2008 Masters (snooker)
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox individual snooker tournament
The 2008 Masters (officially the 2008 SAGA Insurance Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 13 to 20 January 2008 at the Wembley Arena in London, England. The second Triple Crown event of the [[2007–08 snooker season|2007Template:Nbnd08 season]], following the 2007 UK Championship and preceding the 2008 World Snooker Championship, the tournament was the 34th edition of the Masters, which was first held in 1975. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the event was sponsored by Saga Insurance. The winner received £150,000 from a total prize fund of £460,000.
The defending champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan, lost to Stephen Maguire in the first round; it was the first time since 2003 that O'Sullivan did not make it to the final. Debutant Mark Selby won the tournament by defeating Stephen Lee 10–3 in the final. In the last frame, he tied Ken Doherty for the highest Template:Glossary link of the tournament, recording a total Template:Glossary link of 141. The tournament produced a total of 23 century breaks, with a further 27 made in the qualifying stages.
Overview
The 2008 Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 13 to 20 January 2008 at the Wembley Arena in London, England.[1] It was sponsored by Saga Insurance.[1] The second Triple Crown event of the [[2007–08 snooker season|2007Template:Nbnd08 season]], following the 2007 UK Championship and preceding the 2008 World Snooker Championship,[2] the tournament was the 34th edition of the Masters, which was first held in 1975 for ten invited players at the West Centre Hotel in London.[3][4] John Spencer won the inaugural event, defeating Ray Reardon on a Template:Glossary link in the Template:Glossary link of the final.[3] The second-oldest professional snooker tournament, after the World Snooker Championship,[5] the Masters had been staged at the Wembley Arena since 2007.[6] As of 2008, Stephen Hendry was the most successful player in the tournament's history, having won the title six times.[4][7] Ronnie O'Sullivan held the record as the tournament's youngest winner, having won his first title in 1995, aged 19.[8] Reardon stood as the oldest winner, as he was 43 when he prevailed in the 1976 final.[9]
Participants
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was the number 1 seed with World Champion John Higgins seeded 2. Places were allocated to the top 16 players in the world rankings. Players seeded 15 and 16 played in the wild-card round against the winner of the qualifying event, Barry Hawkins (ranked 19), and wild-card selection Marco Fu (ranked 27). Mark Selby was making his debut in the Masters.
Prize money
The winner of the event received £150,000 from a total prize fund of £460,000. The breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:[10]
Qualifying stage
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- Winner: £2,000
- Runner-up: £680
- Semi-final: £250
- Quarter-final: £105
- Total: £3,600
Televised stage
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- Winner: £150,000
- Runner-up: £68,000
- Semi-final: £34,000
- Quarter-finalist: £16,000
- First round: £12,000
- Last 18 (wild-cards): £2,000
- Highest Template:Glossary link: £10,000
- Maximum break: £25,000
- Total: £460,000
Summary
Wild-card round
The wild-card-round matches were played as the best of 11 Template:Glossary link.[1] In his match against Barry Hawkins, Ryan Day potted fifteen Template:Glossary link and was on course for a maximum break, but lost position and missed the fifteenth Template:Glossary link. He went on to win 6Template:Nbnd2.[11] Marco Fu compiled a century break and four further Template:Glossary link to defeat Steve Davis 6Template:Nbnd2. "I was capitalising more on Steve [Davis]'s errors than creating good chances of my own," Fu said.[12]
First round
The first-round matches were played as the best of 11 frames.[1] Stephen Maguire faced Ronnie O'Sullivan, who was the defending champion and had defeated him 10Template:Nbnd2 in the final of the 2007 UK Championship a month earlier. Maguire produced breaks of 103 and 84 as he moved into a 4Template:Nbnd1 lead. O'Sullivan made breaks of 112 and 72 as he reduced the deficit and went on to force a Template:Glossary link. In the final frame, O'Sullivan missed the final Template:Glossary link when he was Template:Glossary link and allowed Maguire to get back in and clinch victory with blue and Template:Glossary link.[13] "I had my chance and I didn't take it. If you don't take your chances then don't expect another one," O'Sullivan lamented.[14] It was the first time since 2003 that O'Sullivan did not reach the final of the event.[7] The runner-up in the previous edition, Ding Junhui, was 1Template:Nbnd3 and 3Template:Nbnd4 in arrears to John Higgins, but took three frames on the spin to win 6Template:Nbnd4.[15] Stephen Lee won 6Template:Nbnd5 over Graeme Dott.[1] Shaun Murphy, who was feeling unwell, faced Ali Carter. Carter took the first frame on the final black and doubled his lead in the next, but Murphy levelled at 2Template:Nbnd2 and 3Template:Nbnd3. Murphy went on to win 6Template:Nbnd3. "Ali [Carter] was poorly through the match as well. He said he wasn't feeling very well, so we both struggled," Murphy said afterwards.[16]
Mark Williams took a 2Template:Nbnd0 lead against Ken Doherty with breaks of 118 and 69. Doherty replied with breaks of 101, 89, 53 and 68 to win six consecutive breaks and advance into the quarter-finals.[17] Out of the top 32 and facing the possibility of having to play in the qualifying stages of the following World Championship, Williams admitted after the defeat he has contemplating retiring from professional snooker. "I'll mull over my situation in the summer. There are plenty of things to do outside snooker, but hopefully I won't have to think about that," he said.[18] Peter Ebdon compiled breaks of 92, 76, 52 and 50 as he built a 4Template:Nbnd2 lead against Day. Day levelled the match with back-to-back 50 breaks, but Ebdon also won two on the spin to seal a 6Template:Nbnd4 victory.[12] Neil Robertson made breaks of 63 and 118 to take the two first frames of his match against Fu. Fu, winner of the 2007 Grand Prix, replied with breaks of 89, 71, 69 and 100 to go 4Template:Nbnd2 in front. The match went to a decider, which Fu won on the Template:Glossary link.[19] Stephen Hendry met Mark Selby in a match which, according to Sam Lyon's report for BBC Sport, was characterised "by missed Template:Glossary link and poor Template:Glossary link play". Hendry took a 5Template:Nbnd3 lead with a break of 105, but Selby won three consecutive frames to win the match. "I feel I'm too good not to come back. People keep saying that Hendry's gone but that's all rubbish. One good performance and I'll be back," Hendry said afterwards.[12]
Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals were played as the best of 11 frames.[1] Doherty, who had recently been a father, fell 1Template:Nbnd4 behind Murphy. Doherty manufactured breaks of 141 and 114 as he forced a decider, which he won with another century break. "There's never any disgrace in losing to someone who's playing as well as Ken [Doherty] was," Murphy said. Maguire, winner of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy, produced a 105 break as he raced into a 3Template:Nbnd1 lead against Selby. A miss on the Template:Glossary link in frame eight allowed Maguire to maintain a two-frame cushion at 5Template:Nbnd3, one shy of victory. Selby made breaks of 55, 103 and 54 to win three consecutive frames and take the match. "I just can't believe I've got beat. I was thinking I was in the next round, but he stepped up a gear and played great," Maguire said.[20]
Lee won the two first frames of his match against Ebdon. In the third, Ebdon went for a more difficult black ball so as to stay on course to a maximum break, but missed it and allowed Lee to steal it with an 87 clearance. "I shouldn't have gone for the maximum and I got what I deserved," Ebdon said after the match. Lee then extended his lead to five frames, only one away from a place in the final. In the sixth frame, Ebdon was on a break of 105 in another attempt to get a 147, but missed a black off its spot. Lee clinched victory in the following frame. "It was a strange game, he never settled and kept giving me some nice chances," Lee said after the match. Ding made an 87 break and Fu compiled a 93 as they shared the first four frames. Ding won the next, but Fu produced breaks of 62, 86 and 51 to win four consecutive frames for a 6Template:Nbnd3 victory.[21][22]
Semi-finals
The semi-finals were played as the best of 11 frames.[1] Selby won the opening frame, but Doherty then edged 2Template:Nbnd1 in front. Although Selby replied with three consecutive frames to lead 3Template:Nbnd2, the match went into a decider. Selby won it. Doherty regretted that, having had a chance in the decider, he did not win it. "I have had a good tournament but at this moment in time I'm not thinking about that," he said after the match.[23]
In the other semi-final, Lee enjoyed a 3Template:Nbnd1 lead against Fu, who narrowed the deficit in the following frame. Lee went on to secure a place in the final with a 6Template:Nbnd2 victory. "I felt quite nervous at the start of the match but then got stuck in. I just kept Marco away from the table today and that proved decisive," Lee said. Fu argued that he was tired, not having been able to sleep after his quarter-final match against Ding.[23]
Final
The final took place on 20 January as the best of 19 frames, between Selby and Lee.[1] Referee Michaela Tabb, who had been in charge of the final of the 2007 Welsh Open during the season, became the first woman to officiate a Masters final. "I'll be making a little bit of history," she said ahead of the match.[24][25] Selby reached the final having won all his matches in the deciding frame. While Selby was playing in the final as a Masters debutant, Lee reached the final on his eleventh appearance. Lee won the opening frame with a 41 break, which would remain as his highest of the match. Lee was also ahead at 3Template:Nbnd1, but Selby won four on the spin before the interval aided by breaks of 124 and 88. In the first of the evening session, Selby compiled a break of 132. Selby clinched a 10Template:Nbnd3 victory with another century break in the last frame, a 141 break which tied the one made by Doherty as the highest of the tournament and secured him an additional prize of £5,000.[26][27]
Selby became the fourth debutant—after John Spencer in 1975, Doug Mountjoy in 1977, Terry Griffiths in 1980 and Hendry in 1989—to win the Masters as a debutant. "I've been knocking on the door for a while. The world championship would have been nice last season, but to win the Masters is amazing," Selby said, and he added: "I'm only 24 but I feel about 40 after those close matches". Lee was disappointed with his performance in the final. "I'm gutted for people who turned up to watch me," he said.[26][27]
Wild-card round
In the wild-card round, the qualifier and wild-card players played the 15th and 16th seeds:[1][28][29]
| Match | Date | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WC1 | Monday 14 January | Template:Flagathlete (15) | 2–6 | Template:Flagathlete |
| WC2 | Sunday 13 January | Template:Flagathlete (16) | 6–2 | Template:Flagathlete |
Main draw
The results for the main draw are shown below. Match winners are shown in bold. The numbers in parentheses after the players' names denote the seedings.[1][28][29]
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Final
| Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee: Michaela Tabb. Wembley Arena, London, England, 20 January 2008.[1][28] | ||
| Mark Selby (11) Script error: No such module "flag". |
10–3 | Stephen Lee (13) Script error: No such module "flag". |
| Afternoon: 50–65, 124–1 (124), 88–0 (88), 21–77, 13–61, 76–16, 79–1 (60), 73–9 Evening: 132–0 (132), 76–32, 72–52, 125–5 (125), 141–0 (141) | ||
| 141 | Highest break | 41 |
| 4 | Century breaks | 0 |
| 6 | 50+ breaks | 0 |
Qualifying
The 2007 Masters Qualifying Event was held between 7 September and 12 September 2007 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.[30] The winner of this series of matches, who qualified for the tournament, was Barry Hawkins.
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Century breaks
Main stage centuries
A total of 23 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament.[28]
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Qualifying stage centuries
A total of 27 century breaks were made during the qualifying rounds.[30]
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References
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