China Open (snooker)

China Open

Tournament information
Location	Beijing
Country	China
Established	1997
Organisation(s)	World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£1,000,000
Final year	2019
Final champion	Neil Robertson

The China Open was a professional snooker tournament. It was one of a number of ranking tournaments and began in 1997. The final champion is Neil Robertson, who won the event in 2019.

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 2002 tournament the event was abandoned.

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 received no prize money nor ranking points.

The last edition of the tournament in 2019 took place at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium, Chaoyang District, Beijing in early April, and it was usually the last ranking event before the World Championship. The 2020 edition was scheduled to take place, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused it to be cancelled: the subsequent restrictions meant it was not staged through 2021, 2022 and 2023. Despite the COVID restrictions ending in China, the tournament has not been restored to the calendar, with new events in Wuhan and Xi'an being staged in its place.

Winners

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Final score	Host city	Season
China International (non-ranking)
1997	Steve Davis	Jimmy White	7–4	Beijing	1997/98
China International (ranking)
1999	John Higgins	Billy Snaddon	9–3	Shanghai	1998/99
China Open (ranking)
1999	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Stephen Lee	9–2	Shanghai	1999/00
2000	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Mark Williams	9–3	Shenzhen	2000/01
2002	Mark Williams	Anthony Hamilton	9–8	Shanghai	2001/02
2005	Ding Junhui	Stephen Hendry	9–5	Beijing	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	Peter Ebdon	Stephen Maguire	10–9		2011/12
2013	Neil Robertson	Mark Selby	10–6		2012/13
2014	Ding Junhui	Neil Robertson	10–5		2013/14
2015	Mark Selby	Gary Wilson	10–2		2014/15
2016	Judd Trump	Ricky Walden	10–4		2015/16
2017	Mark Selby	Mark Williams	10–8		2016/17
2018	Mark Selby	Barry Hawkins	11–3		2017/18
2019	Neil Robertson	Jack Lisowski	11–4		2018/19
2020	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic				2019/20

Records

Statistics

• Highest break: 147
  • James Wattana (1997)
  • Stephen Maguire (2008)
  • Neil Robertson (2010)
  • Judd Trump (2017)
  • Stuart Bingham (2018)
  • Ronnie O'Sullivan (2018)
  • Stuart Bingham (2019)

Finalists

Rank	Name	Nationality	Winner	Runner-up	Finals
1	Mark Williams	Wales	3	2	5
	Mark Selby	England	3	2	5
3	Ding Junhui	China	2	1	3
	Neil Robertson	Australia	2	1	3
5	Ronnie O'Sullivan	England	2	0	2
	Peter Ebdon	England	2	0	2
	Judd Trump	England	2	0	2
8	Stephen Maguire	Scotland	1	1	2
9	Graeme Dott	Scotland	1	0	1
10	John Higgins	Scotland	0	2	2
11	Stephen Lee	England	0	1	1
	Anthony Hamilton	England	0	1	1
	Stephen Hendry	Scotland	0	1	1
	Jamie Cope	England	0	1	1
	Shaun Murphy	England	0	1	1
	Gary Wilson	England	0	1	1
	Ricky Walden	England	0	1	1
	Barry Hawkins	England	0	1	1
	Jack Lisowski	England	0	1	1