2022 Gibraltar Open

The 2022 Gibraltar Open (officially the 2022 BetVictor Gibraltar Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 24 to 26 March 2022 at the Europa Point Sports Complex. The 14th ranking event of the 2021–22 snooker season, it followed the Turkish Masters and preceded the Tour Championship. It was the seventh -- and currently final -- edition of the Gibraltar Open, first held in 2015, and the eighth and final event of the 2021–22 European Series.

The defending champion was Judd Trump, who defeated Jack Lisowski 4–0 in the 2021 final. However, Trump lost 0–4 to Ricky Walden in the last 16. Robert Milkins defeated Kyren Wilson 4–2 in the final to win the first ranking title of his 27-year professional career. Aged 46, Milkins became the oldest first-time winner of a ranking event since Doug Mountjoy won the 1988 UK Championship.

John Higgins secured the European Series bonus of £150,000, awarded to the player who won the most cumulative prize money over the eight tournaments. Stuart Bingham made the highest break of the tournament, a 147 in the final frame of his first-round match with Gerard Greene. It was the ninth maximum break of Bingham's career and the eighth of the 2021–22 season.

Format
The event was the seventh iteration of the Gibraltar Open, which was first held in 2015. It took place from 24 to 26 March 2022 at the Europa Point Sports Complex in Gibraltar. The 14th ranking tournament of the 2021–22 snooker season, it followed the Turkish Masters and preceded the Tour Championship. The defending champion was Judd Trump, who had defeated Jack Lisowski 4–0 in the 2021 final. The tournament was organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored by BetVictor. All matches were contested as the best of seven.

The event saw a significant number of withdrawals, including Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire, Kurt Maflin, Anthony McGill, Sam Craigie, David Gilbert and Anthony Hamilton. Additionally, bad weather in Gibraltar led to a number of flights being diverted to Málaga, where some players travelling on non-British passports did not meet Spanish visa requirements and had to return to the UK.

European Series bonus
The Gibraltar Open was the concluding event of the 2021–22 European Series, which carried a £150,000 bonus for the player who won the most cumulative prize money over its eight tournaments. Eleven players remained in contention for the bonus at the beginning of the tournament. John Higgins topped the series money list with £98,000; Mark Allen had the same amount, but Higgins led on countback, having gone further in the European Masters than Allen. Fan Zhengyi, Luca Brecel, Neil Robertson and Ronnie O’Sullivan all began the tournament with £90,000 or more. Zhao Xintong, Hossein Vafaei, Joe Perry, Judd Trump and Ricky Walden were also in contention. Vafaei was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to visa issues in Spain. O'Sullivan and Fan lost in the round of 128; Zhao, Perry, and Brecel lost in the round of 64; and Higgins and Allen lost in the round of 32. Trump and Robertson needed to reach the final to remain in contention, but both lost in the round of 16. Walden needed to win the event to capture the bonus, but he lost in the semi-finals. This meant that Higgins remained top of the series prize money list and won the bonus.

Prize fund
The event featured a prize fund of £251,000, of which the winner received £50,000. The breakdown of the tournament's prize money is shown below:


 * Winner: £50,000
 * Runner-up: £20,000
 * Semi-final: £6,000
 * Quarter-final: £5,000
 * Last 16: £4,000
 * Last 32: £3,000
 * Last 64: £2,000
 * Highest break: £5,000
 * Total: £251,000

Tournament draw
Below is the full draw for the event. Players in bold denote match winners.

Century breaks
A total of 70 century breaks were made during the tournament.


 * 147, 119, 101 – Stuart Bingham
 * 140, 112, 109, 103, 102 – Ricky Walden
 * 139 – Zhou Yuelong
 * 138, 103 – Zhang Anda
 * 135 – Noppon Saengkham
 * 133, 123, 119, 112 – Ding Junhui
 * 132, 117, 114, 114, 101 – Jimmy Robertson
 * 132, 117, 108, 100, 100 – Kyren Wilson
 * 132 – James Cahill
 * 130, 112, 108, 102 – Lyu Haotian
 * 126, 112 – John Higgins
 * 126 – Soheil Vahedi
 * 122 – Tom Ford
 * 122 – Jak Jones
 * 120 – Matthew Stevens
 * 119, 103 – Jack Lisowski
 * 119 – Zhao Xintong
 * 118 – Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
 * 117, 117, 105, 100 – Jordan Brown
 * 116 – Jamie Jones
 * 114, 102, 100 – Ben Hancorn
 * 114 – Lee Walker
 * 113 – Dominic Dale
 * 112, 102 – Neil Robertson
 * 109 – Gao Yang
 * 106 – Joe Perry
 * 105, 104 – Mark Allen
 * 105 – David Grace
 * 104, 101, 100 – Yuan Sijun
 * 104, 100 – Ben Woollaston
 * 104 – Louis Heathcote
 * 104 – Mitchell Mann
 * 103 – Luca Brecel
 * 103 – Zhou Yuelong
 * 102 – Ashley Hugill
 * 102 – Robbie Williams
 * 101 – Ross Muir