China Open (snooker)

China Open

Tournament information
Venue	Beijing University Students Gymnasium
Location	Beijing
Country	China
Established	1997
Organisation(s)	World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£325,000
Current champion(s)	Judd Trump

The China Open is a professional snooker tournament. It is one of a number of ranking tournaments and began in 1997.

History

The first international snooker tournament in China was the China International in September 1997, a non-ranking tournament for the top 16 players and local players. The following season the tournament became ranking and was held in March. Then the name of the event was changed to China Open and was held in December, so there were two events in 1999. After the 2001 tournament the event was abandoned.^[1]

The event was revived for the 2004/05 season. Local wild-card players were invited to play against the qualifiers. The three Chinese players on the tour were invited to play as wild-cards, rather than qualify the usual way. Ding Junhui was one of them, and he won the tournament, but as he entered as a wild-card, he didn't get the prize money nor ranking points.^[1]

The tournament currently takes place at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium, Haidian District, Beijing in late March and early April.^[1] It is the last ranking event before the World Championship.

Winners

^[1]

Year	Winner	Opponent	Final score	Season
China International (non-ranking)
1997	Steve Davis	Jimmy White	7–4	1997/98
China International (ranking)
1999	John Higgins	Billy Snaddon	9–3	1998/99
China Open (ranking)
1999	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Lee	9–2	1999/00
2000	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Mark Williams	9–3	2000/01
2002	Mark Williams	Anthony Hamilton	9–8	2001/02
2005	Ding Junhui	Stephen Hendry	9–5	2004/05
2006	Mark Williams	John Higgins	9–8	2005/06
2007	Graeme Dott	Jamie Cope	9–5	2006/07
2008	Stephen Maguire	Shaun Murphy	10–9	2007/08
2009	Peter Ebdon	John Higgins	10–8	2008/09
2010	Mark Williams	Ding Junhui	10–6	2009/10
2011	Judd Trump	Mark Selby	10–8	2010/11
2012				2011/12

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Turner, Chris. "China International, China Open, Shanghai Masters, Jiangsu/Wuxi Classic". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/China.html. Retrieved 1 March 2011.