Thailand Masters 2000

Thailand Masters 2000 Blue Eagle Thailand Masters 2000
Tournament type:	World ranking tournament
Attendees:	128
Venue:	Montien Riverside Hotel, Bangkok , Thailand
Opening:	March 3, 2000
Endgame:	March 11, 2000
Winner:	Mark Williams
Finalist:	Stephen Hendry
Highest Break:	140 ( Mark Williams )
← 1999   2001 →

The Blue Eagle Thailand Masters 2000 was a snooker tournament as part of the Snooker Main Tour of the 1999/2000 season , which took place in Bangkok from March 3rd to 11th . After 1996 , the Montien Riverside Hotel in the Thai capital was the venue for the second time. It was the 12th edition of the Thailand Masters or the Thailand Open. The tournament was sponsored for the first time by the local airline Thai Airways International with the Blue Eagle brand .

Last year's winner Mark Williams reached the final for the second time in a row. There was a new edition of the last World Cup final against Stephen Hendry . Williams retaliated for the defeat and defeated the Scots 9-5. It was his second Thailand title and, after the UK Championship, his second win of the season.

Prize money / ranking points

There wasn't quite as much money in the price pot as in the previous year, the sum sank by £ 25,000 . There was £ 6,000 less for the winner alone, £ 4,000 for the losing finalist. There was also less for everyone else, only the entry-level prize money rose from £ 200 to £ 345. But since there were more participants in 1999, there was still prize money up to 134th place.

With the points for the world rankings everything stayed the same, at least for the last 64. For the last 128 there were only 100 points, in 1999 there were 200 participants and even for the losers in the first round there were still 150 points.

placement	Prize money	Points a
winner	£ 44,000	4,560
final	£ 22,000	3,040
Semifinals	£ 11,550	2,025
Quarter finals	£ 6,250	1,520
Round of 16	£ 3,650	1,330
Last 32	£ 2,900	1,140 (/ 855)
Last 48	£ 1,500	855 (/ 640)
Last 64	£ 1,050	640
Last 96	750 pounds	480 (/ 300)
Last 128	£ 345	100
Highest Break (Final Round)	£ 2,500
Highest Break (Qualification)	£ 1,000
All in all	£ 266,790

^a Seeded players who lost their first game received a reduced number of points (in brackets).

Final round

For round 1, the 16 winners of the qualification were drawn from the top 16 of the world rankings . For the first time since the tournament became a ranking tournament in 1994, there was no wildcard round, which means that there were no more invitations for amateurs from Thailand or other Asian countries to play for participation in the main tournament.

	Round 1 best of 9 frames					Round of 16 best of 9 frames					Quarterfinals Best of 9 Frames					Semi-final Best of 9 frames					Final Best of 17 frames
	1	Mark Williams	5
	30th	Terry Murphy	4th
						1	Mark Williams	5
						34	Joe Perry	3
	13	Peter Ebdon	2
	34	Joe Perry	5
											1	Mark Williams	5
											6th	Stephen Lee	3
	12	Paul Hunter	5
	82	Martin Dziewialtowski	3
						12	Paul Hunter	0
						6th	Stephen Lee	5
	6th	Stephen Lee	5
	17th	Dave Harold	3
																1	Mark Williams	5
																19th	Dominic Dale	1
	8th	Alan McManus	4th
	80	Anthony Davies	5
						80	Anthony Davies	4th
						19th	Dominic Dale	5
	15th	Steve Davis	1
	19th	Dominic Dale	5
											19th	Dominic Dale	5
											14th	Mark King	2
	14th	Mark King	5
	18th	Chris Small	2
						14th	Mark King	5
						4th	Ronnie O'Sullivan	2
	4th	Ronnie O'Sullivan	5
	28	Joe Swail	3
																					1	Mark Williams	9
																					2	Stephen Hendry	5
	3	John Higgins	3
	24	Billy Snaddon	5
						24	Billy Snaddon	5
						16	Jimmy White	3
	16	Jimmy White	5
	58	David Roe	2
											24	Billy Snaddon	3
											7th	Ken Doherty	5
	11	Fergal O'Brien	2
	72	John Lardner	5
						72	John Lardner	3
						7th	Ken Doherty	5
	7th	Ken Doherty	5
	132	Hugh Abernethy	2
																7th	Ken Doherty	3
																2	Stephen Hendry	5
	5	John Parrott	3
	21st	Nigel Bond	5
						21st	Nigel Bond	4th
						9	Matthew Stevens	5
	9	Matthew Stevens	5
	134	Mike Dunn	1
											9	Matthew Stevens	1
											2	Stephen Hendry	5
	10	Anthony Hamilton	5
	67	Michael Judge	3
						10	Anthony Hamilton	4th
						2	Stephen Hendry	5
	2	Stephen Hendry	5
	32	Andy Hicks	0

final

In the final, the two best players met: World Champion Stephen Hendry and world number one Mark Williams . Williams had won her first three finals. With the World Cup last year , the tide turned and since then Hendry had won three finals. After the World Cup, Champions Cup and Premier League , it was the fourth clash in the final within a year. Williams had won the Thailand Masters the previous year, Hendry was the winner in 1998 .

Record world champion Hendry set out from the start to his fourth final win in a row against his permanent rival, he won the first frame, led 3-1 at the break and then moved away to 5-2. But Williams didn’t let him get away and cut it to 3: 5 at the end of the session. Although Hendry was in the lead, Williams had just as many high breaks as the Scot. The Welshman started the evening session with a century break and after he had equalized with the next contested frame, the final was just for him. He won a total of six frames in a row in the evening and Hendry was only able to achieve a higher number of points in the 14th frame. But when Williams got this frame too, the 9: 5 win and the title defense in Bangkok was perfect. It was his 10th title on the professional tour and his 8th in a ranking tournament.

Final: Best of 17 Frames Referee: John Williams Montien Riverside Hotel,  Bangkok , Thailand , March 11, 2000
Mark Williams	9 : 5	Stephen Hendry
Afternoon : 33: 83 (74), 64 : 1, 48: 73 , 0: 133 (111), 29: 71 , 87 : 4, 25: 79 (55), 70 : 52 (66); Evening : 132 : 0, 77 : 46, 72 : 0 (67), 73 : 6 (67), 65 : 16, 66 : 44
132	Highest break	111
1	Century breaks	1
6th	50+ breaks	3

Century breaks

9 players achieved 12 breaks of at least 100 points in the main tournament, 5 of which went to the two finalists Mark Williams and Stephen Hendry . Williams also scored the highest century break of the main tournament of 140 points in the quarterfinals . It brought an extra £ 2,500 .

Main tournament

Mark Williams 140, 132 Matthew Stevens 138 Fergal O'Brien 133 Stephen Hendry 115, 111, 109 Mike Dunn 109

Ken Doherty 109 Michael Judge 103 Anthony Hamilton 102 Alan McManus 102

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c} 2000 Thailand Masters - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed September 17, 2019 . 
2. ↑ 2000 Thailand Masters. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed September 17, 2019 . 
3. ^ Thailand Masters 2000. snooker.org, accessed September 17, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Rankings - 1999-2000. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed September 17, 2019 .