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2024 British Open
The 2024 British Open (officially the 2024 Unibet British Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 23 to 29 September 2024 at the Centaur in Cheltenham, England.[1] Qualifying (round 1) took place from 31 July to 3 August 2024 at the Leicester Arena in Leicester. The fifth ranking tournament of the 2024–25 season, it followed the 2024 English Open and preceded the 2024 Wuhan Open. It was organised by the World Snooker Tour and sponsored by online gambling platform Unibet.[2] The winner received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £502,000[1] and the Clive Everton Trophy.[3] Everton died on 27 September, two days before the tournament concluded.[4] The defending champion was Mark Williams, who defeated Mark Selby 10–7 in the 2023 final,[5] but he lost 1–4 to Rory Thor in qualifying (round 1). Selby won the tournament, beating John Higgins 10–5 in the final to capture his first British Open title and the 23rd ranking title of his career.[6] The event produced 55 century breaks, 12 in qualifying and 43 in the main stage;[7][8] the highest was a maximum break by Mark Allen in his third‑round match against Ben Mertens.[9] Judd Trump made his 1,000th century break in professional competition during his quarter-final match against Allen, becoming the third player to reach that milestone, after Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins. FormatThe draw was randomised after each round. All matches before the quarter-final stage were played as the best of seven frames, while the quarter-finals were the best of nine frames, the semi-finals were the best of 11 frames, and the final was the best of 19 frames. The winner received the Clive Everton trophy[3] and secured a place in the 2024 Champion of Champions tournament.[10] The qualifying matches were broadcast by the WST Facebook page, by Discovery+ in Europe, and by Matchroom Sport in all other territories.[11] The main stage of the event was broadcast by ITV and ITVX in the United Kingdom; by Eurosport and Discovery+ in Europe (excluding the United Kingdom and Ireland); by the CBSA-WPBSA Academy WeChat Channel, CBSA-WPBSA Academy Douyin and Huya Live in China; by Now TV in Hong Kong; by Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; by TrueVision in Thailand; by TAP in the Philippines; and by Sportcast in Taiwan. It was available from Matchroom Sport in all other territories.[12] Prize fundThe winner of the event received £100,000 from a total prize fund of £502,000. The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below:[1]
SummaryQualifying (round 1)LeicesterQualifying for the tournament took place from 31 July to 3 August 2024 at the Leicester Arena in Leicester, England, although qualifiers featuring the top 18[a] players in the snooker world rankings were held over to be played in Cheltenham.[13] Thepchaiya Un-Nooh beat Alexander Ursenbacher 4–1 in a match that lasted less than an hour, and David Grace defeated Jack Lisowski 4–2.[14] Neil Robertson beat Andrew Pagett 4–1, and Chris Totten whitewashed Jimmy White. Amateur players Mark Joyce[b] and Anton Kazakov[c] won their matches over Xing Zihao and Ahmed Aly Elsayed respectively.[15] Stuart Bingham beat He Guoqiang 4–3, Stan Moody defeated Joe O'Connor 4–2, and Marco Fu beat Joshua Thomond 4–1.[16] Oliver Lines defeated Lei Peifan 4–3, and amateur player Simon Blackwell beat the 2024 world women's champion Bai Yulu 4–2. David Gilbert whitewashed amateur player Dylan Emery, and Elliot Slessor beat amateur player Joshua Cooper[d] 4–1.[17] CheltenhamOn 23 September there were some issues with playing conditions in Cheltenham, and Mark Allen said that "It's some of the worst weather outside and they've left the massive transport doors open. It's so cold, it's so humid, out there. The table needs to be burned."[18] In the held‑over qualifying matches played in Cheltenham, Rory Thor beat the defending champion Mark Williams 4–1.[19] Aaron Hill beat Ding Junhui 4–3, and Gong Chenzhi beat Tom Ford 4–3. Bulcsú Révész defeated Ali Carter 4–3, and Liam Davies beat Barry Hawkins 4–1. Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrew and was replaced by Lewis Ullah.[e] Ullah defeated Manasawin Phetmalaikul 4–2.[20] Early roundsRound 2Round 2 (last 64) matches were played on 24 and 25 September as the best of 7 frames.[2] Amateur player Iulian Boiko beat Si Jiahui 4–1, and Graeme Dott beat Zhou Yuelong also by 4–1. Stan Moody whitewashed Michael Holt and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh whitewashed Noppon Saengkham.[21] Jak Jones whitewashed Alfie Burden and Ashley Carty whitewashed Long Zehuang. Mark Davis beat Xiao Guodong, Luca Brecel beat Tian Pengfei, and Judd Trump beat Ryan Day, all by 4–2.[22] Liam Davies whitewashed Anton Kazakov, and Zhang Anda beat Hossein Vafaei 4–1. John Higgins beat Shaun Murphy 4–2, and Kyren Wilson beat Duane Jones 4–1.[23][24] Round 3Round 3 (last 32) matches were played on 25 and 26 September as the best of 7 frames.[2][25] Stan Moody beat Zhang Anda, Mark Selby beat Yuan Sijun, Stephen Maguire beat Stuart Bingham, and Rory Thor beat Neil Robertson, all by 4–3.[26] Mark Allen made his 4th professional maximum break in his match against Ben Mertens, which he went on to win 4–1.[9][27] Thepchaiya Un-Nooh beat Ricky Walden 4–3, and Kyren Wilson whitewashed Marco Fu.[28] Later roundsRound 4Round 4 (last 16) matches were played on 26 September as the best of 7 frames.[2][29] Elliot Slessor beat Kyren Wilson 4–2, Oliver Lines beat Stan Moody 4–1, Jak Jones beat Luca Brecel 4–2, and John Higgins whitewashed Rory Thor.[30][27] Quarter finalsThe quarter-finals were played on 27 September as the best of 9 frames.[2][31] Before the matches started there was a one minute silence in honour of Clive Everton who had died at the age of 87, and after whom the tournament trophy is named.[4] In the afternoon session John Higgins beat Elliot Slessor 5–1 and Mark Selby beat David Gilbert 5–4.[32][33] In the evening session, in the match between Judd Trump and Mark Allen, Trump made his 1,000th professional career century break in the second frame, becoming the third player to reach this number, after Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins.[34] However, Allen went on to win the match 5–3. Oliver Lines beat Jak Jones 5–4.[35] Semi finalsThe semi-finals were played on 28 September as the best of 11 frames. In the afternoon session John Higgins played Oliver Lines. This was the first ranking event semi‑final for Lines.[2][36] Higgins whitewashed Lines. After the match Higgins said: "I have not won silverware for a few years and I just love the feeling of being the last man standing, that's why I keep going. I am going to have a monumental game tomorrow, they [Selby and Allen] are both immovable objects who are so tough to compete against. I hope it [the second semi‑final] goes 6–5 tonight either way." Lines said: "Nerves got the better of me. I wanted to at least show why I made the semi‑final. Even the easiest pots were looking so hard. I have played well all week and I hoped I could find something today, but mentally I didn't give myself a chance, I didn't handle it."[37] In the evening session Mark Selby played Mark Allen.[2][36] In the first frame of the match, after more than 30 minutes of safety play, the players asked referee Kevin Dabrowski for a re‑rack and started the match again. At the mid‑session interval, after more than two hours of playing time, Selby led Allen 3–1. Selby went on to win the match 6–3, with both players making century breaks. After the match Selby said: "John [Higgins] and I will be battling out there tomorrow, giving it everything. I have so much time for him, every time I see him we have a laugh and get on well." Allen said: "One or two shots could have made a difference. I feel my game is in good enough shape and I'm looking forward to the next tournament."[38][39] FinalThe final was played on 29 September as the best of 19 frames, played over two sessions and officiated by Ben Williams. Mark Selby played John Higgins in Selby's 35th ranking final, and Higgins' 56th.[2] At the end of the afternoon session Selby led Higgins 5–3.[40] Selby went on to win 10–5, capturing his first British Open title and the 23rd ranking title of his career. It was Selby's first ranking title since the 2023 WST Classic in March 2023.[6] Afterwards, Selby said: "The first session was incredible, I think my pot success was 98% and John's was 96%. Tonight wasn't quite as good, I missed one red at 7–4 but apart from that I made very few mistakes and I took my chances when I had them." Higgins said "Mark put on a clinic tonight, he was too good for me. My big moment was the tenth frame when I had a chance to make it 5–5 but couldn't take it."[41][6] Main drawMatch winners are shown in bold. Round 2All matches were the best of seven frames.[42][2] 24 September morning session
24 September afternoon session
24 September evening session
25 September morning session
25 September afternoon session
Round 3All matches were the best of seven frames.[42][2][25] 25 September evening session
26 September afternoon session
Round 4All matches were the best of seven frames.[42][2][29] 26 September evening session
Quarter finalsAll matches were the best of nine frames.[42][2][31] 27 September afternoon session
27 September evening session
Semi finalsMatches were the best of eleven frames.[42][2][36] 28 September afternoon session
28 September evening session
Final
Qualifying (round 1)The qualification matches are shown below. Match winners are shown in bold.[10] CheltenhamThe results of the held over matches played in Cheltenham on 23 September were as follows:[13]
LeicesterThe results of the qualifying matches played in Leicester were as follows:[13][44] 31 July
1 August
2 August
3 August
Century breaksMain stage centuriesA total of 43 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament in Cheltenham.[7]
Qualifying stage centuriesA total of 12 century breaks were made during the qualifying stage of the tournament in Leicester.[8]
Notes
References
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