2007 World Snooker Championship

The 2007 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2007 888.com World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament. It was held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 31st consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was staged at the venue. It started on 21 April 2007 and was scheduled to finish on 7 May 2007, but continued into the early hours of 8 May. The seventh and final ranking tournament of the 2006–07 snooker season, it was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association and sponsored for the second time by online casino 888.com. The total prize fund was £941,000, of which the winner received £220,000.

The qualifying rounds took place from 23 February to 2 March and from 12 to 15 March 2007 at Pontin's, in Prestatyn, Wales. The 16 qualifiers and the top 16 players from the snooker world rankings reached the tournament's main stage at the Crucible. Graeme Dott was the defending champion, having defeated Peter Ebdon 18–14 in the 2006 final. He lost in the first round to Ian McCulloch and became another world champion who fell to the Crucible curse and could not defend his first world title.

John Higgins won his second world title by defeating qualifier Mark Selby 18–13 in the final. Ending at 12:54 a.m. BST, the final broke the record for the latest finish time in a World Snooker Championship final, narrowly beating the 2006 final by two minutes. A total of 68 century breaks were compiled during the event's main stage, the highest being a 144 made by Ali Carter. It was the joint highest number with the 2002 event until 2009. Another 61 century breaks were made during the qualifying rounds.

Overview


The first World Snooker Championship final took place in 1927 at Camkin's Hall in Birmingham, England, and was won by Joe Davis. Since 1977 the tournament has been held annually at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The 2006 event marked the 31st consecutive year that the tournament was held at the Crucible, and the 38th successive year that the World Championship was contested through the modern knockout format. Scottish player Stephen Hendry had been the most successful participant at the World Championship in the modern era, having won the title seven times. Scottish player Graeme Dott won his first title at the 2006 championship, defeating English player Peter Ebdon 1814 in the final. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the 2007 tournament was sponsored by online casino 888.com.

Format
The 2007 World Snooker Championship took place from 21 April to 7 May 2007 in Sheffield, England. The tournament was the last of seven ranking events in the 2006–07 snooker season on the World Snooker Tour. It featured a 32-player main draw that was held at the Crucible Theatre, as well as a qualifying draw that was played at Pontin's, in Prestatyn, Wales from 23 February to 2 March and from 12 to 15 March. This was the 31st consecutive year that the tournament had been staged at the Crucible. The main stages of the event were broadcast by the BBC in the United Kingdom.

The top 16 players in the latest world rankings automatically qualified for the main draw as seeded players. Dott was seeded first overall as the defending champion, and the remaining 15 seeds were allocated based on the latest world rankings. The number of frames required to win a match increased throughout the tournament. The first round consisted of best-of-19-frames matches, with the final match being played over a maximum of 35 frames. All 16 non-seeded spots in the main draw were filled with players from the qualifying rounds. The draw for the televised stage of the World Championship was made on Monday, 19 March 2007 and announced on the following day.

Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


 * Winner: £220,000
 * Runner-up: £110,000
 * Semi-final: £42,000
 * Quarter-final: £22,000
 * Last 16: £14,000
 * Last 32: £10,600
 * Last 48: £7,400
 * Last 64: £4,500


 * Stage one highest break: £1,000
 * Stage two highest break: £10,000
 * Stage one maximum break: £5,000
 * Stage two maximum break: £147,000
 * Total: £941,000

First round


The first round was played between 21 and 26 April as the best of 19 held over two. The defending champion, Graeme Dott, lost 710 to 2005 semi-finalist Ian McCulloch. This made Dott the 14th first-time champion who failed to defend his title since the tournament moved to the Crucible in 1977, succumbing to what has been called the 'Crucible curse'. Six-time world champion Steve Davis was drawn against John Parrott, winner in 1991. Parrott compiled a century break of 126 and manufactured a 61 lead, but Davis stopped the rot with a break of 100 and produced further breaks of 69 and 70 to restore the balance. Parrott then compiled an 80 and a 64, and, although Davis forced a with a break of 96, Parrott prevailed.

Peter Ebdon, world champion in 2002, runner-up in the previous event and winner of the 2006 UK Championship during the season, was faced with the 1995 champion, Nigel Bond. Ebdon manufactured a 40 lead, but Bond stopped the rot taking the following frame on the and then produced breaks of 40, 68, 46 and 114 to go 54 in front for the first time. Ebdon turned the scores around once again with back-to-back breaks of 60, but Bond compiled yet another 60 to restore the balance at 66. Bond made a century break as Ebdon won four out of the five last frames of the match for a 107 result. John Higgins, champion of the tournament in the 1998 edition, had not made it further than the semi-finals of the 2006 UK Championship during the season. He won 104 over Michael Holt, whose "inability to deal with frustration" was heavily criticised by Clive Everton, writing for The Guardian. "I've tried to work on the mental side of my game for seven years but nothing seems to change. I can't accept it when things go wrong. I sit there and feel so annoyed", said Holt. Andy Hicks, a semi-finalist in 1995, was thrown out by Ali Carter, who compiled century breaks of 112 and 129 en route to a 104 win.

Two qualifiers, Fergal O'Brien and Joe Swail, also won their first-round matches in the decider. In a match that featured two century breaks, O'Brien was 64, 85 and 96 ahead of Barry Hawkins, but he saw his advantadge disappear after Hawkins made a century of 129 and further half-centuries of 78 and 66. Swail fell 04 behind 2000 and 2003 world champion Mark Williams, but continued to produce breaks of 66, 63, 53, 62, 71 and 72 to equalise. Swail also made a century break of 114 in the match, and breaks of both 65 and 56 in the decider. Also a qualifier, Mark Selby saw Stephen Lee compile breaks of 126, 64, 67 and 71 as he went 05 behind. However, Selby won eight frames on the trot to turn the match around, before the last four frames were shared for a 107 result. "At 50 up I should have put my foot on his throat. He didn't play well and won, that's the biggest frustration. I thought he was going to bottle it because he's not a big-time player", claimed Lee in the post-match interview.



There were five debutants in this year's tournament: Mark Allen, Judd Trump, Ding Junhui, David Gilbert and Joe Delaney. Allen, who was faced by the 1997 champion and third seed Ken Doherty, was the only one of the five who won his first-round match. Aided by of 92 and 95 in the first two frames, Allen powered to a 40 early lead. Doherty made a 135 century break to level the scores at 7 each, but Allen clinched a 107 victory with three consecutive. Trump won four qualifying matches to set up a first-round encounter with Shaun Murphy, the 2005 champion. Although Murphy won the first three frames with breaks of 81, 96 and 52, Trump compiled breaks of 93, 57 and 85 to go ahead at 65. However, Murphy won five on the spin to advance into the second round. Gilbert, ranked 67th in the world, also took five consecutive frames, featuring one century break, to lead seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry 51, but he eventually lost 710. "I kept missing, missing and missing. I suppose I twitched up completely. I didn't feel nervous but I suppose the Crucible jitters got me at the end", said Gilbert afterwards. Delaney won two deciders against Barry Pinches and two-time world semi-finalist Alan McManus to reach the Crucible, but, having trailed 05, he was beaten 210 by the 2000 and 2005 runner-up Matthew Stevens.

Ding, considered by bookmakers to be among the favourites for the title, was drawn against Ronnie O'Sullivan, who alleged that the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association draw had been fixed. O'Sullivan noted that he had been drawn to Marco Fu in the first round of the 2003 edition and to 2004 European Open and 2004 UK Championship winner Stephen Maguire in both 2004 and 2005. "I've had Marco Fu, Stephen Maguire twice and now Ding in the first round. It's definitely fixed. Whoever is doing that is trying to stitch me up", claimed O'Sullivan. He later withdrew the accusation and made no formal complaint to the WPBSA, who maintained that the draw was "100% genuine". O'Sullivan compiled a century break and further breaks of 58, 50, 60, 63, 63, 70, 87 and 72 to claim a 102 victory.

Neil Robertson, champion throughout the season of both the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2007 Welsh Open, made a half-century of 79 as he took a 40 lead over Ryan Day, who had only made it past the first round of the World Championship once, in the previous edition. Day made the only century break of the match, but went on to lose 510. "Springy, many and errors accounted for a lower standard than expected", wrote Everton about the match. Breaks of 84 and 80 aided Anthony Hamilton into a 50 lead against Marco Fu. Despite the latter making a century break, Hamilton took two frames by a single point and won 103. Maguire, semi-finalist of the 2007 Welsh Open during the season, defeated Joe Perry by the same margin, compiling breaks of 66, 64, 83, 124, 68 and 56 in the process.

Second round


The second round of the event was played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions, between 26 and 30 April. Breaks of 65 and 100 helped Murphy to a four-frame lead against Parrott, who recovered and restored the balance at 88 thanks to a century break of 123. Murphy kick-started the third and last session with a of 131 and won all five frames for a 138 victory. "It's been a very long time since I've been that nervous. I felt as though I'd got a family of ferrets in my waistcoat", said about the last session Parrott, who would never reach the final stages of the World Championship again. Breaks of 68, 64 and 56 enabled McCulloch to remain at touching distance of Hamilton, who then made two half-centuries and two centuries of his own for a 138 victory. "The match was rubbish until halfway through but I enjoyed the battle", admitted Hamilton, who had not made it to the quarter-finals since the 2004 edition. This would also prove to be the last appearance at the Crucible for McCulloch.

Maguire took a six-frame lead into the final session of his second-round match against Swail, who began the last segment of the encounter with a break of 82, followed by further breaks of 72, 56 and 77 to edge closer at 811. Maguire, who would later praise Swail as a "comeback player", was told off by referee Michaela Tabb for punching the table in desperation after missing a, but he managed to prevent his rival from turning the scores around and sealed victory with a 138 result by taking two fought frames. In another match, Allen replied with two century breaks of 101 and 118 and a further half-century of 65 to move closer to Stevens, who kick-started the match taking four consecutive frames. Stevens then made an 85 followed by a 101 and took two more frames to move to 83. Going 97, the pair compiled one more century break each. Allen could have made it 1011, but he failed to pot a in a frame which then went in Stevens's direction, who closed the match with a 139 score.

Carter won six frames on the trot, featuring breaks of 78, 72 twice and 111, to lead Hendry 124 going into the final session. The Scottish player, chasing a record-extending eighth title, had changed three weeks ahead of the tournament, but blamed the poor performance on his lack of confidence and on his inability to reproduce his "practice form" on the Crucible table. Carter produced a further half-century as he closed the match with an 136 victory. "His play was some of the best that's ever been played against me. I don't think I've ever been  so much in my life", praised Hendry. Higgins compiled breaks of 98, 135 and 100 in the second session against O'Brien, which ended 124, and he only needed one more frame at the resumption to secure victory, and he took it at the first chance. "I felt I wasn't going to miss", said Higgins, who was praised by his rival for being "brilliant".

Robertson faced O'Sullivan, whom he had defeated en route to both of his tournament wins during the season, 51 in the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix and 54 at the same stage of the Welsh Open. With breaks of 87 for O'Sullivan and of 104 for Robertson, the first two frames were shared, but Robertson went on to miss some pots, fell behind and O'Sullivan wrapped up a four-frame cushion at the end of the first session with another century break. At the resumption, O'Sullivan compiled another century to go 83 in front, but Robertson replied winning six frames on the trot, featuring breaks of 53, 77, 140 and 117. O'Sullivan then compiled breaks of 129, 96, 52 and 88 for a 1310 win. In his match against Ebdon, who admitted to "never" turning up during the event, Selby compiled consecutive century breaks of 100, 122 and 119 in the second session to go into the last one with a 106 lead. Further centuries of 130 and 116 put Selby one away from victory. Ebdon replied with a break of 97, but Selby claimed victory with another half-century. "Me preparation was meticulous and I expected to play a lot better", lamented Ebdon.

Quarter-finals


The quarter-finals of the event were played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions, between 1 and 2 May. Maguire, who faced Hamilton, had had a trophyless season coming into the World Championship, but he was still pleased with the good results he had got. Maguire was playing in the quarter-finals for the first time, having been defeated in the first round in both 2004 and 2005 and in the second round in 2006. Century breaks of 106 and 143 ensured Maguire a 97 lead going into the final session. In the last session, Maguire produced a break of 96 and then compiled further centuries of 137 and 108 to secure a place in the semi-finals. "He was better all the way through the match", conceded Hamilton. Higgins took a 31 lead against O'Sullivan, who then produced breaks of 54, 65 and 60 to draw level at the end of the first session. Higgins dominated the second session and this allowed him to put himself 115 ahead, compiling the 350th century break of his career in the process. O'Sullivan launched a comeback in the final session, but Higgins held it off and, in his own words, kept his "composure at the end" to seal a 139 victory. "Obviously he was the favourite, he's a great player, he's won everything, but I fancied winning. I have beat him a few times and backed myself to win the match", said Higgins.

The other two matches went into deciders. Stevens faced Murphy in a repeat of the 2005 final, which Murphy had won 1816. Murphy trailed 03 and 511 as Stevens notched century breaks of 118 and 108 and further half-centuries of 64, 61, 52, 57 and 81. Despite only needing two more frames in the last session to advance into the semi-finals, Stevens could not prevent Murphy's comeback, who produced breaks of 92, 60, 61 and 94 for a 1312 victory. The match was regarded by the BBC as a "classic". Selby, playing in the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the first time in his career, shared the first six frames of his encounter with Carter. Selby then compiled a century break of 121 and opened up a two-frame advantage for the first time in the duel, but Carter replied with a 144, which would remain as the of the tournament, and followed it up with three more frames for a 75 lead. Selby took four on the trot and secured a lead going into the final session. Carter forced the decider with a break of 78 in the 24th frame, but Selby went on to win producing a half-century of his own.

Semi-finals


The semi-finals were played as the best of 33 frames, held over four sessions, between 3 and 5 May. Maguire and Higgins produced one century break each as they reached the end of the first session tied at four frames each. The scores were still balanced at the end of the second session. Maguire could have gone two in front at 108, but he went into one of the  after potting a  that was. However, Maguire then took the next three frames and a 129 lead, and he was also 1410 ahead. In turning the scores around for a 1715 victory, Higgins made two further century breaks. The second one, a 122 in the 29th frame, was the 1,000th century break ever made at the Crucible. Higgins, who was praiseful of Maguire's "unbelievable pots", thought that having given up on alcohol was helping with his game as he was more focused on practicing. "I just used to go out and enjoy myself and not practice for a few weeks. The weekends were all about going for a few drinks after watching Celtic and going to a club afterwards so I was never practising at weekends", he stated. Maguire, who as of 2024 has never made it to the final of the World Championship, regretted not having won the match despite having been four frames ahead. "I am absolutely numb. I threw away a great opportunity to win the title and can't believe what I've done, he lamented.

Selby, a qualifier and playing in the semi-finals of the World Championship for the first time, fell 15 behind Murphy, who compiled breaks of 70, 101 and 55. Selby had missed easy balls in the first few frames allowing Murphy chances, but managed to put two more frames on the board to head into the interval only two behind. At the end of the second session, the deadlock had yet to be broken at 88. The last session began at 1212, and saw Murphy produce century breaks of 101 and 132 and Selby compile a 104, for a total of seven century breaks in the match. The balance was restored once again at 14 each and Murphy then went 1614 ahead, only one away from victory, after taking a frame in which Selby needed a four-point to tie, got six  after snookering Murphy behind the  but then failed to pot the blue to let his opponent in again. Selby, however, came back and, after forcing the second consecutive decider, he wrapped up victory with a break of 64. "I held myself tegether very well, I thought, and now I'm living a dream. This is what I've dreamt of since I was a kid", said Selby after the match. He also thought there was "every chance" he would go on to win the tournament.

Final


The final was played as a best-of-35-frames, held over four sessions on 6 and 7 May, between Higgins and Selby. Higgins was competing in his third World Championship final, having lost one and won the other one. Selby, a qualifier, made his first appearance in the final. Having made his debut two years earlier, he had never made it past the second round. Selby was competing in the second ranking final of his career, after he was defeated in the 2003 Scottish Open. Eirian Williams took charge of his third world final, having officiated the 2001 and 2005 finals. Although both players scored points in the first two frames, Higgins took them for a 20 early lead. Selby replied with three frames on the trot to turn the scores around, featuring a break of 67 and a century break of 116. Higgins then went on to win seven consecutive breaks for a 93 advantage. The second session ended with an eight-frame cushion for Higgins, a lead that had never been reversed in a World Championship final played at the Crucible.

In the afternoon session, Selby constructed breaks of 109, 61, 62, 42 and 56 as he took six consecutive frames to cut the deficit to only two at 1012. Two more frames were scheduled to be played, but it was not possible due to slow play. "I was so delighted. If we had stayed on, Mark would have definitely made it 1212 because I was gone at that stage", said Higgins afterwards. At the resumption, Higgins went three clear at 1310, but Selby took three of the next four, including one which lasted 55 minutes, and went only one behind at 1314. Higgins then won four consecutive frames, featuring breaks of 57, 129 and 78, to win the match and claim the championship.

The last ball of the final was potted at 12:54 a.m. BST, just two minutes later than in the previous final and making it the latest final ever. Higgins claimed his second world title nine years after he won his first. "To join people like Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams is a special feeling for me. This is the second one and hopefully there'll be a third and fourth and so on", said Higgins on becoming a double world champion. He also ensured he would be world number one coming into the following season. Selby, who climbed to 11th in the rankings, felt "proud" and promised to "give it a better shot" the following edition. "I didn't really think I could win it, but when I got back to 1210, I was believing I could", he said afterwards.

Main draw
Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers). The first round draw was done by presenters Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams of BBC Breakfast on 19 March and it was announced on Breakfast at 7.30 am BST the next day.

Preliminary qualifying
The preliminary qualifying rounds for the tournament took place in Pontin's Prestatyn, Wales.

Round 1

Round 2

Qualifying
Qualifying for the 2007 World Snooker Championship, was held between 23 February to 2 March 2007 at Pontin's, Prestatyn, Wales. The final qualifying round took place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield between the 12–15 March 2007.

Round 1

Rounds 2–5

Televised stage centuries
There were 68 centuries scored in the televised stage of the 2007 championship, which was joint equal highest in the history of the tournament (with the tournament held in 2002) until 2009.


 * 144, 129, 112, 111 – Ali Carter
 * 143, 137, 131, 124, 108, 106, 102 – Stephen Maguire
 * 140 – Neil Robertson
 * 135, 134, 129, 122, 113, 110, 106, 104, 104, 100, 100 – John Higgins
 * 135 – Ken Doherty
 * 132, 131, 101, 101, 100 – Shaun Murphy
 * 130, 129, 128, 122, 121, 119, 116, 116, 111, 109, 104, 100 – Mark Selby
 * 129, 109, 105, 104, 100 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
 * 129 – Barry Hawkins
 * 126, 123 – John Parrott
 * 126 – Stephen Lee
 * 120 – Fergal O'Brien
 * 118, 108, 101 – Matthew Stevens
 * 118, 101 – Mark Allen
 * 114, 104 – Nigel Bond
 * 114, 104 – Joe Swail
 * 111, 107 – Anthony Hamilton
 * 110 – Ian McCulloch
 * 107 – Marco Fu
 * 103 – Ding Junhui
 * 100 – Steve Davis
 * 100 – Ryan Day
 * 100 – Dave Gilbert

Qualifying stage centuries

 * 145 – Rory McLeod
 * 142, 116, 106, 101 – Judd Trump
 * 141, 107 – David Morris
 * 139 – Tian Pengfei
 * 139 – Mark Selby
 * 138, 126, 112 – James Leadbetter
 * 138 – Robert Milkins
 * 136 – Stuart Bingham
 * 135 – Ian Preece
 * 134, 126 – Ben Woollaston
 * 132 – Marcus Campbell
 * 132 – Jamie Cope
 * 131 – Dominic Dale
 * 130, 115, 114, 106, 104, 103 – Jamie Burnett
 * 130 – Mark Joyce
 * 130 – Jimmy White
 * 129, 117, 100 – Mark Davis
 * 128, 124, 117, 102 – Mark Allen
 * 128 – Nigel Bond
 * 127 – Ricky Walden
 * 126, 114 – Ding Junhui
 * 124 – Shokat Ali
 * 123, 115 – Matthew Couch
 * 120 – Joe Delaney
 * 115 – Alfie Burden
 * 112, 101, 101 – Joe Jogia
 * 112 – Passakorn Suwannawat
 * 111, 106 – Bradley Jones
 * 110, 104 – Dave Gilbert
 * 105 – Liang Wenbo
 * 104 – Dave Harold
 * 104 – Andy Hicks
 * 104 – Issara Kachaiwong
 * 103 – Jimmy Michie
 * 103 – Liu Song
 * 102 – Ian McCulloch
 * 101 – Roy Stolk
 * 100 – Scott MacKenzie