The 2019 Northern Ireland Open (officially the 2019 19.com Northern Ireland Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 11 to 17 November 2019 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The fourth edition of the Northern Ireland Open, it was the sixth ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season, the second tournament of the Home Nations Series. Featuring a prize fund of £405,000, the winner received £70,000. The event was broadcast on Eurosport and Quest domestically and was sponsored by betting company 19.com.
The defending champion was Judd Trump, who had defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–7 in the 2018 final. The pair both reached the final in 2019, with Trump successfully defending the title, defeating O'Sullivan by the same scoreline. Stuart Bingham scored the highest break of the tournament, compiling a maximum break in the first frame of his first round match with Lu Ning, the sixth of his career.
The defending champion was Judd Trump, who had won the 2018 event by defeating Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–7.[6] All matches were played as the best of 7 frames in the first four rounds, at which point the number increased: 9 in the quarter-finals; 11 in the semi-finals; and the best of 19 frames in the final.[7] Chinese sports prediction website 19.com sponsored the event,[8] which was broadcast in Europe and Australia by Eurosport; CCTV, Superstars Online, Youku and Zhibo.tv in China; True sport in Thailand; Sky Sports in New Zealand and DAZN in Canada.[9]
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:[10]
Winner: £70,000
Runner-up: £30,000
Semi-final: £20,000
Quarter-final: £10,000
Last 16: £7,500
Last 32: £4,000
Last 64: £3,000
Highest break: £5,000
Total: £405,000
Tournament summary
Judd Trump won the event, retaining the trophy after a 9–7 win in the final.
The quarter-finals were played on 15 November as the best of nine frames.[7] Trump defeated Hamilton 5–1, the same scoreline that O'Sullivan defeated Murphy, whilst Perry defeated Ursenbacher 5–3.[14][7] Higgins led Selby 4–2, but led 66–0 in frame seven. Selby, however, took more than six minutes to take a single shot, more time than the fastest ever maximum break.[11] Selby won the frame, and tied the match at 4–4, but Higgins won the deciding frame to win 5–4.[11] The semi-finals were played as the best of 11 frames on 16 November.[7] Higgins led Trump at 3–2 in the first, but Trump won the next four frames to progress to the final.[15] A pot on the black ball by Trump in frame eight where he played the cue ball around the table to make a cannon was described by fellow players such as Jimmy White, Mark Allen and opponent Higgins as "one of the best shots ever played".[16] The second semi-final was held between O'Sullivan and Perry. O'Sullivan won all of the first five frames, before winning the match 6–1.[17]
The final was played between Trump and O'Sullivan on 17 November as the best of 17 frames, held over two sessions .[7] Trump won the opening two frames, and led 3–1 after a break of 123 in the fourth.[18] He also led 5–3 after the opening session, despite missing an attempt for a maximum break in frame seven.[18] Upon the restart, O'Sullivan won frame nine, before Trump opened up a three frame lead by winning the next two. O'Sullivan won two frames in a row, to trail by a frame, but Trump made a break of 124 to lead 8–6. Making his second century break of the final, a 135, O'Sullivan won frame 15, but Trump made a break of 84 to win the match 9–7.[18][19]
The win was Trump's 14th ranking event victory.[20] After the match, Trump commented: "To defend any title is always difficult but to do it against Ronnie [O'Sullivan] is extra special...You've got to play [your best] against Ronnie otherwise you lose."[18] O'Sullivan praised his opponent after the match, commenting that he "enjoyed watching" Trump's play.[20] The pair would also contest the following season's event, with Trump again winning over O'Sullivan by the same scoreline.[21]
Main draw
The results from the event are shown below. Seeded players have their seedings in brackets. Players highlighted in bold denote match winners.[7]
A total of 76 century breaks were made during the competition. The highest break was a maximum break scored by Bingham in the first frame of his opening round win over Lu Ning.[22]
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Stuart Bingham (ENG) (147)
