2004 European Open (snooker)

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2004 European Open
Tournament information
Dates1–6 March 2004 (2004-03-01 2004-03-06)
Venue Hilton Conference Centre
City Portomaso
Country Malta
Organisation WPBSA
Format Ranking event
Total prize fund £400,000 [1]
Winner's share£48,000 [1]
Highest breakFlag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO) (137) [2]
Final
ChampionFlag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)
Runner-upFlag of England.svg  Jimmy White  (ENG)
Score9–3
2003
2005

The 2004 European Open was the 2004 edition of the European Open snooker tournament, held from 1 to 6 March 2004, at the Hilton Conference Centre, Portomaso, Malta. It was the final year the event was known as European Open, as the event was renamed to Malta Cup in next year. Stephen Maguire defeated Jimmy White by nine frames to three (9–3) in the final to claim his first ranking-event title, transforming him from "talented underachiever into a world-ranking event winner", according to The Times . In the semi-finals Maguire defeated Stephen Lee and White beat Tony Drago. The tournament was the fifth of eight WPBSA ranking events in the 2003/2004 season, following the Welsh Open and preceding the Irish Masters.

Contents

Tournament summary

Prior to the 1988/1989 season no ranking tournament had been continuously staged outside of the United Kingdom (although the World Championship had been held twice in Australia). The snooker governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), decided to include overseas events and the first two locations chosen were Canada and Europe. The European Open was first held in 1989 in Deauville, France, and was suspended for 1997/1998 and 2000/2001. It moved to the Hilton Conference Centre, Portomaso, Malta for the first time in 2004 and was renamed the Malta Cup the following season. [3]

The 2004 tournament was the fifth of eight WPBSA ranking events in the 2003/2004 season, following the Welsh Open and preceding the Irish Masters. [4] Held in January, the Welsh Open was won by Ronnie O'Sullivan, who defeated Steve Davis by nine frames to eight (9–8) in the final. [5] The defending European Open champion was also O'Sullivan, who defeated Stephen Hendry 9–6 in last year's final. [6] Paul Hunter, who had defeated O'Sullivan in the final of the non-ranking Masters in February, entered the tournament "playing the best snooker of his career", according to Phil Yates of The Times . [7]

Qualifying

The qualifying stage was played between players ranked 17 and those ranked lower for one of 16 places in the final stage. The matches were best-of-9 frames until the semi-finals. In March 2004 Maltese player Tony Drago defeated Adrian Gunnell 5–2 in a match held over from the qualifying stage in November. [8]

Round 1

The qualifiers went through to face members of the top 16. In this round, Davis came from 2–4 down to beat Joe Swail 5–4, in a match where both players missed chances. In the deciding frame, Davis won on the pink ball after Swail had missed the brown. After the match, Davis said it was a historic day as he had never won a match in the country. [9] Stephen Lee received a walkover to the next round after his opponent Robin Hull withdrew for medical reasons. [9] [10] World number 41 Stephen Maguire made a break of 89 in the final frame of his match against Peter Ebdon to win 5–4, and world number three O'Sullivan opened his match against Marco Fu with a century break of 110 and went on to win 5–1. [9] Chris Small, who suffers from the spinal condition ankylosing spondylitis, whitewashed UK champion Matthew Stevens 5–0, in a match lasting almost three hours and which saw Stevens lose two frames on the black ball. [10] [11] Neil Robertson defeated Ken Doherty 5–3, and Joe Perry beat David Roe by the same scoreline. In the last match of the day, David Gray beat Fergal O'Brien 5–3. [9]

World number one Mark Williams was defeated 1–5 by Anthony Hamilton, who made a break of 133. [12] Williams refused to answer questions at the post-match press conference, explaining: "I'm not saying anything because if I do I could be in trouble so I'm keeping my mouth shut." [13] Hunter and Hendry made high breaks of 49 and 55 in defeating Brian Morgan and Jimmy Michie 5–1, respectively. [12] After the match Hendry—the world number two and a seven-time world champion said "I feel like going to apologise to each fan one by one because it was such a bad match". [13] John Higgins whitewashed Barry Pinches 5–0, compiling a 132 break in the last frame in a match where Pinches made a high break of 33. [14] Jimmy White overcame James Wattana 5–4 having trailed 2–3. Graeme Dott defeated Drew Henry 5-3 and Quinten Hann beat Simon Bedford 5–0. In the last game of the day, Drago beat Alan McManus 5–4. [13]

Round 2

In round two O'Sullivan defeated Small 5–1, coming from behind to win in each of the first three frames with breaks of 58, 81, and 46. A break of 112 completed the victory, after which O'Sullivan said his opponent had made him work. [15] In the fifth frame O'Sullivan continued playing despite needing snookers, later explaining, "I wanted to keep playing because I was enjoying it so much". [16] White made breaks of 72, 52, 69, 51, and 65 in defeating Hendry 5–3, after which Hendry said his performance was "horrendous", and White said his refusal to go out the night before contributed to his performance. [17] In the sixth frame White led by 41 points before missing an easy red, allowing Hendry to win on the black with a 55 break to level at 3–3. White dominated the next two frames for the victory. [18] Higgins, without a tournament victory for over two years, whitewashed Dott 5–0 with breaks of 82, 81, 57, and 52, and said it was the "best [he had] felt for ages". [19] Drago defeated Hunter 5–2 to reach the quarter-finals of a ranking events for the first time since 1998, in a low-quality match where Drago made one break over 50. Lee defeated Davis 5–3 in a four-hour match, [18] and Higgins completed a second whitewash when he beat Dott 5–0, bringing his career record against Dott to 9–1. [20] Maguire defeated Perry 5–4 to reach his first ranking quarter-final, [21] and Hann beat Hamilton 5–1 to claim the final place in the next round. [17]

Quarter-finals

In the quarter-finals Lee defeated O'Sullivan 5–4 in a match that lasted 3 hours and 32 minutes. O'Sullivan came from 2–3 down to lead 4–3 before Lee leveled the match. In the final frame O'Sullivan led 36–0, before Lee made a 46 break and fluked a snooker that enabled him to claim victory. O'Sullivan said his performance was very poor, while Lee said he was quietly confident. [22] [23] White defeated Robertson 5–3 to reach his third semi-final of the season. White led 4–1 and was 56 points ahead in the sixth but missed a straightforward green, allowing Robertson to win on the black with a 67 break. Robertson took the next frame before a risky long pot in the eighth allowed White to win the match. White—who last won a ranking title 12 years ago prior at this event—said, "Everyone knows I've been in front so many times in the past and tossed it away so I was having nightmares out there". [24] Drago quickly won the first four frames of his match against Hann, conceding the fifth, before completing a 5–1 victory, after which he said the crowd support helped him. Maguire caused an upset when he beat Higgins 5–3, a match that saw Maguire lose the first two frames before winning the next four. After the match Maguire he said he had "starting to think about winning it now". [22]

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were best-of-11 frames. White reached his first final in four years when he defeated Drago 6–4. Leading 4–1 White made a break of 104 to win the sixth frame, before missing a straightforward red to allow his opponent to win the seventh with an 84 break. Drago won the next two in 15 minutes with breaks of 44 and 109—completing the latter in four minutes [25] —before an 86 break gave White the victory, after which White said, "Playing Tony here, I got a taste of what players have against me at the Masters when the crowd are all on my side but they were fair and I enjoyed every minute of it." [26] [27]

In the other semi-final Maguire beat Lee 6–4 in an error-strewn match which lasted four hours. [26] After winning the first two frames Maguire lost the next three, but "kept his cool" to seal the victory. [27] Maguire said the match was a "battle" and that he was surprised at how badly his opponents had played in the tournament, while Lee said he "just blew up" and that, "When you’re as poor as that you get into such a state of mind that you can’t think straight". [26] [27]

Final

The match was White's 23rd appearance in a final and his first since the 2000 British Open. In the best-of-17 final Maguire defeated White 9–3 to win his first ranking title at the age of 22, earning £48,000 in prize money. [26] [28] The victory, according to The Times , transformed Maguire from "talented underachiever into a world-ranking event winner"; [29] according to BBC Sport his victory was a surprise. [30]

In the afternoon session Maguire made two sizeable breaks and one of 137 to lead 3–0. He won the next frame and compiled a century in the fifth. The sixth frame was awarded to Maguire, when White violated the three-miss rule. Snookered in the jaws of a corner pocket, White twice attempted to hit the pack of five reds off a side cushion and missed. On his third attempt he adopted a slow roll to the pack and again missed. In the evening session, trailing 0–6, White won his first frame before the next four were shared, the last of which included a break of 125 by White. At 8–2 a break of 57 gave Maguire the victory. [28]

After his victory Maguire acknowledged the influence of Terry Griffiths who had been working with him on the mental side of the game: "He's been on the phone just telling me to keep calm and that I can do it if I believe in myself". [31] Maguire said he always knew he was good enough to win a tournament and that he would aim for a top-16 finish for the season. [30] [31] White said, "Stephen outplayed me in safety, potting and position so he deserved to win" and, "He gave me a good bashing. I'm pleased for him because he's a nice lad but I'm disappointed because I didn't compete". [32]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: [1]

Main draw

Numbers to the left of the players' names are the tournament seedings. Players in bold denote match winners. [4] [33]

Last 32
Best of 9 frames
Last 16
Best of 9 frames
Quarter-finals
Best of 9 frames
Semi-finals
Best of 11 frames
Final
Best of 17 frames
               
1 Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)5
19 Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Marco Fu  (HKG)1
1 Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)5
18 Flag of Scotland.svg  Chris Small  (SCO)1
9 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Matthew Stevens  (WAL)0
18 Flag of Scotland.svg  Chris Small  (SCO)5
1 Flag of England.svg  Ronnie O'Sullivan  (ENG)4
5 Flag of England.svg  Stephen Lee  (ENG)5
11 Flag of England.svg  Steve Davis  (ENG)5
27 Ulster Banner.svg  Joe Swail  (NIR)4
11 Flag of England.svg  Steve Davis  (ENG)3
5 Flag of England.svg  Stephen Lee  (ENG)5
5 Flag of England.svg  Stephen Lee  (ENG)w/o
32 Flag of Finland.svg  Robin Hull  (FIN)w/d
5 Flag of England.svg  Stephen Lee  (ENG)4
41 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)6
7 Flag of England.svg  Peter Ebdon  (ENG)4
41 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)5
41 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)5
16 Flag of England.svg  Joe Perry  (ENG)4
16 Flag of England.svg  Joe Perry  (ENG)5
57 Flag of England.svg  David Roe  (ENG)3
41 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)5
4 Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)3
13 Flag of Scotland.svg  Graeme Dott  (SCO)5
25 Flag of Scotland.svg  Drew Henry  (SCO)3
13 Flag of Scotland.svg  Graeme Dott  (SCO)0
4 Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)5
4 Flag of Scotland.svg  John Higgins  (SCO)5
36 Flag of England.svg  Barry Pinches  (ENG)0
41 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Maguire  (SCO)9
15 Flag of England.svg  Jimmy White  (ENG)3
3 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Hendry  (SCO)5
60 Flag of England.svg  Jimmy Michie  (ENG)1
3 Flag of Scotland.svg  Stephen Hendry  (SCO)3
15 Flag of England.svg  Jimmy White  (ENG)5
15 Flag of England.svg  Jimmy White  (ENG)5
34 Flag of Thailand.svg  James Wattana  (THA)4
15 Flag of England.svg  Jimmy White  (ENG)5
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)3
12 Flag of England.svg  David Gray  (ENG)5
33 Flag of Ireland.svg  Fergal O'Brien  (IRL)3
12 Flag of England.svg  David Gray  (ENG)2
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)5
6 Flag of Ireland.svg  Ken Doherty  (IRL)3
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Neil Robertson  (AUS)5
15 Flag of England.svg  Jimmy White  (ENG)6
24 Flag of Malta.svg  Tony Drago  (MLT)4
8 Flag of England.svg  Paul Hunter  (ENG)5
45 Flag of England.svg  Brian Morgan  (ENG)1
8 Flag of England.svg  Paul Hunter  (ENG)2
24 Flag of Malta.svg  Tony Drago  (MLT)5
10 Flag of Scotland.svg  Alan McManus  (SCO)4
24 Flag of Malta.svg  Tony Drago  (MLT)5
24 Flag of Malta.svg  Tony Drago  (MLT)5
14 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Quinten Hann  (AUS)1
14 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Quinten Hann  (AUS)5
Flag of England.svg  Simon Bedford  (ENG)0
14 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Quinten Hann  (AUS)5
20 Flag of England.svg  Anthony Hamilton  (ENG)1
2 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Mark Williams  (WAL)1
20 Flag of England.svg  Anthony Hamilton  (ENG)5
Key [4] [33]

w/o = walkover
w/d = withdrew

Final

Scores in bold denote winning frame scores and the winning participant. [4]

Final: Best of 17 frames. [33] Referee: Jan Verhaas.
Hilton Conference Centre, Portomaso, Malta, 6 March 2004. [4]
Stephen Maguire (41)
Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland
9–3 Jimmy White (15)
Flag of England.svg  England
Afternoon:121–2 (96), 79–44 (72), 137–0 (137), 81–23, 113–8 (103), 58–6 [i 1] , 63–67, 62–60 (62)
Evening:18–91 (78), 77–1, 0–125 (125), 86–6 (57)
137Highest break125
2Century breaks1
650+ breaks2

Qualifying

Qualifying for the tournament took place at Pontin's in Prestatyn, Wales between 31 October and 5 November 2003. [34]

Round 1

Best of 9 frames

Round 2–5

Round 2
Best of 9 frames
Round 3
Best of 9 frames
Round 4
Best of 9 frames
Round 5
Best of 9 frames
Flag of Scotland.svg Steven Bennie 3 Flag of England.svg Shaun Murphy 4 Flag of England.svg Jonathan Birch 5 Flag of Hong Kong.svg Marco Fu 5
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Ian Preece 5 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Ian Preece 5 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Ian Preece 3 Flag of England.svg Jonathan Birch 0
Flag of England.svg Martin Gould 5 Flag of England.svg Dave Finbow 3 Flag of Ireland.svg Michael Judge 5 Flag of Scotland.svg Chris Small 5
Flag of England.svg Paul Sweeny 4 Flag of England.svg Martin Gould 5 Flag of England.svg Martin Gould 2 Flag of Ireland.svg Michael Judge 2
Flag of England.svg Rory McLeod 5 Flag of England.svg Alfie Burden 0 Flag of England.svg Barry Hawkins 5 Ulster Banner.svg Joe Swail 5
Flag of England.svg Tom Ford 3 Flag of England.svg Rory McLeod 5 Flag of England.svg Rory McLeod 2 Flag of England.svg Barry Hawkins 3
Flag of England.svg Adrian Rosa 2 Flag of England.svg Andy Hicks 3 Flag of England.svg Stuart Bingham 5 Flag of Finland.svg Robin Hull 5
Flag of Ireland.svg Colm Gilcreest 5 Flag of Ireland.svg Colm Gilcreest 5 Flag of Ireland.svg Colm Gilcreest 2 Flag of England.svg Stuart Bingham 1
Flag of England.svg Munraj Pal 5 Ulster Banner.svg Patrick Wallace 5 Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Maguire 5 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Dominic Dale 0
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Ryan Day 4 Flag of England.svg Munraj Pal 4 Ulster Banner.svg Patrick Wallace 2 Flag of Scotland.svg Stephen Maguire 5
Flag of England.svg Michael Rhodes 4 Flag of England.svg David Roe 5 Flag of England.svg Gary Wilkinson 2 Flag of England.svg Mark King 4
Flag of England.svg Craig Butler 5 Flag of England.svg Craig Butler 0 Flag of England.svg David Roe 5 Flag of England.svg David Roe 5
Flag of Scotland.svg Martin Dziewialtowski 5 Flag of England.svg Sean Storey 5 Flag of Scotland.svg Jamie Burnett 3 Flag of Scotland.svg Drew Henry 5
Flag of Thailand.svg Atthasit Mahitthi 2 Flag of Scotland.svg Martin Dziewialtowski 3 Flag of England.svg Sean Storey 5 Flag of England.svg Sean Storey 1
Flag of Ireland.svg Leo Fernandez 4 Flag of Pakistan.svg Shokat Ali 5 Flag of England.svg Barry Pinches 5 Flag of England.svg Robert Milkins 1
Flag of Thailand.svg Kwan Poomjang 5 Flag of Thailand.svg Kwan Poomjang 2 Flag of Pakistan.svg Shokat Ali 2 Flag of England.svg Barry Pinches 5
Flag of England.svg Ricky Walden 0 Flag of England.svg Jimmy Michie 5 Flag of England.svg Nigel Bond 4 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Anthony Davies 4
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Lee Walker 5 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Lee Walker 1 Flag of England.svg Jimmy Michie 5 Flag of England.svg Jimmy Michie 5
Flag of Scotland.svg Scott MacKenzie 5 Flag of Scotland.svg Marcus Campbell 4 Flag of Thailand.svg James Wattana 5 Flag of England.svg Ali Carter 4
Ulster Banner.svg Jason Prince 2 Flag of Scotland.svg Scott MacKenzie 5 Flag of Scotland.svg Scott MacKenzie 3 Flag of Thailand.svg James Wattana 5
Flag of Ireland.svg Garry Hardiman 5 Flag of England.svg Mike Dunn 5 Flag of Ireland.svg Fergal O'Brien 5 Flag of England.svg John Parrott 4
Ulster Banner.svg Terry Murphy 4 Flag of Ireland.svg Garry Hardiman 1 Flag of England.svg Mike Dunn 3 Flag of Ireland.svg Fergal O'Brien 5
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Robertson 5 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Darren Morgan 2 Flag of England.svg Mark Davis 1 Flag of England.svg Ian McCulloch 1
Flag of England.svg Luke Simmonds 0 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Robertson 5 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Robertson 5 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Neil Robertson 5
Flag of England.svg Darryn Walker 1 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bjorn Haneveer 5 Flag of England.svg Brian Morgan 5 Flag of England.svg Mark Selby 1
Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Philip Williams 5 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Philip Williams 3 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Bjorn Haneveer 4 Flag of England.svg Brian Morgan 5
Flag of England.svg Adrian Gunnell 5 Flag of England.svg Nick Walker 0 Ulster Banner.svg Gerard Greene 4 Flag of Malta.svg Tony Drago [i 2] 5
Flag of England.svg Jason Ferguson 1 Flag of England.svg Adrian Gunnell 5 Flag of England.svg Adrian Gunnell 5 Flag of England.svg Adrian Gunnell 2
Flag of England.svg Simon Bedford 5 Flag of England.svg Nick Dyson 4 Flag of England.svg Stuart Pettman 2 Flag of England.svg Dave Harold 4
Flag of England.svg Jamie Cope 3 Flag of England.svg Simon Bedford 5 Flag of England.svg Simon Bedford 5 Flag of England.svg Simon Bedford 5
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Steve Mifsud 4 Flag of England.svg Rod Lawler 5 Flag of England.svg Michael Holt 5 Flag of England.svg Anthony Hamilton 5
Ulster Banner.svg Joe Meara5 Ulster Banner.svg Joe Meara1 Flag of England.svg Rod Lawler 3 Flag of England.svg Michael Holt 2

Century breaks

[34]

Qualifying stage centuries

Televised stage centuries

Notes

  1. Maguire was awarded the frame when White violated the three-miss rule.
  2. Match was held over to the venue in Malta.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Professional snooker career of Ronnie O'Sullivan</span>

Ronnie O'Sullivan started his professional snooker career in 1992 and is widely considered one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. His play and accomplishments are described by some peers and pundits as being the greatest in the modern era of snooker. O'Sullivan is a seven-time world champion, and holds many records, including the fastest maximum break in professional competition; the highest number of century breaks; the highest number of maximum breaks, and the most Triple Crown event titles (23).

References

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Sources