page_title: 2005 World Snooker Championship
section_title: First round
hierarchical_section_title: 2005 World Snooker Championship / Tournament summary / First round
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bild aufgenommen in Berlin während des German Masters im Snooker 2013. Mark Williams. English: Picture taken in Berlin during the Snooker German Masters in 2013. Mark Williams.
context_page_description: The 2005 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The tournament started on 16 April, and ended on 2 May 2005. The event was the eighth and final world ranking event of the 2004–05 snooker season, following the 2005 China Open. The event was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Due to laws banning advertising cigarettes in Great Britain, this was the last time the event was sponsored by the cigarette company Embassy. The event had a prize fund of £1,121,800, with the winner receiving £250,000.
  Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, having defeated Graeme Dott in the 2004 World Snooker Championship final. O'Sullivan lost in the quarter-finals 11–13 against Peter Ebdon. Qualifier Shaun Murphy won his first ranking title by defeating Matthew Stevens 18–16 in the final. This was the first time that a qualifier won the championship since Terry Griffiths did so in 1979. There was a total of 63 century breaks made during the tournament, the highest being a maximum break made by Mark Williams in the first round.
context_section_description: The first round was played 16–21 April as best-of-19-frames matches played over two sessions. Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan played Stephen Maguire. O'Sullivan lead the match after the first session, 5–4, but in the second session Maguire won five straight frames to go one frame from victory. Trailing 7–9, O'Sullivan won the next three frames with a break of 68 in the 19th frame to win 10–9. Mark Williams made his first career maximum break of 147 in a ranking tournament during his 10–1 first round win over Robert Milkins. Williams made the break in frame 11 to win the match. It was the sixth maximum break in the all of the world championships.
  Three players made their debut at the world championship through the qualifiers.The first debutant, Michael Holt, played eighth seed Paul Hunter. Hunter had recently been diagnosed with stomach cancer; the match against Holt being his first since the diagnosis. Hunter led the match at 5–4 after the first session but lost the first three frames of the second session. Later, trailing at 6–9 behind, he made a break of 120 in frame 16 and also won the next to trail 8–9. Holt, however,  won frame 18 to win the match. The second debutant, Neil Robertson, lost to Stephen Hendry. Hendry held a 7–2 lead after the first session, but Robertson won four frames in a row, including a break of 110. Hendry, however, won the match 10–7 but commented his "attitude wasn't great" going into the second session, as he had a five frame lead. The final debutant, Mark Selby, lost to John Higgins. Higgins edged the first session of the match 5–4, but won five of the next six frames to win 10–5, including breaks of 138 and 136.
  Sixteenth seed Marco Fu played Ali Carter in the first round, but was defeated 4–10. Stephen Lee defeated Maltese player Tony Drago 10–5 by capitalising on a 6–3 lead after the first session. Quentin Hann won only one frame in the opening session against Peter Ebdon. On the resumption, Ebdon won frame 12 to win the match. Hann turned up to the event with a hangover and using a friend's cue. Chris Small had been struggling with the spinal condition ankylosing spondylitis all season. He played against qualifier Shaun Murphy. Murphy took a 5–4 lead after the first session and won five of the next six to win the match 10–5. After the match, Small commented that he "may not be back" due to the spinal condition. Small retired from professional snooker shortly after the match.
  World number six Matthew Stevens held a three frame lead over Andy Hicks after the first session. He increased his lead to 8–3 with a break of 105. Stevens won two additional frames to win the match 10–5. Alan McManus was ahead of Drew Henry 5–4 after the first session, but a 128 by Henry levelled the scores at 5–5. The pair were even for the remainder of the match, going to a deciding frame at 9–9. McManus won frame 19 with a break of 63 to win the match 10–9. The previous year's runner up Graeme Dott played world number 17 Ian McCulloch. McCulloch lead 6–3 after the first session and a break of 111 put him four frames ahead. McCulloch lead at 8–5, but Dott won the next four to take the lead. McCulloch managed won the next two frames to win the match. He celebrated his victory wildly, even dancing a jig. Also in the first round, Steve Davis defeated Gerard Greene, David Gray defeated Anthony Hamilton, Jimmy White defeated Fergal O'Brien, and Ken Doherty defeated Barry Pinches.
caption: Mark Williams made his first career maximum break in a 10–1 win over Robert Milkins
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