Thailand Masters 2002
Thailand Masters 2002
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| Tournament type: | World ranking tournament |
| Attendees: | 128 |
| Venue: | Merchant Court Hotel, Bangkok , Thailand |
| Opening: | March 4, 2002 |
| Endgame: | March 10, 2002
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| Winner: |
 Mark Williams
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| Finalist: |
 Stephen Lee
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| Highest Break: | 145 ( John Higgins )
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← 2001
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The Singha Thailand Masters 2002 was a snooker tournament as part of the Snooker Main Tour of the 2001/02 season , which was held from March 4th to 10th in Bangkok . After the venue had changed from time to time in recent years, this time it was held for the second time in a row at the Merchant Court Hotel . For the second time since 1996, the Boon Rawd brewery was a name sponsor with its Singha beer brand .
The defending champion Ken Doherty made it to the quarter-finals this time, where he was narrowly defeated by the eventual finalist Stephen Lee . Lee in turn lost the final 4-9 to Mark Williams . The Welsh world number one won the tournament for the third time in four years. He caught up with James Wattana and Stephen Hendry , who had also won the tournament three times.
After 18 editions as a professional tournament, including 13 as a ranking tournament, the tournament was part of the Main Tour for the last time. In 2003 and 2006 there were two more Thailand Masters tournaments, but only as local tournaments with professional participation.
Prize money / ranking points
The prize money has increased by almost £ 200,000 compared to the previous year. In the case of the last eight, the prize money rose by around half, and some of the lower places got more than double the previous year's amount. However, this year the bonus for the losers in the round of the last 128 was dropped, as there were fewer participants this year and this round was the first qualifying round.
The opposite was true for the value of the tournament. The number of points for the world rankings fell by 2,400 points, which is more than half, for the winner, while the other finalists dropped 1,265 points. In the other places, the difference was reduced to a few points. Only in the first qualifying rounds were the differences greater again, also due to the changed qualification due to the lower number of participants.
| placement | Prize money | Points a |
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| winner | £ 67,500 | 4,000 |
| final | £ 34,000 | 3,000 |
| Semifinals | £ 17,000 | 2,500 |
| Quarter finals | £ 9,100 | 2,050 |
| Round of 16 | £ 7,400 | 1,750 |
| Last 32 | £ 6,100 | 1,450 |
| Last 48 | £ 3,050 | 1,150 |
| Last 64 | £ 2,625 | 900 |
| Last 80 | £ 1,750 | 650 |
| Last 96 | £ 1,375 | 400 |
| Last 128 | - | 200 |
| Highest Break (Final Round) | £ 5,200 | |
| Highest Break (Qualification) | £ 3,200 | |
| All in all | £ 477,900 |
Final round
For round 1, the 16 winners of the qualification or wildcard games were drawn from the top 16 of the world rankings .
final
Mark Williams already had good experience with the tournament, he had won the Thailand Masters in 1999 and 2000 , and after the world number one had been eliminated in the round of 16 the year before, he was now in the final for the third time. In addition, he had just won the China Open immediately before . Stephen Lee had won his third professional title earlier in the season at the LG Cup and cemented his position in the top 8. It was their first meeting in a final, the last time Williams had won the last 6 of their games.
The Welshman also took a 3-0 lead before Lee won his first two frames. But then it was Williams' turn again and with three more frames he had a comfortable 6-2 lead after the first session. In the evening he clearly got the first two frames, the second with the highest final break of 90 points, and had practically already made the preliminary decision. Lee struggled again, fought for frame 11 and also got the next frame, but then Williams made the 9: 4 victory and thus the second tournament victory in a row with his frame gain. It was his 12th ranking title overall.
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Final: Best of 17 Frames Referee: Eirian Williams Merchant Court Hotel, Bangkok , Thailand , March 10, 2002 |
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Mark Williams
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9 : 4 |
Stephen Lee
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Afternoon : 57 : 38, 78 : 0 (78), 68 : 0 (64), 42: 65 , 6: 76 (69), 89 : 43, 67 : 5, 73 : 40 (52); Evening : 66 : 4, 90 : 37 (90), 47: 58 (50), 5: 70 , 67 : 28 |
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| 90 | Highest break | 69 |
| - | Century breaks | - |
| 4th | 50+ breaks | 2 |
Century breaks
10 players achieved 18 breaks of at least 100 points in the main tournament, 3 players were each successful 3 times. John Higgins once achieved 145 points in a row in his round of 16 match. This highest tournament break was rewarded with a special bonus of £ 5,200 .
Main tournament
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swell
- ↑ a b c 2002 Thailand Masters - Finishes. CueTracker, accessed September 13, 2019 .
- ↑ 2002 Thailand Masters. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed September 13, 2019 .
- ↑ Singha Thailand Masters 2002. snooker.org, accessed on September 13, 2019 (English).
- ↑ Rankings - 2001-2002. In: CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Ron Florax, accessed September 13, 2019 .