46

Mark Joyce

4th

1

Ronnie O'Sullivan

12th

16

Anthony McGill

13th

16

Anthony McGill

10

35

Ricky Walden

5

16

Anthony McGill

12th

18th

Stuart Bingham

13th

9

Ding Junhui

9

18th

Stuart Bingham

10

18th

Stuart Bingham

13th

69

Jamie Jones

6th

8th

Stephen Maguire

4th

69

Jamie Jones

10

18th

Stuart Bingham

15th

4th

Mark Selby

17th

5

John Higgins

10

53

Tian Pengfei

7th

5

John Higgins

7th

12th

Mark Williams

13th

12th

Mark Williams

10

58

Sam Craigie

4th

12th

Mark Williams

3

4th

Mark Selby

13th

13th

Mark Allen

10

56

Lü Haotian

2

13th

Mark Allen

7th

4th

Mark Selby

13th

4th

Mark Selby

10

25th

Kurt Maflin

1

4th

Mark Selby

18th

7th

Shaun Murphy

15th

3

Neil Robertson

10

29

Liang Wenbo

3

3

Neil Robertson

13th

14th

Jack Lisowski

9

14th

Jack Lisowski

10

23

Ali Carter

9

3

Neil Robertson

8th

6th

Kyren Wilson

13th

11

Barry Hawkins

10

32

Matthew Selt

3

11

Barry Hawkins

10

6th

Kyren Wilson

13th

6th

Kyren Wilson

10

22nd

Gary Wilson

8th

6th

Kyren Wilson

12th

7th

Shaun Murphy

17th

7th

Shaun Murphy

10

45

Mark Davis

7th

7th

Shaun Murphy

13th

10

Yan Bingtao

7th

10

Yan Bingtao

10

27

Martin Gould

6th

7th

Shaun Murphy

13th

2

Judd Trump

11

15th

David Gilbert

10

63

Chris Wakelin

4th

15th

David Gilbert

8th

2

Judd Trump

13th

2

Judd Trump

10

49

Liam Highfield

4th

final

Final: Best of 35 Frames Referee: Paul Collier Crucible Theater ,  Sheffield , England , 2/3 May 2021
Mark Selby	18 : 15	Shaun Murphy
Session 1 : 49: 57 , 46: 67 , 68 : 65 (65 SM), 89 : 7 (89), 0: 75 (75), 66 : 1, 8: 71 (64), 54: 80 (52 SM ); Status: 3: 5 Session 2 : 85 : 49 (85), 0: 98 (98), 72 : 34 (67), 107 : 0 (86), 34: 97 (64), 109 : 0 (57), 90 : 34 (90), 88 : 4, 69 : 26; Stand: 10: 7 Session 3 : 4: 84 (77), 69 : 58 (62), 41: 69 , 134 : 0 (107), 104 : 14 (54, 50), 1: 100 (100), 0 : 108 (56), 131 : 0 (62, 69); Status: 14:11 Session 4 : 70 : 28 (66), 48: 73 , 108 : 0 (68), 11: 79 (58), 120 : 0 (120), 7: 100 (100), 8: 126 (103), 71 : 57
120	Highest break	103
2	Century breaks	3
14th	50+ breaks	12th

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 onwards, with the exception of Marco Fu , Mei Xiwen and Steve Mifsud , who had previously skipped the entire season. For the 19 remaining places, the WPBSA selected three successors from the Q School Order of Merit and 16 other amateur players according to various criteria. Four representatives from German-speaking countries were represented, in addition to the three professionals Alexander Ursenbacher from Switzerland and Simon Lichtenberg and Lukas Kleckers from Germany, the Austrian master Florian Nüßle also got a place to participate.

The four qualifying rounds took place from April 5th to 14th, 2021 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield . The first three rounds were played in the best-of-11 mode , the final Crucible qualification decided in the best-of-19 mode (10 winning frames).

Round 1

64 players (places 81–128 in the world rankings + WPBSA amateur player). The meetings took place from April 5th to 7th, 2021. The duel between Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry received special attention . The two over-50s had faced each other four times in the World Cup finals between 1990 and 1994. Hendry had won all four games and he won this time too. Thanks to a WPBSA wildcard, the Scot had only returned to the tour this season after a long break and scored his first win in his second game.

In addition to the two German professionals, the Austrian Florian Nüßle also made it into the second round. Besides him, only one other amateur, the Belgian Julian Leclercq, made it to the next round.

game Player 1 Result Player 2 1 (81)  Jimmy White  6th3: 63  Stephen Hendry  (125) 2 (112)  Zak Surety  6th4: 64th  Fan Zhengyi  (121) 3 (96)  Ken Doherty  6th4: 64th  Lee Walker  (120) 4th (97)  Oliver Lines  16 : 16th  Dylan Emery  (A) 5 (104)  Fraser Patrick  4th6 : 46th  Leo Fernandez  (A) 6th (89)  Barry Pinches  6th0: 60  Jamie Wilson  (117) 7th (105)  Gao Yang  36 : 36th  Paul Davison  (A) 8th (88)  Soheil Vahedi  6th5: 65  Julian Leclercq  (A) 9 (85)  Andy Hicks  26 : 26th  Reanne Evans  (A) 10 (108)  Billy Joe Castle  36 : 36th  Connor Benzey  (A) 11 (92)  David Lilley  kl.  Amine Amiri  (118) 12th (101)  Brandon Sargeant  4th6 : 46th  Rebecca Kenna  (A) 13th (100)  Zhao Jianbo  36 : 36th  Ross Muir  (A) 14th (93)  Rod Lawler  16 : 16th  Alex Borg  (119) 15th (109)  Fergal O'Brien  36 : 36th  Fergal Quinn  (A) 16 (84)  Jamie Clarke  4th6 : 46th  Julian Boiko  (123) game Player 1 Result Player 2 17th (83)  Igor Figueiredo  06 : 06th  Farakh Ajaib  (122) 18th (110)  Rory McLeod  56 : 56th  Brian Ochoiski  (A) 19th (94)  Ashley Carty  4th6 : 46th  Michael White  (A) 20th (99)  Peter Lines  56 : 56th  Mark Lloyd  (A) 21 (102)  Allan Taylor  6th4: 64th  Bay Langning  (115) 22nd (91)  Duane Jones  56 : 56th  Hayden Staniland  (A) 23 (107)  Steven Hallworth  26 : 26th  Dean Young  (A) 24 (86)  James Cahill  16 : 16th  Sean Maddocks  (124) 25th (87)  Si Jiahui  16 : 16th  Hamim Hussain  (A) 26th (106)  Peter Devlin  6th1: 61  Lukas Kleckers  (113) 27 (90)  Kacper Filipiak  4th6 : 46th  Riley Parsons  (116) 28 (103)  Aaron Hill  6th4: 64th  Ashley Hugill  (114) 29 (98)  Lei Peifan  56 : 56th  Ben Mertens  (A) 30th (95)  Simon Lichtenberg  36 : 36th  Ivan Kakowski  (A) 31 (111)  Ben Hancorn  6th2: 62  Florian Nuessle  (A) 32 (82)  Mitchell Mann  56 : 56th  Robbie McGuigan  (A) kl. = without a fight round 2 64 players (places 49–80 in the world rankings against the winners of the first round). The meetings took place from April 7th to 10th, 2021. Mostly the favorites prevailed. In the duel between Switzerland and Germany, Alexander Ursenbacher clearly had the upper hand against Lukas Kleckers and remained the only German-speaking representative in the tournament. Simon Lichtenberg and Florian Nüßle had to accept the superiority of their opponents Ian Burns and Mark King respectively . The progress of Bai Langning against Alan McManus and Steven Hallworth against David Grace was surprising . Both winners did not make it into the top 100 of the season and still prevailed against opponents from the top 64. McManus ended his professional career following this defeat. game Player 1 Result Player 2 33 (80)  Xu Si  16 : 16th  Stephen Hendry  (125) 34 (49)  Liam Highfield  56 : 56th  Fan Zhengyi  (121) 35 (65)  Nigel Bond  4th6 : 46th  Lee Walker  (120) 36 (64)  Dominic Dale  4th6 : 46th  Oliver Lines  (97) 37 (57)  Joe O'Connor  26 : 26th  Patrick Fraser  (104) 38 (72)  Jak Jones  4th6 : 46th  Jamie Wilson  (117) 39 (56)  Lü Haotian  56 : 56th  Gao Yang  (105) 40 (73)  Chang Bingyu  26 : 26th  Julian Leclercq  (A) 41 (76)  Eden Sharav  16 : 16th  Andy Hicks  (85) 42 (53)  Tian Pengfei  36 : 36th  Billy joe castle  (108) 43 (69)  Jamie Jones  4th6 : 46th  David Lilley  (92) 44 (60)  Andrew Higginson  36 : 36th  Brandon Sargeant  (101) 45 (61)  Jimmy Robertson  56 : 56th  Zhao Jianbo  (100) 46 (68)  Yuan Sijun  6th5: 65  Rod Lawler  (93) 47 (52)  Stuart Carrington  26 : 26th  Fergal O'Brien  (109) 48 (77)  Jamie O'Neill  6th5: 65  Jamie Clarke  (84) game Player 1 Result Player 2 49 (78)  Robbie Williams  6th5: 65  Igor Figueiredo  (83) 50 (51)  Anthony Hamilton  16 : 16th  Rory McLeod  (110) 51 (67)  Louis Heathcote  26 : 26th  Ashley carty  (94) 52 (62)  Luo Honghao  6th3: 63  Peter Lines  (99) 53 (59)  Alan McManus  6th3: 63  Bay Langning  (115) 54 (70)  Daniel Wells  6th4: 64th  Duane Jones  (91) 55 (54)  David Grace  6th3: 63  Steven hallworth  (107) 56 (75)  Gerard Greene  56 : 56th  James Cahill  (86) 57 (74)  Pang Junxu  4th6 : 46th  Si Jiahui  (87) 58 (55)  Alexander Ursenbacher  26 : 26th  Lukas Kleckers  (113) 59 (71)  Jackson Page  6th5: 65  Kacper Filipiak  (90) 60 (58)  Sam Craigie  36 : 36th  Ashley Hugill  (114) 61 (63)  Chris Wakelin  56 : 56th  Lei Peifan  (98) 62 (66)  Ian Burns  4th6 : 46th  Simon Lichtenberg  (95) 63 (50)  Mark King  36 : 36th  Florian Nuessle  (A) 64 (79)  Chen Zifan  56 : 56th  Mitchell Man  (82) Round 3 64 players (places 17–48 in the world rankings against the winners of the second round). The meetings took place from April 10th to 12th, 2021. Hallworth and Bai continued their success as the only players outside the top 100. Hallworth won against the Welsh Open winner Jordan Brown in the Decider as did Bai Langning against Ben Woollaston . Alexander Ursenbacher also needed the full 11 frames against Martin O'Donnell and made it into the last round of the World Cup qualification for the third time. With Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Joe Perry , two high favorites lost to players beyond the top 80. Noppon Saengkham tested positive for COVID-19 , which meant that Lü Haotian entered round 4 without a fight. game Player 1 Result Player 2 65 (17)  Zhou Yuelong  56 : 56th  Xu Si  (80) 66 (48)  Elliot Slessor  6th5: 65  Liam Highfield  (49) 67 (32)  Matthew Selt  56 : 56th  Nigel Bond  (65) 68 (33)  Scott Donaldson  56 : 56th  Dominic Dale  (64) 69 (40)  Robert Milkins  56 : 56th  Joe O'Connor  (57) 70 (25)  Kurt Maflin  4th6 : 46th  Jak Jones  (72) 71 (41)  Noppon Saengkham  kl.  Lü Haotian  (56) 72 (24)  Tom Ford  6th4: 64th  Chang Bingyu  (73) 73 (21)  Graeme Dott  36 : 36th  Eden Sharav  (76) 74 (44)  Sunny Akani  6th4: 64th  Tian Pengfei  (53) 75 (28)  Michael Holt  6th3: 63  Jamie Jones  (69) 76 (37)  Li Hang  26 : 26th  Andrew Higginson  (60) 77 (36)  Lu Ning  56 : 56th  Jimmy Robertson  (61) 78 (29)  Liang Wenbo  36 : 36th  Rod Lawler  (93) 79 (45)  Mark Davis  4th6 : 46th  Stuart Carrington  (52) 80 (20)  Joe Perry  6th2: 62  Jamie Clarke  (84) game Player 1 Result Player 2 81 (19)  Thepchaiya Un-Nooh  6th5: 65  Igor Figueiredo  (83) 82 (46)  Mark Joyce  36 : 36th  Anthony Hamilton  (51) 83 (30)  Ryan Day  56 : 56th  Louis Heathcote  (67) 84 (35)  Ricky Walden  16 : 16th  Peter Lines  (99) 85 (38)  Ben Woollaston  6th5: 65  Bay Langning  (115) 86 (27)  Martin Gould  4th6 : 46th  Duane Jones  (91) 87 (43)  Jordan Brown  6th5: 65  Steven hallworth  (107) 88 (22)  Gary Wilson  4th6 : 46th  Gerard Greene  (75) 89 (23)  Ali Carter  4th6 : 46th  Pang Junxu  (74) 90 (42)  Martin O'Donnell  6th5: 65  Alexander Ursenbacher  (55) 91 (26)  Zhao Xintong  36 : 36th  Kacper Filipiak  (90) 92 (39)  Hossein Vafaei  6th0: 60  Sam Craigie  (58) 93 (34)  Matthew Stevens  6th3: 63  Chris Wakelin  (63) 94 (31)  Xiao Guodong  16 : 16th  Ian Burns  (66) 95 (47)  Luca Brecel  36 : 36th  Mark King  (50) 96 (18)  Stuart Bingham  16 : 16th  Chen Zifan  (79) kl. = without a fight Round 4 32 players (third round winners against each other). The encounters took place on April 13th and 14th in the mode Best of 19 (Sessions 9/10). Alexander Ursenbacher had no chance against the favored Ali Carter on "Judgment Day" and thus missed moving into the Crucible for the second time in a row. Sam Craigie , on the other hand, managed to prevail against Zhao Xintong with a similar balance of power , even if he needed the deciding frame for it. The 27-year-old Englishman reached the World Cup finals for the first time, as did Mark Joyce , 10 years his senior , who won a favorite against Igor Figueiredo . For the second time, the Brazilian missed the chance to be the first player from South America to appear in the Crucible. Almost all of the other players outside of the top 64 also failed to surprise and were eliminated. Only Jamie Jones , number 69 in the world rankings, made it to the finals against Li Hang . However, the Welshman had already reached the World Cup round of 16 in 2018 and only fell so far behind in the ranking because of a 12-month suspension. game Player 1 Result Player 2 97 (17)  Zhou Yuelong  107: 107th  Liam Highfield  (49) 98 (32)  Matthew Selt  310 : 310  Scott Donaldson  (33) 99 (40)  Robert Milkins  104: 104th  Kurt Maflin  (25) 100 (56)  Lü Haotian  6th10 : 610  Chang Bingyu  (73) 101 (21)  Graeme Dott  107: 107th  Tian Pengfei  (53) 102 (69)  Jamie Jones  510 : 510  Li Hang  (37) 103 (36)  Lu Ning  107: 107th  Liang Wenbo  (29) 104 (45)  Mark Davis  8th10 : 810  Jamie Clarke  (84) game Player 1 Result Player 2 105 (83)  Igor Figueiredo  107: 107th  Mark Joyce  (46) 106 (30)  Ryan Day  105: 105  Ricky Walden  (35) 107 (115)  Bai Langning  105: 105  Martin Gould  (27) 108 (107)  Steven Hallworth  103: 103  Gary Wilson  (22) 109 (23)  Ali Carter  4th10 : 410  Alexander Ursenbacher  (55) 110 (26)  Zhao Xintong  109: 109  Sam Craigie  (58) 111 (63)  Chris Wakelin  7th10 : 710  Xiao Guodong  (31) 112 (47)  Luca Brecel  105: 105  Stuart Bingham  (18) Century breaks Main round In the course of the tournament a total of 108 Centurys were achieved by 22 players. This surpassed the previous record from 2019 . The highest century break was Shaun Murphy with 144 points, most played by Stuart Bingham , who got thirteen. Shaun Murphy 144, 131, 124, 120, 117, 113, 109, 104, 103, 100 (2 ×) Mark Selby 142, 135, 134 (3 ×), 132 (2 ×), 125, 121, 120, 107, 101 Kyren Wilson 139, 133, 131, 127, 121, 119, 115, 110, 107, 102 Mark Allen 139, 116, 102 Ronnie O'Sullivan 138, 137, 124, 112, 105 Liam Highfield 138 Neil Robertson 137, 135, 126 (2 ×), 113, 110, 108, 105, 100 (2 ×) Barry Hawkins 137, 126, 123, 107 Anthony McGill 136, 130 (2 ×), 126 (2 ×), 119, 106, 105 John Higgins 135, 127, 113, 107 David Gilbert 132, 111, 100 Stuart Bingham 131 (2 ×), 129, 127, 125, 122, 120, 119, 117, 108, 104, 102, 100 Yan Bingtao 130, 116, 101, 100 Liang Wenbo 126 Jack Lisowski 121, 116 Jamie Jones 121 Judd Trump 116, 114, 111 (2 ×), 107, 105 (2 ×) Ricky Walden 112, 105 Mark Williams 111, 108, 102, 101 Tian Pengfei 111 Martin Gould 109 Ding Junhui 105 qualification 50 players scored 106 century breaks during qualifying, Mark Davis had the highest break with 143 and Matthew Selt had the most 100 breaks with six Centuries. Mark Davis 143 Matthew Selt 142, 137, 135, 110 (2 ×), 106 Stuart Bingham 140 (2 ×), 120, 108 Fergal O'Brien 140 Ali Carter 139 Alexander Ursenbacher 139 Li Hang 138, 131 Lei Peifan 138 Oliver Lines 137, 134, 125, 122 Joe O'Connor 137, 114, 114, 104 Duane Jones 137, 112, 103 Bai Langning 136, 113, 102 Gerard Greene 136 Chang Bingyu 135, 125, 111, 110, 100 Mark Joyce 135 Lukas Kleckers 134 (2 ×) Xiao Guodong 133, 120 Igor Figueiredo 133, 105, 104 Liam Highfield 132 Michael Holt 132 Lyu Haotian 131, 114, 100 Gary Wilson 131, 108 Jak Jones 130, 123 Liang Wenbo 130, 106 Lu Ning 130 Chris Wakelin 126, 120, 107, 100 Sam Craigie 126, 117, 106 Robbie Williams 125 Stuart Carrington 124, 116, 100 Dominic Dale 124, 104 Zhao Jianbo 123, 113, 104 Nigel Bond 122 Si Jiahui 122 Tian Pengfei 121, 114, 110, 108 Mark King 120, 111 Kurt Maflin 119, 106, 104 Jamie Jones 117, 103, 101, 100 (2 ×) Julien Leclercq 114 Michael White 114 Chen Zifan 110 Ricky Walden 109 Fraser Patrick 108, 103 Dylan Emery 108 Pang Junxu 106 Ashley Hugill 105 Yuan Sijun 105 Louis Heathcote 104, 100 Steven Hallworth 103, 102 Martin Gould 103, 100 Elliot Slessor 103 swell ^ Betfred World Championship Prize Money. In: Wst.tv. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , March 21, 2021, accessed March 26, 2021 .  ↑ Betfred World Championship (2021). Snooker.org, accessed May 1, 2021 .  ↑ Crucible King O'Sullivan Set To Face Debutant Joyce. In: wst.tv. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , April 15, 2021, accessed April 15, 2021 .  ↑ a b Live scores of the games on Worldsnookerdata.com. WPBSA , accessed April 14, 2021 .  ↑ Betfred World Championship 2021 Qualifiers. (PDF; 289 kB) In: wst.tv. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , March 23, 2021, accessed March 26, 2021 .  ^ Betfred World Snooker Championship. (PDF; 102 kB) Qualifying Stages - Provisional Format of Play. In: wst.tv. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , March 24, 2021, accessed March 26, 2021 .  ↑ Saengkham tests positive for COVID-19. In: wst.tv. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association , April 8, 2021, accessed April 15, 2021 .  ↑ Betfred World Championship 2021 Centuries. In: worldsnookerdata.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, accessed May 1, 2021 .  ↑ Betfred World Championship 2021 Qualifiers - Centuries. In: worldsnookerdata.com. World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association, accessed April 14, 2021 .