Tuesday, May 05, 2009

John Higgins wins the World Snooker Championship for a third time

Betfred.com World Snooker Championship 2009Scotland's John Higgins captured the 2009 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship.

In the final he overwhelmed England's 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy 18-9.

Neil Robertson (Australia) and Mark Allen (Northern Ireland) lost out in the semifinals.

Higgins received £250,000 for the victory and Murphy got £125,000 for his runner-up spot.

Stephen Hendry (England) won the £157,000 high break bonus after compiling his ninth career maximum break, and second at the Crucible. It was the ninth 147 made in the world championship. In total there were a record 83 centuries in this year's event.

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) lost 13-11 to Allen in the second round. The last player to successfully defend his world title was Hendry in 1996.

This was the third world title for Higgins, having also lifted the trophy in 1998 and 2007. It was his second ranking title of the season and 20th of his career.

With this win Higgins will improve from fifth to fourth in the new world rankings. Murphy will keep his third place from last season.

O'Sullivan and Stephen Maguire (Scotland) will still be Nos 1 and 2. Graeme Dott is the only player to drop out of the top 16. Mark J Williams regains the spot he lost last year.

The event took place Apr 18 - May 4, 2009 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England. It was the last of eight ranking tournaments on the 2008/2009 Main Tour.

See also:
Related posts:
Shameless plugs:

No comments:

Post a Comment