1994 World Snooker Championship


The 1994 World Snooker Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 16 April and 2 May 1994 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
Stephen Hendry won his fourth world title by defeating Jimmy White 18–17 in the final. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Overview

  • Two-time world champion Alex Higgins qualified for the championship for the last time, losing 6–10 in the first round to Ken Doherty.
  • Cliff Thorburn, another former champion making his final World Championship appearance, lost 9–10 in the first round to Nigel Bond after leading 9–2.
  • 18-year-old Ronnie O'Sullivan knocked out 1985 [World Snooker Championship|1985] champion Dennis Taylor, who was also making his final appearance at the World Championship. O'Sullivan won their first-round match 10–6, his first victory at the Crucible after losing in the first round on his debut the previous year.
  • Stephen Hendry won his third consecutive world title and his fourth in five years. This achievement was all the more remarkable because he played every match after the first round with a broken elbow.
  • This was Jimmy White's fifth consecutive final appearance, his fourth against Hendry, and his sixth overall. The match went to a deciding frame; White had a great chance to win his first World title when leading 37–24 and only needing a handful of pots to win the title but missed a off the, and Hendry to clinch the title. This was White's last appearance in a World Championship final and the closest he ever came to winning the tournament.
  • Earlier in the tournament, Hendry had sealed his position as world number one with a 16–9 semi-final victory over Steve Davis. This was Davis' eleventh and last appearance in a World Championship semi-final.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
  • Winner: £180,000
  • Runner-up: £110,000
  • Semi-final: £55,000
  • Quarter-final: £27,500
  • Last 16: £15,000
  • Last 32: £8,500
  • Last 48: £6,000
  • Last 64: £4,000
  • Last 96: £1,750
  • Last 128: £1,000
  • Last 192: £600
  • Stage one highest break: £5,000
  • Stage two highest break: £15,400
  • Stage two maximum break: £100,000
  • Total: £1,068,000

Main draw

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks.

Century breaks

There were 35 century breaks in the Championship, a joint record with the 1993 tournament. The highest break of the tournament was 143 made by Alan McManus. The highest break of the qualifying stage was 143 made by Karl Payne.