2004 Masters Snooker

The 2004 Masters took place between February 1 and February 8, 2004 at the Wembley Conference Centre.

At the start of the competition, Chinese 16 year old Ding Junhui casued a stir when he beat Joe Perry 6-3 on his television debut. He then faced Stephen Lee in the next round which he lost 5-6 after being 5-2 up.

Paul Hunter went on to win his third title in four years, and what was to be his last when be beat Ronnie O'Sullivan. It was arguably the most dramatic of all his Masters triumphs, trailing Ronnie O'Sullivan throughout the entire match before pipping him to the trophy in the final frame. In fact, Hunter trailed 2-0, 6-1, 7-2, 8-6 and 9-7 before reeling off the final three frames to seal the sixth title of his professional career. He made five century breaks in the match - over five million viewers on BBC Sport watched him on live TV (in the UK) beat O’Sullivan 10-9.

This was the first Masters not to be sponsored by Benson and Hedges who had sponsored the tournament since it started in 1975 after the ban on tobacco advertising which came in summer 2003. This year's competition was unsponsored.

Prize Money

Total: £?

Winner: £100,000

Runner-up: £?

Highest break: £?

147 break: £?

Highest Break

138 Ronnie O'Sullivan

Knockout stage

First Round

Ding Junhui 6-3 Joe Perry 2/2/2004

Jimmy White 6-2 Neil Robertson 1/2/2004

Round16
1 February|flagicon|Wales Mark J Williams|6|flagicon|Wales Matthew Stevens|5
2 February|flagicon|England Paul Hunter|6|flagicon|England David Gray|3
3 February|flagicon|England Stephen Lee|6|flagicon|China Ding Junhui|5
3 February|flagicon|Scotland John Higgins|6|flagicon|Scotland Graeme Dott|4
2 February|flagicon|England Ronnie O'Sullivan|6|flagicon|Scotland Alan McManus|0
3 February|flagicon|Ireland Ken Doherty|6|flagicon|England Steve Davis|3
4 February|flagicon|England Peter Ebdon|6|flagicon|Australia Quinten Hann|3
4 February|flagicon|England Jimmy White|6|flagicon|Scotland Stephen Hendry|4
5 February|flagicon|England Paul Hunter|6|flagicon|Wales Mark J Williams|5
5 February|flagicon|Scotland John Higgins|6|flagicon|England Stephen Lee|4
6 February|flagicon|England Ronnie O'Sullivan|6|flagicon|Ireland "'Ken Doherty|3
6 February|flagicon|England Jimmy White|6|flagicon|England Peter Ebdon|4
7 February|flagicon|England Paul Hunter|6|flagicon|Scotland John Higgins|3
7 February|flagicon|England Ronnie O'Sullivan|6|flagicon|England Jimmy White|4
8 February|flagicon|England Paul Hunter|10|flagicon|England Ronnie O'Sullivan|9
3rdplace=no

References

WWW Snooker [http://www.snooker.org/]

BBC Masters 2004 homepage [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/3445539.stm]