2009 World Snooker Championship

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[2][3]

The first round was played between 18 and 23 April as the best of 19 frames held over two sessions.[4] The defending champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan, made breaks of 61, 140, 104, 73, 78, 94, 100 and 97 for a 10‍–‍5 victory against Stuart Bingham, although he rated his performance with a five out of ten.[5] Six-time world champion Steve Davis qualified for the World Championship for a record-extending 29th time, but he was defeated 2‍–‍10 by Neil Robertson, who notched a century break of 135 in the process.[6] Clive Everton, writing for The Guardian, hinted that this could be Davis's last appearance at the Crucible.[6] "To me it's not about going out in style. I've gone past that. I'm going down the wall hanging on by my fingernails", said Davis.[6] In a duel between two former world champions, Stephen Hendry won 10‍–‍7 over Mark Williams, who had to have his cue stick repaired in the middle of the match.[7] Graeme Dott, winner in 2006, disposed of Barry Hawkins with a 10‍–‍8 result.[8]

There were four debutants at the Crucible in this edition—Rory McLeod, Martin Gould, Andrew Higginson and Ricky Walden—and they were all defeated in the first round. McLeod, who became the first-ever black player to play at the Crucible,[9] lost 5‍–‍10 to Mark King.[8] Gould defeated the 2000 and 2005 runner-up, Matthew Stevens, in the qualifiers to earn a place at the Crucible,[10] but he could not make it past Mark Allen, who knocked him out in the first round with a 10‍–‍6 result.[11] Allen, semi-finalist of the 2008 Bahrain Championship during the season, produced a half-century of 88 in the last frame.[11] As he went into his first-round match against Higginson, Shaun Murphy, the 2005 winner, was threatened by his wife to be presented with the divorce papers at the Crucible.[12][13] Higginson took the lead at 6‍–‍5 at the beginning of the second session, but Murphy prevailed with a 10‍–‍8 result despite the personal issues.[12][13] Walden, champion of both the invitational 2008 Six-red Snooker International and the ranking 2008 Shanghai Masters earlier in the season, lost 6‍–‍10 to Mark Selby, runner-up in 2007.[14] Selby made three centuries in the second session to seal victory.[15]

The runner-up in the previous edition, Ali Carter, had won his first ranking event earlier in the season, the 2009 Welsh Open.[16] In his first-round match, he beat Gerard Greene 10‍–‍5.[8] Greene, having reached the Crucible on four occasions, had never made it past the first round of the event.[17] Stephen Maguire compiled breaks of 98, 96, 101, 122, 79 and 127 for a 10‍–‍5 defeat of Jamie Burnett.[18] A few months earlier, at the 2008 UK Championship, the game between both players, which also went Maguire's way, was investigated after there were allegations of match fixing, but neither of the players was charged.[18] Marco Fu constructed three centuries en route to a 10‍–‍4 victory over Joe Swail.[13] John Higgins, world champion in 1998 and 2007, fell 2‍–‍4 behind Michael Holt during the first session, but he only conceded one more frame as he completed the comeback for a 10‍–‍5 win.[19] Ding Junhui led Liang Wenbo 7‍–‍4, but Liang won four frames on the trot to put himself ahead.[20] Ding then took three consecutive frames, featuring a century break, to clinch victory with a 10‍–‍8 result.[20] Only two out of the sixteen seeded players lost their first round matches. The 2002 world champion, Peter Ebdon, was defeated 5‍–‍10 by Nigel Bond,[21] while Joe Perry lost 6‍–‍10 against Jamie Cope, who made good long pots to advance into the second round of the World Championship for the first time in his career.[22]

In September 2013 Stephen Lee was found guilty of conspiring to lose his first round match 4–10 against Ryan Day,[23] for which as part of other offences Lee received a 12-year ban and was ordered to pay £40,000 in costs.[24]

The second round of the event was played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions, between 23 and 27 April.[4]

• Hendry won his 1,000th frame at the Crucible during his match against Ding Junhui. In this very frame Hendry compiled a 140 break. In total, at that moment Hendry had played over 1,700 frames at the Crucible, more than any other player. Hendry went on to win the match 13–10 and qualified for the quarter-finals for a record 18th time.[25] This was the second consecutive year that Hendry had knocked out Ding in the Last 16.
• Mark Allen beat defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 13–11.[25] Allen made his best appearance at the tournament, ultimately reaching the semi-finals.[26] This would be the last time that O'Sullivan failed to reach the quarter-finals until 2016.
• Neil Robertson won four frames on the final black during the second session of his match with Ali Carter, and went on to win the match 13–8.[27]
• John Higgins beat Jamie Cope 13–12 having trailed 10–12.
• Stephen Maguire and Mark King set a new record for the longest frame ever played at the Crucible at 74 minutes 58 seconds,[28] breaking the previous record of 74 minutes 8 seconds set in the 2006 final between Peter Ebdon and Graeme Dott.[29]
• The match between Mark Selby and Graeme Dott saw a controversial decision by referee Alan Chamberlain. Dott was going in-off, but stopped the cue ball with his fist before it dropped into the pocket, believing that the in-off was obvious. Chamberlain called a foul and awarded four points to Selby. Convinced that he now had the cue ball in hand, as would be the norm after an in-off, Selby picked up the ball to place it inside the "D". However, Chamberlain then called a foul on him and awarded four points back to Dott. Chamberlain's reasoning was that since the cue ball had never left the bed of the table, Selby should have played the shot from where the cue ball finished. Both players and even members of the audience disputed Chamberlain's decision, but it remained unchanged.[30][31]

While the second round was being played, it was announced that the World Snooker Championship would continue to be played at the Crucible Theatre at least until 2014.[32]

The quarter-finals of the event were played as the best of 25 frames, held over three sessions, between 28 and 29 April.[4]

• Hendry made the ninth 147 break of his career in the seventh frame of his match against Shaun Murphy. Hendry equalled Ronnie O'Sullivan's record for most 147s and became the second man to score a Crucible 147 more than once, having done it for the first time in 1995.[33]
• Neil Robertson beat Stephen Maguire - who had eliminated him in the second round the year before - 13–8. He became only the second player from Australia in 27 years (since Eddie Charlton) to play a semi-final at the Crucible.[34]
• John Higgins advanced to the semi-finals against Mark Selby by winning his second consecutive match of the tournament in the final frame, again coming from behind before the last frames, this time 11–12. The final frame required two re-racks.[35]
• Mark Allen and Neil Robertson both reached the first world championship semi-finals of their careers.

The semi-finals were played as the best of 33 frames, held over four sessions, between 30 April and 2 May.[4]

Both semi-finals featured impressive comebacks from the eventual losers. Allen came back from a 3–13 deficit against Higgins to 12–15 before losing the match 13–17.[36] In a similar manner, Robertson brought a 7–14 deficit back to 14–14 in his match against Murphy, but lost the final three frames.[37]

The final was played as a best-of-35-frames, held over four sessions on 3 and 4 May, between Higgins and Murphy.[4]

• Michaela Tabb made history by becoming the first woman to referee a World Snooker Championship final.[38][39]
• This was the first final contested by two former world champions since 2003, when Mark Williams defeated Ken Doherty 18–16.[40]
• After the first session ended all-square at 4–4, John Higgins opened up an 11–5 lead over Shaun Murphy, winning the second session 7–1.[41] After the third session, Higgins led 16–8, having won that session 5–3.[42]
• The second frame of the fourth session was Higgins's 1000th frame at the Crucible Theatre.[43]
• The fourth and final session lasted only three frames before John Higgins defeated Shaun Murphy 18–9. In doing so, Higgins became only the ninth player to lift the trophy more than twice,[40] and only the sixth player to have won more than two titles in the modern era (Ray Reardon, John Spencer, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan being the others).[44]
• By winning the title two weeks before his 34th birthday, Higgins became the oldest World Snooker Champion since 36-year-old Dennis Taylor in 1985.[45]

There were 83 century breaks in the televised stage of the World Championship, a new record beating 2002's and 2007's 68; this record was surpassed in 2015.

There were 69 century breaks in the qualifying stage of the World Championship: