2015 Warld Snooker Championship

The **2015 Warld Snooker Championship** (an aw referred tae as the **2015 Betfred Warld Snooker Championship** for the purposes of sponsorship) wis a professional snooker toornament, that teuk place frae 18 Apryle tae 4 May 2015 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It wis the 39th consecutive year that the Warld Snooker Championship haed been held at the Crucible and this wis the final rankin event o the 2014/2015 season. Betfred sponsored the event for the first time in three years, haein previously sponsored the toornament frae 2009 tae 2012. Qualifying for the event teuk place atween 8 and 15 Apryle 2015 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield.

Mark Selby wis the defendin champion, haein defeatit Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2014 final. Selby lost 9–13 in the seicont roond tae event debutant Anthony McGill. Selby fell tae the Crucible curse, acomin the 16t first-time champion unable tae defend his title at the venue. Shaun Murphy the 2005 winner met Stuart Bingham in the final. Bingham, a 50–1 outsider at the stairt o the toornament, defeatit Murphy 18–15 in the final tae win the first Warld title of his 20-year professional career. At the age of 38, Bingham became the auldest player tae win the title syne Ray Reardon in 1978.

The toornament featurt a tot of 86 century breaks, a record for the championships and higher than 83 centuries set in 2009. The heichest brak wis 145, achieved bi baith Bingham and Neil Robertson. The event haed a prize fund of £1,364,000 wi the winner receiving £300,000.

## Overview
The Warld Snooker Championship is an annual cue sport toornament an the offeecial professional Warld championship o the gemme of snooker. Foondit in the late 19t century bi British Army soldiers stationed in Indie, the sport wis played in the United Kinrick. In modren times, houiver, it haes been played Warldwide, especially in East and Southeast Asia nations sic as China, Hong Kong and Thailand.

The Warld championship sees 32 professional players compete in ane-on-ane snooker matches in a single elimination format, each played ower several . The event's 32 players are selected throu a mix o the Warld snooker rankins, an a pre-toornament qualification roond. The first Warld championship in 1927 wis won bi Joe Davis, the final bein held in Camkin's Hall, Birmingham, England. Syne 1977, the event haes been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Stephen Hendry is the maist successfu player in the modren era, haein won the championship seiven times. England's Mark Selby won the previous year's championship bi defeatin countryman Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final 18–14. The winner o the 2015 event earned prize money of £300,000, frae a tot pool of £1,364,000. The event wis sponsored bi sports betting company Betfred haein previously sponsored the event frae 2009 tae 2012.

### Format
The 2015 Warld Snooker Championship wis held atween 18&nbsp;Apryle and 4&nbsp;May 2015 in Sheffield, England. The toornament wis the last of 11&nbsp;rankins events in the 2014-15 snooker season on the Warld Snooker Tour. It featurt a 32-player main draw that teuk place at the Crucible Theatre, as well as a 128-player qualifying draw that wis played at the 8 and 15 Apryle 2015 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, finishing three days afore the stairt o the main draw. This wis the 39th consecutive year that the toornament haed been held at the Crucible, an it wis the 47th successive Warld championship tae be contested throu the knockout format efter reverting frae a challenge match seestem in the 1960s.

The tap 16 players in the latest Warld rankins automatically qualified for the main draw as seedit players. Mark Selby wis seedit first oweraw as the defendin champion, while the remainin 15&nbsp;seeds war allocated based on the latest Warld rankins, released efter the penultimate event o the season, the China Open. The nummer of frames needed tae win a match increased wi each proceeding roond o the main draw, stairtin wi best-of-19-frames matches in the first roond, leadin up tae the final which wis played as a best-of-35-frames match.

### Prize fund
The prize fund o the event wis raised tae £1,364,000 frae the previous year's £1,214,000. The brakdown of prize money for this year is shawn ablo:

*Winner: £300,000
*Runner-up: £125,000
*Semi-final: £60,000
*Quarter-final: £30,000
*Last 16: £20,000
*Last 32: £12,000
*Last 48: £9,000
*Last 80: £6,000
*Non-televised heichest brak: £1,000
*Televised heichest brak: £10,000
*Tot: £1,364,000

### Participant summary
The event featurt 144 partipants, wi 128 competin in qualifying alongside 16 invited players. The tap 16 seeds automatically qualified for the main draw based on the snooker Warld rankins prior tae the toornament. Defendin champion Mark Selby wis seedit 1, while ither seedit places war allocated based on the latest Warld rankins. The ane exception wis Ali Carter, who wis seedit 13, despite bein ranked 31, acause his seeding haed been frozen while he underwent treatment for cancer. This meant that Michael White, ranked 16, haed tae play in the qualifying toornament. For the first time, players ranked 17–32 haed tae win three qualifying matches, rather than ane.

Ten umwhile Warld champions competit in the toornament. Peter Ebdon, Steve Davis, and Ken Doherty lost in the qualifying roonds, but Graeme Dott successfully qualified for the main stages. Sax ither umwhile champions (John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, an Mark Williams) automatically qualified bi virtue of thair tap 16 rankins. Despite losin 1–10 tae Kurt Maflin, Davis became the first player tae compete in a tot of 100 Warld Championship matches, includin qualifiers. Ten-time women's Warld champion Reanne Evans attempted tae acome the first woman tae reach the televised stages o the Warld Championship, but she lost 8–10 tae Ken Doherty in the first qualifying roond.

## Summary
### Early rounds

First-roond debutants at the Crucible war England's Craig Steadman, and Stuart Carrington, Scotland's Anthony McGill, and Norawa's Kurt Maflin. McGill and Carrington haed baith played at the Crucible afore, in the Junior Pot Black in 2006. Mark Selby narrowly escaped a first-roond exit, recovering frae 8–9 doun against Maflin tae clinch a 10–9 win. In his match against Steadman, Ronnie O'Sullivan risked a sanction for removing a pair of uncomfortable shoes and playin briefly in his socks, afore borrowing a replacement pair of shoes frae toornament director Mike Ganley. Ali Carter, back at the Crucible efter extensive treatment for cancer, won his match 10–5 against Alan McManus.

Mark Selby succumbed tae the Crucible curse in the seicont roond, losin 9–13 tae Anthony McGill tae acome the 16t first-time champion who failed tae defend his title syne the toornament moved tae the Crucible in 1977. Ding Junhui defeatit John Higgins 13–9 tae reach anly his third quarter-final in nine years. Barry Hawkins reached the quarter-finals efter defeatin Mark Allen 13–11, coming back frae 8–11 behind in the final session. Stuart Bingham reached his seicont Crucible quarter-final, winnin seiven oot o the last aicht frames tae defeat Graeme Dott 13–5. Three o the ither fower-seicont roond matches ended wi 13–5 wins for Ronnie O'Sullivan ower Matthew Stevens, Shaun Murphy ower Joe Perry, and Neil Robertson ower Ali Carter. Judd Trump defeatit Hong Kong's Marco Fu 13–8.

### Quarter-finals
Judd Trump defeatit Ding Junhui 13–4 tae reach his third Warld Championship semi-final, while Shaun Murphy defeatit the last remainin qualifier Anthony McGill 13–8 tae reach the semi-finals for the first time syne 2009. Stuart Bingham reached the first career semi-final wi a 13–9 veectory ower toornament favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan, who haed beaten Bingham 13–4 at the same stage o the toornament twa years prior.

A controversial incident occurred in the fift frame o the match, when O'Sullivan placed his chalk on the table and uised it tae line up a shot. Referee Terry Camilleri did nae penalise O'Sullivan, even tho the rules of snooker caw for a seiven-pynt foul if a player uses an object tae meisur gaps or distances. The referee's handling o the incident wis questioned frae the commentary box bi umwhile Warld champion Ken Doherty and on Twitter bi umwhile tour referee Michaela Tabb. In the last quarter-final match, Barry Hawkins defeatit Neil Robertson 13–12 tae reach the semi-finals for a third consecutive year. Hawkins and Robertson produced fower century braks each tae equal the record of aicht centuries in ane match, an set a new record for a 25-frame match at the Crucible. Thair encounter an aw included the langest frame in the toornament, at 70 minutes and 22 seconds.

### Semi-finals
Aw fower Warld Championship semi-finalists war Inglis. Shaun Murphy wis the anly umwhile champion tae reach the last fower. The first twa sessions atween Murphy and Barry Hawkins war ane-sided, wi Murphy takkin a 6–2 lead and then extendin it tae 13–3. Even tho Hawkins won five oot of aicht frames in the third session, preventin Murphy frae winnin the match wi a session tae spare, Murphy wrapped up a 17–9 veectory in the final session tae reach the third Warld Championship final of his career. Wi five century braks frae Murphy and three frae Hawkins, the match again equaled the record for the maist centuries in a professional match at the Crucible. In a much closer encounter, Stuart Bingham led Judd Trump 5–3 efter the first session, 9–7 efter the seicont, an 13–11 efter the third.	
Frae 14–16 doun, Trump produced twa consecutive century braks tae force a deciding frame, but Bingham prevailed in the decider tae defeat Trump 17–16 and reach his first Warld Championship final.

### Final

At the age of 38, Stuart Bingham wis the auldest first-time finalist at the Crucible syne 45-year-auld Ray Reardon in 1978, awtho Reardon haed already won five Warld titles at ither venues bi that pynt in his career. It wis the third appearance in the final for Shaun Murphy, who won the title in 2005 wi an 18–16 veectory ower Matthew Stevens and wis runner-up in 2009 when he lost 9–18 tae John Higgins. The final wis refereed for the first time bi Olivier Marteel, frae Koksijde in West Flanders, Belgium. He wis the first Belgian tae tak charge o a Warld Championship final, an the seicont referee frae continental Europe tae dae sae, efter Jan Verhaas.

In the openin session o the final, Murphy teuk a 3–0 lead, but Bingham focht back tae end the session aw-square at 4–4. In the seicont session of nine frames, Murphy began strangly, winnin fower consecutive frames tae muive 8–4 ahead, but Bingham won fower o the next five tae reduce Murphy's lead tae 9–8 overnight. Bingham's brak of 123 in the 14t frame wis the 84th century brak compiled at the Crucible in 2015, braking the previous record of 83 centuries set in 2009. In the third session, Bingham won sax o the aicht frames tae muive intae a 14–11 lead. In the 20t frame, Bingham came close tae a maximum break, potting 14 reds and 14 blacks afore missing the final reid. Awtho Murphy won fower o the first five frames in the final session tae draw level at 15–15, Bingham won the 64-minute 31st frame tae gang 16–15 in front, an then added twa mair frames for an 18–15 veectory and his first Warld title.

Bingham haed odds of 50–1 tae win the event prior tae the toornament. The achievement made him the auldest player tae win the title syne Ray Reardon in 1978. He wis the third auldest winner in Crucible history efter Ray Reardon who wis 45 in 1978 and John Spencer who wis 41 in 1977. Winnin the title an aw teuk him tae a career heich of seicont in the Warld rankins. The final wis noted for its heich standard of brak-building, wi sax century braks and 24 mair braks ower 50 in the 33 frames played.

## Main draw
Shawn ablo are the results for each roond. Numbers in brackets denote players seedings, whilst players in bold denote match winners. The draw for the first roond teuk place at Hallamshire Golf Club on 16 Apryle 2015, ane day efter the end o the last qualifying roond.	

## Qualifying
The 3 qualifying roonds teuk place atween 8 and 15 Apryle 2015 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. Aw matches war best of 19 frames.

### Round 1

### Round 2

### Round 3

## Century breaks

### Televised stage centuries
Thare war 86 century breaks in the televised stage o the Warld Championship. This wis the heichest in Warld Championship history, ahead o the 83 scored in 2009. For every century brak made during the 17-day championship in Sheffield, the title sponsor, Betfred, wis due tae donate £200 tae Warld Snooker's offeecial charity, the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice. Houiver, in line wi the sponsor's declaration, the donation wis roondit up tae £25,000 as at least 70 centuries war achieved. Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham made the heichest brak o the toornament, baith makin a 145.

* 145, 143, 142, 141, 133, 130, 129, 119, 115, 115, 109 Neil Robertson
* 145, 123, 112, 106, 105, 104, 102, 102, 102, 100 Stuart Bingham
* 139, 118, 116, 110, 104, 103, 100 Ronnie O'Sullivan
* 138, 127, 125, 121, 121, 121, 111, 106, 106, 105, 105, 101, 100 Shaun Murphy
* 137, 125, 122 Anthony McGill
* 135, 109 Ding Junhui
* 135, 104 Ricky Walden
* 133, 129, 127, 113, 111, 111, 109, 108, 108, 102 Judd Trump
* 132 Zhang Anda
* 131, 109, 108, 108, 108, 104, 104, 103, 103, 102 Barry Hawkins

* 131 Joe Perry
* 127 Ali Carter
* 124, 120, 108, 101 Mark Selby
* 120 Marco Fu
* 115, 111 Matthew Stevens
* 115, 109, 101 Mark Allen
* 109, 102 Matthew Selt
* 106 Jimmy Robertson
* 106 John Higgins
* 106 Mark Davis

### Qualifying stage centuries
Thare war 83 century braks in the qualifying stage o the Warld Championship: Three players, Tom Ford, Craig Steadman and David Morris each made the heichest brak of qualifying, 140.

* 140, 136, 123, 104 Tom Ford
* 140, 116 Craig Steadman
* 140 David Morris
* 139, 138, 126, 125, 112 Robin Hull
* 139, 114 Graeme Dott
* 137, 134, 132 Zhang Anda
* 135 Tony Drago
* 134, 134 Andrew Higginson
* 134, 109 Sam Baird
* 134 Scott Donaldson
* 133, 100 Yu Delu
* 132, 111 Mark Davis
* 131, 123 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
* 131, 106 Mark King
* 131 Xiao Guodong
* 130, 123 David Gilbert
* 129, 120 Dechawat Poomjaeng
* 129 Ben Woollaston
* 127 Anthony McGill
* 125, 110, 106, 102 Fergal O'Brien
* 122, 108, 100 Kurt Maflin
* 122 Tian Pengfei
* 122 Jamie Jones
* 120, 118 Adam Duffy
* 120, 110 Jack Lisowski
* 117 Igor Figueiredo
* 116 Michael White
* 116 Jamie Burnett
* 115, 113, 110, 103 Liang Wenbo
* 115 Ryan Day
* 115 Liam Highfield
* 113, 100 Rod Lawler
* 113 Li Hang
* 113 Joe Swail
* 111, 103 Jimmy Robertson
* 110 Alan McManus
* 108 Zhou Yuelong
* 108 Noppon Saengkham
* 107 Chris Wakelin
* 106 Peter Lines
* 106 Jimmy White
* 105, 104 Robert Milkins
* 105 Ashley Carty
* 105 Stuart Carrington
* 101 Michael Leslie
* 101 Michael Holt
* 101 Matthew Selt
* 101 Robbie Williams
* 100 Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
* 100 Luca Brecel
* 100 Darryl Hill

## References

## External links
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