NEWS
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Player Special Report - Alain Robidoux has returned. to Montreal, pulling out of his third event of the season. Canada's Alain Robdioux has withdrawn from The Grand Prix in Preston, following on from his withdrawal from the qualifiers of both the Regal Welsh and China International events last month. Robidoux has endured an appalling run of form and results for two seasons, following the destruction of his cue. He has never found another cue to suit him and is now said to be suffering from depression. Quienten Hann has been forced to pull out of the Grand Prix following his father's hospitalisation in Australia last week, after a heart attack. The withdrawal of Robidoux will see the winner of today's match between Leo Fernandez and Welshman Ryan Day get a walkover to the Last 32, where they will face Mark King. Hann's absence denies the audience the possibility of a line up against Hong Kong's Marco Fu. Fu will play the winner of Anthony Davies and Gareth Chilcott, with the winner leap frogging to the Last 16, where ironically they could face Mark King or the other walkover beneficiary. - 11/Oct - |
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Player Special Report - Ronnie O'Sullivan, the world No.4 who has a lot of catching up to do if he's to improve his position on the provisional rankings, has at least rekindled his enthusiasm for the game of snooker. The 23 year old who has won six ranking events including the 1993 UK championship at Preston Guild Hall, returns to the Lancashire venue for the Grand Prix with his mind clearly focussed on the tasks in front of him. "I wasn't enjoying the game last season and I even thought about quitting," said O'Sullivan whose first opponent at the Guild Hall on Saturday, October 16 will be Peter Lines, Willie Thorne or James Reynolds. Rocket Ronnie who missed last season's Liverpool Victoria UK championship and the invitation German Masters because of "physical and mental exhaustion" has slipped to seventh place on the provisional Embassy World Rankings. "There were times last season when I hardly practised. I was playing nowhere near my best and at home spent only about 20 minutes at the table before I put my cue away. Even when I was winning matches, I wasn't always happy with the way I played, there were times when I felt really down." "But you only get out of the game what you are prepared to put in so I decided to pull my socks up, get on with it and stick with snooker. Now I'm back at a club in Essex, practising really hard and enjoying it as well." O'Sullivan whose best Grand Prix performance was to reach the quarter-finals in 1994, continued, "One of my problems was the fact I wasn't prepared to have an off day. Now I understand that it isn't always possible to play to your best and I accept it." "It used to annoy me when I missed easy shots but all that's history. I have to forget about last season and get on with what I'm paid to do. On paper I'm overdue winning a major title again." "My game is also getting better and better and I'm a different player to what I was most of the time last season. The opposition then were rubbing their hands at the thought of playing me." So far this season O'Sullivan was runner-up to Stephen Lee in the Cable TV Millennium Cup in Hong Kong and a semi-finalist in both the Liverpool Victoria Champions Cup and the British Open losing both matches in the deciding frame. He was beaten 5-4 by Mark Williams in the Champions Cup at Croydon and 6-5 by Stephen Hendry at the British Open in Plymouth. The Grand Prix starts at the Guild Hall on Monday October 11th with the final on Sunday October 24. - 30/Sep - |
| Sunday : Final (24/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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John Higgins and Mark J Williams made an exciting final in the Preston Guild Hall.
They both produced great performance and entertained the crowd. In the afternoon session, Williams won 5 frames in a row while 2-1 down. He needs only three frames to clinch the title. But Higgins made a great came back with although 5 frames in a row to lead the match by 7-6. They then level twice afterward and forced to the decider. Finally, John Higgins made a break of 55 to clinch the 1999 Grand Prix title. |
| Saturday : Semi Finals (23/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Welshman Mark Williams edged a dramatic last frame to earn a marathon 6-5 victory over Dave
Harold. He was lucky to win the match with the final black. However, Williams now concerned
more with the bouncing of the table for his final match. John Higgins was able to escape from the hitman of this tournament, Allistair Carter, with a 6-3 victory. He will now meet Mark Williams in this year's Grand Prix final. |
| Friday : Quarter Finals (22/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Allistair Carter repeated his victory over Stephen Hendry to make another headline today. He win
5-3 today over Macro Fu. This will now guarantee triple his career earnings. John Higgins made his revenge for two recent defeat from Ronnie O'Sullivan with a 5-3 victory. However, they botth made a good performance today with some excellent breaks. Both winner today will meet in the semi-final tomorrow night. |
| Thursday : Quarter Finals (21/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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After a 5-2 victory over Ken Doherty, Mark Willliams is now staying on course to claim the top
spot of the provisional world rankings if he can reapeat his 1996 Grand Prix win. Dave Harold went through to the semi-final with a solid 5-1 win over Anthony Hamilton. Harold was leading 4-0 before the interval session. |
| Wednesday : Fifth Rounds (20/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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20 years old Allistair Carter, ranked 142, made a big headline today with his win over world
champion Stephen Hendry. It sure to be his greatest win in his life so far. Ronnie O'Sullivan had to win the last three frames to clinch the 5-4 victory over Andy Hicks Thailand Master James Wattana lost to John Higgins by 5-3, while Macro Fu continue to match his performance last year with a 5-2 win over Marcus Campbell. |
| Tuesday : Fifth Rounds (19/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Mark J Williams continued his form and clinched comfortably from Chris Small
with a 5-1 win. Although losing 5-1 to Dave Harold, Barry Pinches received his biggest cheque in his 10 year professional life. He is now ready to marry his long time girlfriend. |
| Tuesday : Fourth Rounds (19/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Defending champion Stephen Lee lost a close match from Maltese Tony Drago. Stephen Hendry knocked out the one of the oriental contender, Nappadon Noppachom from Thailand, with a whitewash in 86 minutes with his No. 471 century break. Paul Hunter compiled a great 137 clearance and win 5-1 from Joe Swail. |
| Monday : Fourth Rounds (18/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Today's top story must be that Ronnie made another 147 maximum break. This is also the first
ever in this ranking event. With another 98 clearance, he then won comfortably by 5-1. Top names like John Higgins and Mark Williams both made whitewash today with Ken Doherty also a comfortable win. In the other part, Chris Small shocked the newly Regal Masters champion Matthew Stevens with a 5-2 win. Also, John Parrott's dream ended by Marcus Campbell with 5-4. |
| Sunday : Fourth Rounds (17/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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James Wattana beats Jimmy White by 5-3 with Macro Fu's win over Mark King made a oriental
double to the fifth round. Dave Harold, runner-up in 1994, won their last 5 frames to come back from 2-0 to win Alan McManus by 5-2. Barry Pinches reached his best ranking performance by beating Terry Murphy 5-4. He said: "I've been with my girlfriend for 10 years and we're getting married when I can get some money together." |
| Saturday : Third Rounds (16/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Six top seeds were safely through to their next round. Mark Williams compiled a solid 139 total clearance in his opening frame at Preston and go on to win by 5-1. John Higgins, with a flu, didn't quite match his top form and had a tough match with Jimmy Michie, ranked 37. He could only take the lead twice and forced to a decider. Defending champion Stephen Lee only took 79 minutes to whitewash Ian Brumby. |
| Friday (15/Oct) | ||
| Tournament is temporarily stopped because TV is re-rigging during weekend. |
| Thursday : Third Rounds (14/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Except Billy Snaddon, ranked 24, and Brian Morgan, ranked 31, lost their
first round today, all the other top 32 seeds played today were safely
through to the next round. Newly crowned Regal Master, Matthew Stevens, carried his previous performance and clinched a whitewash over Neal Foulds. |
| Wednesday : Third Rounds (13/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Jonathan Birch, the Middlesbrough based professional who is also a top of the
range kitchen salesman, defeated Steve Davis 5-2 when the third round got under way. Davis, ranked 15 and Grand Prix champion three times, wasn't the only top 16 star to lose his play with Peter Ebdon crashing out 5-3 to Barry Pinches. The Norwich professional who compiled a 147 maximum during a qualifying round of the Regal Welsh Open last month, led 4-0 with successive breaks of 57, 76, 53 and 85 before a 46 made sure he would be in the next round. |
| Wednesday : Second Rounds (13/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Marco Fu won three black ball frames on his way to a 5-2 victory over
Anthony Davies. One was in the final frame when he overturned the
Welshman's 61-8 lead with successive breaks of 33 and a clearance from
green to black of 25. Ian Brumby, ranked 103, a 34 year old from Liverpool, makes a rare appearance in the last 64 of a ranking event following his surprise 5-2 victory over Matthew Couch. |
| Tuesday : Second Rounds (12/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Three players were left rueing 5-4 defeats tonight, having held healthy leads
in their Second Round matches. 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson had built up a 4-1 lead over Scotland's David McLellan, but McLellan fought back with breaks of 89, 67 and 46 to complete his second 5-4 win over former World Champions on successive evenings. He inflicted the same scoreline on Dennis Taylor in Round One. David Roe let a 4-2 lead evaporate as Wayne Jones recovered to win 5-4. Worcester's Dave Finbow won the last four frames, the decider on the black, to complete a 5-4 victory over New Zealand's Dene O'Kane. Finbow, ranked 52, went 4-1 down as O'Kane produced breaks of 92 and 70 but in a rousing finish, he came through to win by a short head, a clearance of 35 carrying him to victory after the Kiwi had led 64-13 and 64-43. In the other match, Iceland's Kristjan Helgason reached the last 64 of a ranking event for the first time following a 5-3 second round victory over Jason Prince. Helgason, the 25 year old world No.105, now faces "whirlwind" Jimmy White for a place in the televised stages. |
| Tuesday : First Rounds (12/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Nottingham Steve Judd lost on the final black in the 25-minute decider to
give Belgium's Mario Geudens victory in the first round of the Grand Prix. Completing a hat trick of overseas victories this morning was Finland's Robin Hull, who dished out a 5-1 hammering to 1991 European Champion Tony Jones. 1985 World Champion Dennis Taylor lost 4-5 to David McLellan, denying the spectators a trip down memory lane, as he would have faced 1986 World Champion Joe Johnson. |
| Monday : First Rounds (11/Oct) *Highlight* | ||
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Ian Brumby compiled a total clearance of 135 in the deciding frame to
complete a 5-4 victory over Leigh Griffin in the first round of the Grand
Prix at Preston Guild Hall. Brumby, a 34 year old from Liverpool who is at No.103 on the world rankings, won four of the last five frames to set up second round match against Matthew Couch. Thailand's Noppadon Noppachorn fired in successive breaks of 63 and 100 as he whitewashed Sean Storey of Grimsby 5-0 while Mark Gray scraped home 5-4 on the final black against Scotland's Stephen Maguire. Nick Dyson, the Manchester based professional, hit top form as breaks of 137, the highest so far. 94, 81, 62 and 56 took him to a 5-0 victory over Asian Games gold medallist, Shokat Ali. Iceland's only Main Tour Pro, Kristian Helgason, also came back from 2-3 to beat Leicester's Stefan Mazrocis. Helgason will now play Northern Ireland's Jason Prince, with the winner earning a dream match against crowd favourite Jimmy White. |
Results
(If you would like to see any individual reports, please touch
the score line. Or try see the whole reports)
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Final ( best of 17 frames )
Semi Finals
Quarter Finals
Fifth Rounds
Fourth Rounds
Third Rounds
Second Rounds
First Rounds
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| 5th-round (best of 9 frames) | Quarter-Finals (best of 9 frames) | Semi-Finals (best of 11 frames) | Final (best of 17 frames) | ||||||||
| T Drago vs A Hamilton |
3 5 |
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| A Hamilton vs D Harold |
2 5 |
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| B Pinches vs D Harold |
1 5 |
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| D Harold vs M Williams |
5 6 |
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| K Doherty vs P Hunter |
5 3 |
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| K Doherty vs M Williams |
3 5 |
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| C Small vs M Williams |
1 5 |
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| M Williams vs J Higgins |
8 9 |
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| J Higgins vs J Wattana |
5 3 |
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| J Higgins vs R O'Sullivan |
5 3 |
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| A Hicks vs R O'Sullivan |
4 5 |
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| J Higgins vs A Carter |
6 3 |
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| M Campbell vs M Fu |
2 5 |
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| M Fu vs A Carter |
3 5 |
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| A Carter vs S Hendry |
5 3 |
| 147 | Ronnie O'Sullivan |
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| 139 | Mark J Williams |
| 137 | Nick Dyson & Paul Hunter |
| 136 | Jonathan Birch |
| 135 | Ian Brumby |
| 132 | John Higgins |
| 126 | Marcus Campbell |
| 118 | Darren Clarke |
| 113 | Andy Hicks |
| 112 | Mehmet Husnu |
| 108 | Mark J Williams |
| 107 | John Higgins |
| 106 | Stephen Hendry |
| 105 | Ronnie O'Sullivan |
| 104 | Macro Fu |
| 103 | John Higgins *2 & Ronnie O'Sullivan |
| 102 | Stephen Lee |
| 101 | Andy Hicks |
| 100 | Noppadon Noppachorn & Jimmy Michie & Ronnie O'Sullivan & Stephen Hendry |
PRIZE
| Place | Points |
| Winner | 62,000 |
| Runner-up | 33,000 |
| Losing semi-finalists | 16,500 |
| Losing quater-finalists | 9,400 |
| Last 16 (losing fifth-round) | 4,800 |
| Last 32 (losing forth-round) | 2,775 |
| Last 64 (losing third-round) | 2,400 |
| Last 96 (losing second-round) | 1,350 |
| Last 128 (losing first-round) | 800 |
| 1 English pound = | 1.65 American Dollars |
| Highest break | 5,000 |
| 147 Maximum break | Vauxhall Vectra saloon car worth 20,000 pounds |
POINT
| Place | Points |
| Winner | 4,560 |
| Runner-up | 3,040 |
| Losing semi-finalists | 2,025 |
| Losing quater-finalists | 1,520 |
| Last 16 (losing fifth-round) | 1,140 |
| Last 32 (losing forth-round) | 855 |
| (Seeds 1-32) | 480 |
| Last 64 (losing third-round) | 640 |
| (Seeds 33-64) | 360 |
| Last 96 (losing second-round) | 480 |
FORMER WINNERS
| Year | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 99/00 | John Higgins (Sco) | 9-8 | Mark J Williams (Wal) |
| 98/99 | Stephen Lee (Eng) | 9-2 | Marco Fu (HK) |
| 97/98 | Dominic Dale (Wal) | 9-6 | John Higgins (Sco) |
| 96/97 | Mark J Williams (Wal) | 9-5 | Euan Henderson (Sco) |
| 95/96 | Stephen Hendry (Sco) | 9-5 | John Higgins (Sco) |
| 94/95 | John Higgins (Sco) | 9-6 | Dave Harold (Eng) |
| 93/94 | Peter Ebdon (Eng) | 9-6 | Ken Doherty (Ire) |
| 92/93 | Jimmy White (Eng) | 10-9 | Ken Doherty (Ire) |
| 91/92 | Stephen Hendry (Sco) | 9-6 | Steve Davis (Eng) |
| 90/91 | Stephen Hendry (Sco) | 10-5 | Nigel Bond (Eng) |
| 89/90 | Steve Davis (Eng) | 10-0 | Dean Reynolds (Eng) |
| 88/89 | Steve Davis (Eng) | 10-6 | Alex Higgins (NI) |
| 87/88 | Stephen Hendry (Sco) | 10-7 | Dennis Taylor (NI) |
| 86/87 | Jimmy White (Eng) | 10-6 | Rex Williams (Wal) |
| 85/86 | Steve Davis (Eng) | 10-9 | Dennis Taylor (NI) |
| 84/85 | Dennis Taylor (NI) | 10-2 | Cliff Thorburn (Can) |
| 83/84 | Tony Knowles (Eng) | 9-8 | Joe Johnson (Eng) |
| 82/83 | Ray Reardon (Wal) | 10-5 | Jimmy White (Eng) |
| * This tournament existed as a ranking event since 1982. * In the first two years (1982, 83), this event was called as Professional Players' Tournament | |||
| Odds | Best 12 |
| 9/4 | Stephen Hendry |
| 4/1 | John Higgins |
| 6/1 | Mark J Williams |
| 7/1 | Ronnie O'Sullivan |
| 12/1 | Stephen Lee |
| 20/1 | Matthew Stevens |
| 20/1 | Ken Doherty |
| 20/1 | Peter Ebdon |
| 25/1 | Paul Hunter |
| 25/1 | John Parrott |
| 28/1 | Alan McManus |
| 50/1 | Anthony Hamilton |
| 50/1 | Fergal O'Brien |
| 50/1 | Joe Swail |
| 66/1 | Steve Davis |
| 66/1 | Chris Small |
| 66/1 | James Wattana |
| 80/1 | Macro Fu |
| 80/1 | Mark King |
| 80/1 | Jimmy White |
| 80/1 | Quinten Hann |
| 80/1 | Nigel Bond |
| 100/1 | Dave Harold |
| 100/1 | Graeme Dott |
| 125/1 | Tony Drago |
| 150/1 | Dominic Dale |
| Source: William Hill | |