The Global Snooker Centre

2002-3 – Review of the Season... - Chris Turner May 2003

Again 128 players comprised the Main Tour with several exciting newcomers joining the more established names. After much wrangling at the WSA about the future of the game we were left with no overseas events and a tour of only six ranking events also with no Champions' nor Nations Cup.

The season set out with the qualifying tournament for the Regal Masters in which Drew Henry beat Ali Carter to take up the last place in the tournament proper. Top 16 players Graeme Dott, Alan McManus and Joe Swail fell along the way. Meanwhile in Riga, Latvia, China’s 15 year-old Ding Jun Hui became the first player from mainland China to win an international title as he beat David John of Wales to win the IBSF Under-21 World Championship.

As September began with the qualifying for the LG Cup, British Open, UK Championship and Regal Welsh the provisional rankings were headed by Stephen Lee with Alan McManus and Joe Swail both looking in danger of losing their places in the top 16 unless they had a better season than they enjoyed last time. Further down, Chris Small, James Wattana, Tony Drago, Drew Henry and Marco Fu all have work to do to remain in the top 32. After the qualifying for the first four events was over, 60 of the 128 players on tour had been eliminated from all four and these included former top 32 players, Billy Snaddon and Terry Murphy.

The month ended with the Regal Masters at Glasgow’s Thistle Hotel. Two seeded players, Ken Doherty and Matthew Stevens went out in round one, to Jimmy White and Paul Hunter respectively. In the quarter finals, Stephen Lee whitewashed Mark Williams 6-0 and Stephen Hendry got his revenge on world champion, Peter Ebdon, for that defeat at the Crucible. John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan put out White and Hunter and both went on to win their semi-final encounters against Lee and Hendry. Ronnie was in superb form in the final and had a comfortable 9-4 victory over John to collect the title for the third time and a cheque for £65,000. Lee picked up the high break prize for his 139 against Higgins in the semis.

John Parrott’s hopes of returning to the top 16 suffered a dent as he was defeated by Shokat Ali in the opening round as the LG Cup began its television stage at Preston Guild Hall. Drew Henry, Dominic Dale and Ali Carter, all players with ambitions for higher things also lost in the opening round but Steve Davis, like Parrott combining playing with TV presenting for the BBC, had an easy victory. As the top sixteen seeds joined the event there were shocks galore. Peter Ebdon, Matthew Stevens, Ken Doherty, Joe Perry, Mark King, Graeme Dott and Quinten Hann all lost their first match.

The draw threw up a dream match for Steve Davis who took on his old rival Jimmy White and emerged a 5-4 winner. In the next round, four of the favourites were added to the list of casualties. Holder, Stephen Lee fell to Alan McManus, Stephen Hendry lost to Paul Hunter, Chris Small dispatched John Higgins 5-1 and Davis continued his revival beating Mark Williams by a similar score. Ronnie O’Sullivan was now a hot favourite but Chris Small disposed of him in the quarter finals as easily as he had dealt with Higgins.

Davis’ run continued as he squeezed past Paul Hunter for his first semi-final in a ranking event for six years. Jimmy Michie had progressed at the bottom of the draw having put out Mark King but avoiding any further top seeds. The Steve Davis show finally came to an end as Alan McManus beat him 6-4 with Small comfortably seeing off Michie in the other Semi. In the final Chris Small was always in command and ran out a 9-5 winner, a remarkable achievement for someone who was nearly forced out of the game through a spinal injury for which he still needs regular treatment. Stephen Lee took the high break prize for his effort of 141 in his opening match.

2002/03As October drew to a close, the eyes of the snooker world were focussed on Cairo and Mansfield. 88 leading ‘amateurs’ were contesting the IBSF World Championship in the Egyptian capital. Although most of the British players qualified for the knockout stage they all fell away except for Wales’ Tim English who reached the final. Australia’s former main tour player, Steve Mifsud, proved too good for him and took the title with an 11-6 victory.

The chance of a wild card for the last B & H Masters was at stake at Mansfield’s Tower Club as nearly 200 players contested the Benson & Hedges Championship. As has become the pattern over the years, the seeded players from the top 32 met with little success. Only Nigel Bond, Michael Judge and Drew Henry reached the quarter finals but they progressed no further. Mark Davis seems to have retained the good form he found for most of last season and he eventually took the title beating Mehmet Husnu 9-6 in the final. Tony Drago hit his first ever 147, the first for almost 12 months, but he still ended up losing his opener against Stuart Bingham.

The WSA announced that there would be two extra ranking events, The European Open which would take place in Torquay in early March, and the Citywest Irish Masters a few weeks later which would assume full ranking status. This was achieved at the cost of reducing the prize money for the British Open and UK Championship.

The stage now moved to Telford for the British Open during which an Extraordinary General Meeting of the WSA was held to decide the future of the game and the members voted against any change in the current set up. Meanwhile, on the table, Ken Doherty, Jimmy White, Joe Swail, Quinten Hann, Graeme Dott, Joe Perry and Mark King all failed to win their opener for the second event running. They were joined by Lee & Hendry. Ian McCulloch, having his best tournament ever went all the way to the final, beating John Higgins and Mark Williams on the way. In the other half, Chris Small was having another good tournament reaching the semi-finals where he came up against Paul Hunter who had eliminated Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last 16. It was Paul who went through to the final where he overcame McCulloch 9-4 to take the title. Williams’ effort in reaching the semi-final took him back to the top of the provisional ranking list.

At the eleventh hour, new sponsors in the form of Powerhouse were found for the UK Championship at York. The deal was for one year only but it was a welcome sign. White, Hann, King, Perry & Swail all failed to win again but Dott and Doherty gained welcome first wins of the season. Ken really returned to form and went all the way to the final beating Higgins, among others, on the way. Robert Milkins followed a win over Joe Swail with another over Matthew Stevens to reach the quarters and although Peter Ebdon was just to good for him on that occasion he looks assured of a top 32 place next season. Mark Williams meanwhile was finding his old form again and beat Hendry and Ebdon by comfortable margins to join Doherty in the final. That contest went all the way to the final frame with Williams just winning the decider for a 10-9 victory which consolidated his ranking position as the year drew to a close.

The New Year began with the next round of qualifying for the European Open, Irish Masters and Regal Scottish before the final stages of the Regal Welsh Open in Cardiff. Steve Davis continued his good form by reaching the last 32 again and Robin Hull boosted his chances of a top 32 place with a run to the quarter finals, a stage also reached by Rod Lawler. Ronnie O’Sullivan fell to Marco Fu at this stage but Paul Hunter, twice a winner of this event, cruised into the semis along with Mark Williams and Stephen Hendry. Hendry was too good for Fu and Williams put an end to Hunter’s challenge to meet the Scot in the final. On this occasion Hendry took the title 9-5.

Back at Blackpool, sixteen players emerged from the world championship qualifiers to challenge those seeded 17 to 32 in the final qualifying to be held in March. The main challengers for top 32 places, Robert Milkins, Ian McCulloch, Robin Hull and Mark Selby all came through as well as former top sixteen star, Gary Wilkinson.

It was an emotional occasion at Wembley in early February for the very last Benson & Hedges Masters. With the end of tobacco sponsorship next season, apart from the world championships, new sponsors will be need for this event to continue. Jimmy White, without a win in ranking events so far, thrilled his fans by beating Peter Ebdon before losing to his old rival, Stephen Hendry. O’Sullivan lost in the quarters to Doherty but otherwise it was the season’s form players who completed the last four – Hunter, Williams and Hendry. In the final Williams came up against his great friend and rival, Hendry, again and this time he gained a comfortable 10-4 victory.

Meanwhile, Adrian Rosa won the second Challenge Tour event in Swindon with a 6-5 win over Stuart Mann, and as there was a bit of a gap in the Main Tour schedule, many of the top stars went to Killarney, to play in the Liam O’Connor Memorial Pro-Am. All came away showering high praise on this event which was won by Ken Doherty who beat Ian McCulloch 6-2 in the final.

It was then back to the serious stuff with the final stages of the European Open at the Palace Hotel in Torquay. Jimmy White lost his opening match yet again and other first round casualties included Alan McManus and Joe Perry but Mark King and Quinten Hann managed their first wins. It was however the top four seeds who filled the semi final places with Hendry winning the latest episode of his on-going saga with Mark Williams to reach yet another final where he met Ronnie O’Sullivan who had proved too strong for Peter Ebdon. O’Sullivan got his season back on track, taking the title with a 9-6 victory.

The final Embassy qualifying followed straight away at the same venue. Steve Davis and John Parrott both squeezed through 10-8 against Ryan Day and Robin Hull respectively but David Gray, Dave Harold, Fergal O’Brien, Michael Judge, Dominic Dale, Anthony Davies and Anthony Hamilton all failed to qualify with Allister Carter and Stuart Pettman ensuring their Crucible debuts and Gary Wilkinson returning there after a two year gap. While all this was going on, in Swindon Michael Rhodes beat Luke Simmonds 6-5 to win Challenge Tour Event 3.

Now a full ranking event, the Citywest Irish Masters was next up at the sponsor’s hotel just outside Dublin. A string of top 16 casualties in the first round included Ken Doherty and Stephen Lee while further defeats for White, Swail, McManus, Dott and King were beginning to put their top sixteen places in jeopardy. Quinten Hann had decided to remain in the UK for a few weeks rather than return home to Australian between events and this policy seemed to pay off as he reached the quarter finals. Dave Harold went all the way to the semis where he lost to John Higgins to take the Scot into his first ranking final for eighteen months. Ronnie O’Sullivan continued the superb form he had shown in Torquay and just took the title the final frame to give him a real chance of retaining his number one position for another year.

As the players moved to Edinburgh, the new home for the Regal Scottish Open, their thoughts were already further south in Sheffield. Jimmy White finally won a match and Steve Davis again reached the last 32. He had now done so in every event of the season and ensured himself a return to the top 16 next season. John Higgins was the only one of the top four to reach the semi finals. Mark Selby was having his best ever tournament and victories over Paul Hunter, Matthew Stevens, Allister Carter and Ken Doherty took him into his first major final. In the other half, last year’s runner-up, David Gray, put out Hendry, Swail and Higgins to reach the final again where he overcame Selby 9-7 for his first ranking title. Neither player had qualified for the Crucible but these results ensured Gray a top 16 spot and gave Selby a great chance of making the top 32.

The opening day of the Embassy World Championships at the Crucible saw Peter Ebdon begin his defence with little trouble. John Parrott failed to make progress and Mark King lost to Drew Hendry prompting him to declare that he was finished with snooker. Perry also lost his opener but the first few days passed without any other major surprises. On day 4, Ronnie O’Sullivan thrilled the crown with another maximum, the fifth at this venue but he was struggling against Marco Fu and the following day became the highest profile casualty of the first round. To his obvious relief, Jimmy White won his first round match to ensure he kept his top 16 place but Steve Davis joined John Parrott in the TV studio after his defeat by Stephen Lee.

In the second round, Ken Doherty, who had been taken all the way by Shaun Murphy in his opener, had another final frame win over Graeme Dott. Mark Williams set a new record with a 13-frame winning streak to put out Hann to meet Stephen Hendry, yet again, in the quarter finals.

Hendry knew that if he could beat Mark and go on to win the title he would be number one again and Mark would be assured of that position himself if he could win. In the event in was the Welshman who was in the better form. Paul Hunter beat his friend Matthew Stevens to set up a quarter final against the defending champion and that went all the way with Hunter winning the decider.

Doherty after two final frame finishes opened a 10-0 lead over John Higgins and despite a spirited comeback by the man from Wishaw, Ken was through to meet Hunter. Stephen Lee was Williams’ semi final opponent but Mark was in superb form and Lee was never really in the match. When Hunter led Doherty 15-9 going into the final session of their semi no one could have guessed the drama that was to follow. Ken took five in a row to pull it back to 14-15 before Hunter edged two clear again but the Dubliner took the last three to win 17-16.

Williams won the first session of the final 7-1 and the next was shared leaving Mark 11-5 up at the end of the first day. Then came another of what were becoming familiar Irish comebacks. Williams was helpless as Ken took the first six frames on the final day to level at 11-11. Frames then went alternately with Mark never losing the lead until 14-14 at the final interval. Mark then came out with two in a row but back came Ken to level again before finally Mark won the next two for an 18-16 win.

For Mark Williams this was a memorable victory completing as it did the treble of UK, Masters and World titles in the same season, a feat only previously achieved by Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry. He also joined this famous pair as the only ones to have won more than once at snooker’s most famous venue. He also became only the second person ever to reclaim the number one ranking position after Ray Reardon in 1982.

After the world championships, the end of season rankings confirmed that Steve Davis was back in the top 16 with David Gray joining the elite for the first time. Mark King and Joe Swail were the casualties. It was a bad season for the other Irish players as both Fergal O’Brien and Michael Judge lost their top 32 places along with former top eight players, Nigel Bond and James Wattana. Rob Milkins, Ian McCulloch, Mark Selby and Robin Hull, all reaching this level for the first time, would take their places. Hull from Finland is the first player ever from mainland Europe to achieve such a high ranking.

There were still matters to be decided especially in the Premier League where Ronnie O’Sullivan, Marco Fu, Mark Williams and Peter Ebdon qualified for the play-offs in Sunderland. Williams met Fu in the final and went into a 5-3 lead only for Marco to take the next six for victory and become the first winner from outside the British Isles.

The final Challenge Tour event took place at Pontins in Prestatyn and Kurt Maflin beat James Leadbetter for the title. Veteran, Tony Knowles need to reach the quarter finals to get back on the Main Tour but fell at the last 16 stage. Leadbetter will be among those who will now make their debuts on the Main Tour next season. Others include Steven Bennie, Joe Meara, Stephen Croft and Carlo Giagnacovo.

At the same venue Judd Trump, still only thirteen, became the youngest ever winner of the Pontins Open as he beat Mike Hallett in the final after receiving 10 points per frame. He took the Star of the Future event as well and is the most exciting prospect to emerge since Ronnie O’Sullivan. I expect his name to feature heavily in my reviews in a couple of years' time.

Chris Turner - May 2003

2001-2 review