2019 International Championship

The 2019 International Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 4 to 11 August 2019 at the Baihu Media Broadcasting Centre in Daqing, China. It was the second ranking event of the 2019/2020 season and the eighth iteration of the International Championship first held in 2012.

2019 International Championship
Tournament information
Dates4–11 August 2019
VenueBaihu Media Broadcasting Centre
CityDaqing
CountryChina
Organisation(s)WPBSA
FormatRanking event
Total prize fund£802,000
Winner's share£175,000
Highest break Judd Trump (ENG) (141)
 Mark Allen (NIR) (141)
Final
Champion Judd Trump (ENG)
Runner-up Shaun Murphy (ENG)
Score10–3
← 2018

Northern Irish cueist Mark Allen was the defending champion, after defeating Australian Neil Robertson in the previous year's final. Allen, however, lost 9–6 to England's Shaun Murphy in the semi-finals. Reigning world champion Judd Trump won the event and his 12th ranking championship with a 10–3 win over Murphy in the final. In winning the event, Trump returned to the world number one position, that he had last held in 2013.

Trump and Allen tied for the highest break during the televised stages, both scoring 141, with Trump also making 12 centuries throughout the tournament. Qualifying for the event took place 14–17 June 2019 in Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. Tom Ford made the highest break of qualifying, with a maximum break, the fourth of his career, in his 6–1 win in qualifying over Fraser Patrick.

Tournament format

The event was the eighth iteration of the International Championship, having been first held in 2012.[1] The event took place from 4–11 August 2019 at the Baihu Media Broadcasting Centre in Daqing, China.[2][3] The event was the second ranking tournament of the 2019/20 snooker season after the 2019 Riga Masters won by Yan Bingtao.[4]

Qualifying for the event was held from 14–17 June 2019 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England, featuring one first round match.[5] Matches were played as best-of-11-frames until the semi-finals, which were played as best-of-17-frames, whilst the final was played as a best-of-19-frames.[2]

Prize fund

The championship total fund was higher than that of the previous year's event, with a total of £802,000 (up from £775,000). The winner of the event received the same prize money as in previous years, at £175,000. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[6][7]

  • Winner: £175,000
  • Runner-up: £75,000
  • Semi-final: £32,000
  • Quarter-final: £21,500
  • Last 16: £13,500
  • Last 32: £8,500
  • Last 64: £4,750
  • Highest break: £6,000
  • Total: £802,000

Tournament summary

The championship began on 4 August 2019, with the first round alongside heldover qualifier matches.[8] Two matches in the heldover qualifier rounds were decided on a deciding frame. Ding Junhui defeated Simon Lichtenberg despite being 5–3 behind, whilst four-time world champion John Higgins defeated amateur under 21 world champion Wu Yize despite being 4–3 behind to the 15 year old.[9] Judd Trump in his first tournament after winning the 2019 World Snooker Championship scored three century breaks in his qualifier to defeat Jordan Brown 6–1.[10]

Early rounds (first round–quarter-finals)

Two top-16 ranked players were defeated in first round; Mark Williams lost to Jak Jones and Barry Hawkins to Daniel Wells both 6–2.[11] Ding Junhui defeated three fellow Chinese players in the first three rounds, overcoming Zhao Xintong, Xiao Guodong and Liang Wenbo to reach the quarter-finals. Defending champion Mark Allen conceded just four frames to draw Ding, having defeated Sam Craigie, Mark Davis (both 6–1) and Ali Carter (6–2).[12][13][14] Allen defeated Ding 6–3 to reach the semi-finals. As the sole remaining Chinese player in the competition, some Chinese viewers were reported to have stopped watching the event.[15]

Graeme Dott qualified to play Shaun Murphy in the second quarter-final. Dott defeated Michael White before defeating two world champions in Stuart Bingham and John Higgins to reach the quarter-final.[16] Murphy, who had reached only the Scottish Open final in the previous season defeated Yuan Sijun 6–5 and Riga Masters champion Yan Bingtao 6–4 before drawing a rematch of the second round match at the 2019 World Championships against Neil Robertson. Murphy defeated Robertson on a deciding frame 6–5.[16][17] Murphy defeated Dott 6–4 to draw Allen in the semi-final.[18]

Three-time world champion Mark Selby reached the second semi-final, after defeating Liam Highfield and Ben Woollaston (both 6–3), before playing World Championship semi-finalists David Gilbert and Gary Wilson, defeating both on a deciding frame 6–5.[19][20][21] World champion Judd Trump reached the semi-finals defeating Zhang Anda, Scott Donaldson, Joe Perry and Tom Ford.[22]

Semi-final–final
Reigning world champion Judd Trump won the event, defeating Shaun Murphy 10–3 in the final.

The first semi-final took place on 9 August 2019, between Selby and Trump. In reaching the semi-finals, Trump was guaranteed to return to world number one after the tournament for the first time since 2013.[23] Selby won three of the first four frames to lead 3–1.[19] However, Trump won the next four frames to lead 5–3 after the first session with breaks of 97, 108, 97 and 116.[19] In the second session, Trump won the first three frames to lead 8–3 including two more 90+ breaks. Selby took frame 12 before Trump won the match in frame 13 with a break of 72.[24] After the match, Trump commented "It was probably somewhere near how I was playing to win the World Championship," describing his form within the match.[19]

The second semi-final was a rematch of the 2019 Scottish Masters final between Murphy and Allen. Murphy won the first five frames of the match, with Allen not scoring a single point until frame four.[18] Allen fought back to trail 3–6 after the first session.[18] Murphy won the first frame of the second session, before Allen won the next two. Murphy won frame 13 to need just one more frame for victory. Allen won the next two frames to push the match into the interval. Murphy however won frame 15 to win the match 9–6 with a break of 66.[18][25]

The final was played as a best-of-19-frames match held over two sessions on 11 August 2019, refereed by Lyu Xilin.[26] Trump won the first five frames of the match making a century break in frame three. Murphy, however won three of the remaining four frames of the session to trail 3–6.[10] On the resume of the match, Trump dominated the remaining frames, winning the next four frames to win the match 10–3, completing eight half-centuries in the match.[27] The victory was Trump's twelfth ranking event title, twelfth match unbeaten in a row, and had scored twelve centuries during the event.[10]

The win was the first time a reigning world champion won the first championship in which they had competed in after the event, since Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2008.[28] In losing the event, Murphy commented that he was "disappointed" and that had not played well: "Judd swamped me, that was how it felt."[10]

Main draw

Players in bold denote match winners.[26]

 
First round
Best of 11 frames		Second round
Best of 11 frames		Third round
Best of 11 frames		Quarter-finals
Best of 11 frames		Semi-finals
Best of 17 frames		Final
Best of 19 frames
 
                      
 
 
 
 
 Mark Allen (NIR)6
 
 
 
 Sam Craigie (ENG)1
 
 Mark Allen6
 
 
 
 Mark Davis1
 
 Mark Davis (ENG)6
 
 
 
 Matthew Selt (ENG)3
 
 Mark Allen6
 
 
 
 Ali Carter2
 
 Ali Carter (ENG)6
 
 
 
 Alan McManus (SCO)5
 
 Ali Carter6
 
 
 
 Kurt Maflin3
 
 Ryan Day (WAL)4
 
 
 
 Kurt Maflin (NOR)6
 
 Mark Allen6
 
 
 
 Ding Junhui3
 
 Ashley Carty (ENG)5
 
 
 
 Xiao Guodong (CHN)6
 
 Xiao Guodong1
 
 
 
 Ding Junhui6
 
 Zhao Xintong (CHN)4
 
 
 
 Ding Junhui (CHN)6
 
 Ding Junhui6
 
 
 
 Liang Wenbo5
 
 Liang Wenbo (CHN)6
 
 
 
 Duane Jones (WAL)5
 
 Liang Wenbo6
 
 
 
 Daniel Wells4
 
 Daniel Wells (WAL)6
 
 
 
 Barry Hawkins (ENG)2
 
 Mark Allen6
 
 
 
 Shaun Murphy9
 
 John Higgins (SCO)6
 
 
 
 David Grace (ENG)4
 
 John Higgins6
 
 
 
 Elliot Slessor3
 
 Elliot Slessor (ENG)6
 
 
 
 Louis Heathcote (ENG)4
 
 John Higgins2
 
 
 
 Graeme Dott6
 
 Stuart Bingham (ENG)6
 
 
 
 Mark Joyce (ENG)1
 
 Stuart Bingham3
 
 
 
 Graeme Dott6
 
 Graeme Dott (SCO)6
 
 
 
 Michael White (WAL)1
 
 Graeme Dott4
 
 
 
 Shaun Murphy6
 
 Chang Bingyu (CHN)3
 
 
 
 Yan Bingtao (CHN)6
 
 Yan Bingtao4
 
 
 
 Shaun Murphy6
 
 Yuan Sijun (CHN)5
 
 
 
 Shaun Murphy (ENG)6
 
 Shaun Murphy6
 
 
 
 Neil Robertson5
 
 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (THA)2
 
 
 
 Ricky Walden (ENG)6
 
 Ricky Walden5
 
 
 
 Neil Robertson6
 
 Nigel Bond (ENG)2
 
 
 
 Neil Robertson (AUS)6
 
 Shaun Murphy3
 
 
 
 Judd Trump10
 
 Mark Williams (WAL)2
 
 
 
 Jak Jones (WAL)6
 
 Jak Jones6
 
 
 
 Robert Milkins3
 
 Zhou Yuelong (CHN)3
 
 
 
 Robert Milkins (ENG)6
 
 Jak Jones3
 
 
 
 Gary Wilson6
 
 Luca Brecel (BEL)6
 
 
 
 Sunny Akani (THA)3
 
 Luca Brecel2
 
 
 
 Gary Wilson6
 
 Gary Wilson (ENG)6
 
 
 
 Peter Ebdon (ENG)1
 
 Gary Wilson5
 
 
 
 Mark Selby6
 
 Michael Holt (ENG)3
 
 
 
 Anthony McGill (SCO)6
 
 Anthony McGill1
 
 
 
 David Gilbert6
 
 Ken Doherty (IRL)2
 
 
 
 David Gilbert (ENG)6
 
 David Gilbert5
 
 
 
 Mark Selby6
 
 Ben Woollaston (ENG)6
 
 
 
 Mark King (ENG)3
 
 Ben Woollaston3
 
 
 
 Mark Selby6
 
 Liam Highfield (ENG)3
 
 
 
 Mark Selby (ENG)6
 
 Mark Selby4
 
 
 
 Judd Trump9
 
 Kyren Wilson (ENG)6
 
 
 
 Robbie Williams (ENG)2
 
 Kyren Wilson5
 
 
 
 Tom Ford6
 
 Tom Ford (ENG)w/o
 
 
 
 Hossein Vafaei (IRN)w/d
 
 Tom Ford6
 
 
 
 Andrew Higginson4
 
 Jack Lisowski (ENG)5
 
 
 
 Andrew Higginson (ENG)6
 
 Andrew Higginson6
 
 
 
 Jimmy Robertson4
 
 Jimmy Robertson (ENG)6
 
 
 
 Matthew Stevens (WAL)4
 
 Tom Ford3
 
 
 
 Judd Trump6
 
 Chris Wakelin (ENG)2
 
 
 
 Joe Perry (ENG)6
 
 Joe Perry6
 
 
 
 Stephen Maguire2
 
 Stuart Carrington (ENG)0
 
 
 
 Stephen Maguire (SCO)6
 
 Joe Perry2
 
 
 
 Judd Trump6
 
 Scott Donaldson (SCO)6
 
 
 
 Martin Gould (ENG)4
 
 Scott Donaldson4
 
 
 
 Judd Trump6
 
 Zhang Anda (CHN)2
 
 
 Judd Trump (ENG)6
 

Final
Final: Best of 19 frames. Referee: Lyu Xilin.
Baihu Media Broadcasting Centre, Daqing, China, 11 August 2019.
Shaun Murphy
 England		 3–10 Judd Trump
 England
Afternoon: 14–85, 5–83 (58), 19–108 (104), 0–77 (58), 0–69, 87–0 (87), 68–37, 23–86 (74), 79–0 (79)
Evening: 0–80 (80), 30–90 (63), 6–102 (102), 9–99 (62)
87 Highest break 104
0 Century breaks 2
2 50+ breaks 8

Qualifying

Matches were played between 14 and 17 June 2019 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England. Matches involving Mark Allen, Sam Craigie, Ding Junhui, John Higgins, Yan Bingtao, Sunny Akani, Anthony McGill and Judd Trump, were played in Daqing. All matches were the best-of-11-frames.[5]

Century breaks

Televised stage centuries

A total of 63 century breaks were made during the televised stages of the tournament. Judd Trump and Mark Allen shared the highest break of the tournament, with both players making a break of 141. In addition, Trump made a total of 12 centuries, eight more than any other player.[29]

Qualifying stage centuries

A total of 42 century breaks were made during the qualifying tournament preceding the event, including a maximum break from Tom Ford.[29][30]

gollark: Maybe I should make a quadratic model!
gollark: I have r = -0.224, so clearly my model is great.
gollark: 65, sure.
gollark: With a correlation *this* strong, I don't think it actually can be wrong.
gollark: Ah, I see.

References
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