Contents

2000 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	15 April – 1 May 2000 (2000-04-15 – 2000-05-01)
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,460,000
Winner's share	£240,000
Highest break	Matthew Stevens (WAL) (143)
Final
Champion	Mark Williams (WAL)
Runner-up	Matthew Stevens (WAL)
Score	18–16
← 1999 2001 →

The 2000 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2000 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 15 April and 1 May 2000 at the Crucible TheatreinSheffield, England.

Stephen Hendry was the defending champion, but he lost in the first round 7–10 against Stuart Bingham.

Mark Williams won his first World title by defeating fellow Welsh player Matthew Stevens 18–16 in the final.^[1]

• In the final qualifying round Gary Wilkinson and Jason Ferguson set the record of the longest best-of-19-frames match at 11 hours and 38 minutes.^[2]
• The pre-tournament favourite Stephen Hendry^[3] was eliminated in the first round by Crucible debutant Stuart Bingham (10–7).
• Despite becoming the first player to make 5 centuries in a first round match at The Crucible, and outscoring his opponent, Ronnie O'Sullivan lost 9–10 to David Gray. This record was eventually equalled in 2020 when Mark Allen also made 5 centuries in his first round match.
• Gray lost 1–13 to Dominic Dale with a session to spare, scoring just 208 points, a record low for a best-of-25 match.
• Swail's place in the semi-finals ended Steve Davis' run in the elite top 16 – he had been in since 1980 including holding the world number one spot from 1983to1990.^[4] Davis lost 11–13 to John Higgins in the second round. He later returned to the top 16 in 2003/2004.^[4]
• Higgins made a record 485 unanswered points in his quarter-final match against Anthony Hamilton.^[5]
• Mark Williams became only the third Welsh snooker player to win the world title, after Ray Reardon and Terry Griffiths, and the first since 1979.^[6] Trailing 7–13 against fellow countryman Matthew Stevens in the final, Williams recorded a comeback to defeat Stevens 18–16 and win the title.^[7]
• John Newton refereed his first and only World final and retired from refereeing after the match.^[8] This was also the first ever all-Welsh World final and remains the only one to-date.^[9]

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[10][11]

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).^{[10][12][13][14][15]}

First round Best of 19 frames

Second round Best of 25 frames

Quarter-finals Best of 25 frames

Semi-finals Best of 33 frames

Final Best of 35 frames

15 April

Stephen Hendry (1)

7

21 & 22 April

Stuart Bingham

10

Stuart Bingham

9

19 & 20 April

Jimmy White (16)

13

Jimmy White (16)

10

25 & 26 April

Billy Snaddon

7

Jimmy White (16)

7

17 & 18 April

Matthew Stevens (9)

13

Matthew Stevens (9)

10

23 & 24 April

Tony Drago

2

Matthew Stevens (9)

13

19 April

Alan McManus (8)

4

Alan McManus (8)

10

27, 28 & 29 April

Nigel Bond

7

Matthew Stevens (9)

17

18 April

Joe Swail

12

John Parrott (5)

10

22, 23 & 24 April

Gary Wilkinson

9

John Parrott (5)

12

15 & 16 April

Joe Swail

13

Paul Hunter (12)

6

25 & 26 April

Joe Swail

10

Joe Swail

13

16 & 17 April

Dominic Dale

9

Peter Ebdon (13)

6

20 & 21 April

Dominic Dale

10

Dominic Dale

13

16 & 17 April

David Gray

1

Ronnie O'Sullivan (4)

9

30 April & 1 May

David Gray

10

Matthew Stevens (9)

16

15 & 16 April

Mark Williams (3)

18

Mark Williams (3)

10

20 & 21 April

John Read

4

Mark Williams (3)

13

15 & 16 April

Drew Henry

9

Mark King (14)

8

25 & 26 April

Drew Henry

10

Mark Williams (3)

13

15 & 16 April

Fergal O'Brien (11)

5

Fergal O'Brien (11)

10

21 & 22 April

Chris Small

8

Fergal O'Brien (11)

13

18 & 19 April

Stephen Lee (6)

8

Stephen Lee (6)

10

27, 28 & 29 April

Kristján Helgason

3

Mark Williams (3)

17

17 & 18 April

John Higgins (2)

15

Ken Doherty (7)

10

22, 23 & 24 April

Darren Morgan

3

Ken Doherty (7)

12

17 April

Anthony Hamilton (10)

13

Anthony Hamilton (10)

10

25 & 26 April

Marco Fu

4

Anthony Hamilton (10)

3

18 & 19 April

John Higgins (2)

13

Steve Davis (15)

10

23 & 24 April

Graeme Dott

6

Steve Davis (15)

11

19 & 20 April

John Higgins (2)

13

John Higgins (2)

10

Dave Harold

8

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 30 April & 1 May 2000. Referee: John Newton[16]
Matthew Stevens (9)  Wales	16–18	Mark Williams (3)  Wales
62–50, 84–28, 33–56, 103–23, 18–65, 61–76, 0–123, 75–35, 64–24, 91–37, 59–21, 117–0, 114–7, 6–79, 73–22, 0–68, 133–0, 66–48, 0–106, 55–54, 0–81, 34–79, 46–71, 37–79, 33–77, 67–0, 6–75, 0–74, 120–16, 13–61, 66–70, 60–29, 8–76, 21–73	Century breaks: 7 (Stevens 5, Williams 2) Highest break by Stevens: 120 Highest break by Williams: 123	62–50, 84–28, 33–56, 103–23, 18–65, 61–76, 0–123, 75–35, 64–24, 91–37, 59–21, 117–0, 114–7, 6–79, 73–22, 0–68, 133–0, 66–48, 0–106, 55–54, 0–81, 34–79, 46–71, 37–79, 33–77, 67–0, 6–75, 0–74, 120–16, 13–61, 66–70, 60–29, 8–76, 21–73
Mark Williams wins the 2000 Embassy World Snooker Championship

There were 54 centuries in the Championship.^[17][18] The highest breaks were 143 made by Matthew Stevens in the televised stage and Nick Dyson in the qualifying stage.^[10]

The qualifying matches were held between 3 January and 20 March 2000 at the Newport CentreinNewport, Wales.

Round 1 (Best of 19 frames)	Round 2 (Best of 19 frames)
Stuart Bingham10–4 Mehmet Husnu	Stuart Bingham10–8 Ian McCulloch
Dene O'Kane10–5 Barry Mapstone	Dene O'Kane10–8 Steve James
Colm Gilcreest10–0 Karl Burrows	Colm Gilcreest10–5 Jimmy Michie
Stefan Mazrocis10–4 Hugh Abernethy	Stefan Mazrocis10–5 Jason Prince
Ali Carter10–6 Martin Dziewialtowski	Joe Perry10–5 Ali Carter
Noppadon Noppachorn10–7 Sean Storey	Noppadon Noppachorn10–6 Marcus Campbell
Tony Jones10–4 Wayne Saidler	Euan Henderson10–4 Tony Jones
Sean Lanigan10–8 Dennis Taylor	Peter Lines10–4 Sean Lanigan
Willie Thorne10–6 Adrian Gunnell	Jason Ferguson10–7 Willie Thorne
Tony Knowles10–8 Chris Shade	Dean Reynolds10–4 Tony Knowles
Karl Broughton10–8 Gareth Chilcott	Bradley Jones10–6 Karl Broughton
Stephen Maguire10–7 Wayne Brown	Stephen Maguire10–4 Nick Walker
Patrick Wallace10–8 Matthew Street	Patrick Wallace10–6 Gerard Greene
Stuart Pettman10–5 Mike Dunn	Stuart Pettman10–8 Alfie Burden
Munraj Pal10–8 Stephen O'Connor	David Gray10–5 Munraj Pal
Lee Spick10–8 Nick Pearce	David Roe10–5 Lee Spick
Mark Davis10–9 Mario Geudens	John Read10–4 Mark Davis
Ryan Day10–6 Steve Judd	Neal Foulds10–9 Ryan Day
Leigh Griffin10–6 Jason Weston	Drew Henry10–6 Leigh Griffin
Phaitoon Phonbun10–6 David McDonnell	Matthew Couch10–7 Phaitoon Phonbun
Craig MacGillivray10–4 Lee Richardson	Paul Davies10–3 Craig MacGillivray
Robert Milkins10–8 Michael Holt	Gary Ponting10–8 Robert Milkins
Kristján Helgason10–2 John Lardner	Kristján Helgason10–5 Joe Johnson
Malcolm Bilclough10–9 Mark Gray	Rod Lawler10–6 Malcolm Bilclough
Michael Judge10–8 Wayne Jones	Michael Judge10–9 Lee Walker
Tony Chappel10–6 Paul Sweeny	Tony Chappel10–7 Martin Clark
Patrick Delsemme10–4 Shokat Ali	Marco Fu10–7 Patrick Delsemme
David McLellan10–9 Chris Scanlon	David Finbow10–4 David McLellan
Eddie Manning10–9 Troy Shaw	Eddie Manning10–9 Jonathan Birch
Andrew Higginson10–2 Leo Fernandez	Alain Robidoux10–5 Andrew Higginson
Anthony Davies10–9 Nick Terry	Anthony Davies10–2 Mick Price
Mark Bennett10–1 Nick Dyson	Mark Bennett10–4 Paul Wykes

^[10]

Round 3 (Best of 19 frames)	Round 4 (Best of 19 frames)
Stuart Bingham10–9 Dene O'Kane	Stuart Bingham10–9 Quinten Hann
Colm Gilcreest10–9 Stefan Mazrocis	Billy Snaddon10–6 Colm Gilcreest
Joe Perry10–8 Noppadon Noppachorn	Tony Drago10–8 Joe Perry
Euan Henderson10–8 Peter Lines	Nigel Bond10–5 Euan Henderson
Jason Ferguson10–8 Dean Reynolds	Gary Wilkinson10–9 Jason Ferguson
Stephen Maguire10–4 Bradley Jones	Joe Swail10–9 Stephen Maguire
Patrick Wallace10–4 Stuart Pettman	Dominic Dale10–8 Patrick Wallace
David Gray10–3 David Roe	David Gray10–6 James Wattana
John Read10–5 Neal Foulds	John Read10–7 Brian Morgan
Drew Henry10–9 Matthew Couch	Drew Henry10–3 Jamie Burnett
Paul Davies10–4 Gary Ponting	Chris Small10–6 Paul Davies
Kristján Helgason10–9 Rod Lawler	Kristján Helgason10–5 Terry Murphy
Michael Judge10–3 Tony Chappel	Darren Morgan10–7 Michael Judge
Marco Fu10–7 David Finbow	Marco Fu10–3 Andy Hicks
Eddie Manning10–9 Alain Robidoux	Graeme Dott10–3 Eddie Manning
Anthony Davies10–6 Mark Bennett	Dave Harold10–7 Anthony Davies