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Choose up to 16 first-round matches

Poll ended at 17 Apr 2020

1984: Neal Foulds 10-9 Alex Higgins
6
7%
1985: Steve Davis 10-8 Neal Foulds
5
5%
1987: Joe Johnson 10-9 Eugene Hughes
5
5%
1989: Stephen Hendry 10-9 Gary Wilkinson
5
5%
1992: Peter Ebdon 10-4 Steve Davis
4
4%
1994: Nigel Bond 10-9 Cliff Thorburn
5
5%
1998: Jimmy White 10-4 Stephen Hendry
4
4%
1999: Stephen Hendry 10-8 Paul Hunter
6
7%
2000: David Gray 10-9 Ronnie O'Sullivan
5
5%
2001: Joe Swail 10-9 Shaun Storey
4
4%
2003: Ken Doherty 10-9 Shaun Murphy
6
7%
2005: Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-9 Stephen Maguire
4
4%
2006: Nigel Bond 10-9 Stephen Hendry
4
4%
2008: Peter Ebdon 10-9 Jamie Cope
3
3%
2010: Stephen Hendry 10-9 Zhang Anda
4
4%
2011: Judd Trump 10-8 Neil Robertson
6
7%
2013: Dechawat Poomjaeng 10-9 Stephen Maguire
4
4%
2017: Marco Fu 10-9 Luca Brecel
4
4%
2019: James Cahill 10-8 Ronnie O'Sullivan
5
5%
2019: Judd Trump 10-9 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
3
3%
 
Total votes : 92

Re: All-Star World Championship Phase Two: First-Round Match

Postby PLtheRef

Despite being able to choose 16, I went with six.

Jimmy White 10 - 4 Stephen Hendry - 1998
Stephen Hendry arrives at the Crucible Theatre knowing that for the first time in four years, his World Number One spot is up for grabs despite runs to the Finals of the British Open (shortly before the World Championship) and the UK Championship) and a title in Thailand. For Hendry, a win in his First Round match will ensure that he retains the number 1 spot for a ninth successive year. Did pulling arguably one of the two toughest draws from the qualifiers put the pressure on more.

Despite not being a close encounter this makes it I feel on the basis one of the nostalgia between the two, this is White's first ranking win over Hendry since the 1991 UK Championship Semi-Final at Preston and comes a decade after his previous win over the then six-times World Champion.

After so many near misses at the Crucible because of his opponent, White hits the ground running, a century in the first frame, pinching the second frame with contributions of 31 and 39 in response to a 67 from Hendry. Six more contributions over 30 in the four frames either side of the interval sees the Englishman lead 6-0 on his way to an 8-1 overnight lead and a Crucible stunned.

On the following evening, despite breaks of 72, and 76 from the defending champion to reduce the gap to four frames, White crucially takes the last before the interval to go one away from a famous victory which arrives in the following frame.


I'll add the others later - Stats courtesy of the Crucible Almanac and CueTracker

Re: All-Star World Championship Phase Two: First-Round Match

Postby KrazeeEyezKilla

I remember both sessions of White-Hendry being on in the evening and this in an era before the red button. There was an hour of live coverage from 7 to 8 and it ended just as Hendry made it 4-8 and I was convinced he was going to win. I kept checking ceefax but it didn't update for ages until it showed White had won.

Re: All-Star World Championship Phase Two: First-Round Match

Postby SnookerEd25

I remember when they launched BBC Choice (the forerunner of BBC3) in 1998, and one of the pulls for me was the fact that they would show live evening session coverage for all the BBCs tournaments; it was such a treat at the time, now of course the norm. Unfortunately, didn't launch until September 98 but the 99 WC was the first that could be watched in something close to its entirety. It was heaven.