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Tournaments: 1997/98: Ranking: Grand Prix | UK | German | Welsh | Scottish | Thailand | British | World

Liverpool Victoria UK Championship 1997

Guild Hall, Preston, England (Nov 12-30, 1997)
WPBSA ranking tournament #2
�440,000 purse, �75,000 first prize

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Report

World No.7 Ronnie O'Sullivan upset the world's No.1, Stephen Hendry 10-6 in a repeat of the 1993 final to win his first tournament of the season, his second UK title and fifth ranking title. The victory earned him �75,000.

The match was decided when Ronnie went from 5-5 to 9-5 with scintillating snooker. Hendry didn't pot a single ball as O'Sullivan scored 356 points without reply, assisted by breaks of 89, 32, 40, 54, 44 and 31.

Ronnie has now won 7 of their 15 meetings and must surely now be one of the strongest favourites for the World Championship.

The victory also ended Hendry's 23-match unbeaten run at the UK Championship. It was also Ronnie that beat him the last time, in the 1993 final.

Stephen Lee won the prize of �5,000 for the highest televised break with a magnificent 137 total clearance in the semi-finals. Matthew Stevens won the pre-television high break prize of �1,500 for a 143 in his third round encounter with Tony Drago.

Other stories of the championship include Mark King's 12 successive misses in the fifth frame of his 9-2 quarter-final loss to Stephen Lee, and thereby conceded 48 points. He failed to hit any of the 14 reds available. Lee eventually halted the bizarre line of events by stepping in with a 32-break after the twelfth miss. This is the most successive misses ever called in a televised world ranking match. Only one other match has involved more successive misses. That happened in a qualifying round of the 1992 Asian open between Sean Storey and Graham Cripsey. At that occasion Storey was called for 13 successive misses.

Stephen Hendry came back from 8-5 behind in his fourth round victory over Anthony Hamilton.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from the championship. Click the thumbnails to see the full-size versions.

Ronnie with the trophy
Ronnie has a laugh in the final
Stephen in final action
Jason Prince
Martin Dziewialtowski and Dean Reynolds in their fourth round clash

© Pictures are copyright Eric Whitehead ([email protected]) (Official photographer for the WPBSA)

Results

(Players are English unless stated)

Final

Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-6 Stephen Hendry (Scotland)

29-103 (89), 37-75, 78-13(78), 115-10 (78),
44-63 (57), 16-88 (67), 67-28, 21-73 (68), 98-33 (98),
75-23, 89-0(89), 72-0, 79-0 (54), 82-0, 1-80, 70-17

Semi-finals

Stephen Hendry (Scotland) 9-5 Matthew Stevens (Wales)

86-1 (85), 82-0 (81), 69-13 (68), 63-26 (62), 96-0 (96),
65-53, 1-90 (83), 27-98 (97), 15-66, 0-101 (62), 77-14,
6-83 (83), 94-34 (88), 72-62 (72,62)


Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-4 Stephen Lee

91-0 (90), 0-137 (137), 77-50 (68/50), 0-68 (68),
0-119 (119), 78-1, 86-26 (65), 66-37, 15-121 (121),
84-7 (84), 124-0 (124), 89-26, 68-12 (67)

Quarter-finals

Stephen Hendry (Scotland)        9-5 Alan McManus (Scotland)
Matthew Stevens (Wales)          9-1 Martin Dziewialtowski (Scotland)
Ronnie O'Sullivan                9-6 Gerard Greene (N.Ireland)
Stephen Lee                      9-2 Mark King

Fourth round

Stephen Hendry (Scotland)        9-8 Anthony Hamilton
Alan McManus (Scotland)          9-5 Jason Prince (N.Ireland)
Martin Dziewialtowski (Scotland) 9-7 Dean Reynolds
Matthew Stevens (Wales)          9-1 Mark J Williams (Wales)
Gerard Greene (N.Ireland)        9-6 Gary Ponting
Ronnie O'Sullivan                9-4 Gary Wilkinson  
Mark King                        9-5 Darren Morgan (Wales)
Stephen Lee                      9-2 Neal Foulds

Third round

Stephen Hendry (Scotland)        9-7 Sean Storey
Anthony Hamilton                 9-3 Jamie Burnett (Scotland)
Alan McManus (Scotland)          9-3 Jimmy White
Jason Prince (N.Ireland)         9-5 Peter Ebdon
Martin Dziewialtowski (Scotland) 9-6 Quinten Hann (Australia)
Dean Reynolds                    9-6 Shokat Ali (Pakistan)
Matthew Stevens (Wales)          9-8 Tony Drago (Malta)
Mark J Williams (Wales)          9-3 Dennis Taylor (N.Ireland)
Gary Ponting                     9-5 Dene O'Kane (New Zealand)
Gerard Greene (N.Ireland)        9-6 Andy Hicks
Gary Wilkinson                   9-8 James Wattana (Thailand)
Ronnie O'Sullivan                9-5 Terry Murphy (N.Ireland)
Mark King                        9-6 John Parrott
Darren Morgan (Wales)            9-6 Bradley Jones
Stephen Lee                      9-4 Chris Small (Scotland)
Neal Foulds                      9-4 Ken Doherty (Ireland)

Second round

Stephen Hendry (Scotland)        9-2 John Read
Sean Storey                      9-5 Martin Clark
Anthony Hamilton                 9-2 Troy Shaw
Jamie Burnett (Scotland)         9-6 Mick Price
Alan McManus (Scotland)          9-7 Tony Jones
Jimmy White                      9-2 Paul Davies (Wales)
Peter Ebdon                      9-6 David Gray
Jason Prince (N.Ireland)         9-6 Dave Harold 
Quinten Hann (Australia)         9-6 Nigel Bond
Martin Dziewialtowski (Scotland) 9-5 Joe Swail (N.Ireland)
Shokat Ali (Pakistan)            9-3 Alain Robidoux (Canada)
Dean Reynolds                    9-7 Brian Morgan
Tony Drago (Malta)               9-7 Ian McCulloch
Matthew Stevens (Wales)          9-7 Rod Lawler
Mark J Williams (Wales)          9-6 Jonathan Birch
Dennis Taylor (N.Ireland)        9-5 Steve James
Gary Ponting                     9-4 John Higgins (Scotland)
Dene O'Kane (New Zealand)        9-6 Billy Snaddon (Scotland)
Gerard Greene (N.Ireland)        9-2 Steve Davis
Andy Hicks                       9-8 Lee Richardson
James Wattana (Thailand)         9-6 Wayne Jones (Wales)
Gary Wilkinson                   9-7 Willie Thorne
Ronnie O'Sullivan                9-6 Marcus Campbell (Scotland)
Terry Murphy (N.Ireland)         9-8 Chris Scanlon
John Parrott                     9-1 Paul Wykes 
Mark King                        9-4 Peter Lines
Darren Morgan (Wales)            9-2 Dominic Dale (Wales)
Bradley Jones                    9-2 Fergal O'Brien (Ireland)
Stephen Lee                      9-8 Paul Hunter
Chris Small (Scotland)           9-5 Mark Bennett (Wales)
Ken Doherty (Ireland)            9-3 Karl Broughton
Neal Foulds                      9-6 Karl Burrows

First round

John Read                        6-3 Michael Judge (Ireland)
Sean Storey                      6-1 Euan Henderson (Scotland)
Troy Shaw                        6-4 Dave Finbow
Jamie Burnett (Scotland)         6-1 Craig MacGillivray
Tony Jones                       6-3 John Lardner (Scotland)
Paul Davies (Wales)              6-4 Steve Judd
David Gray                       6-5 Graeme Dott (Scotland)
Jason Prince (N.Ireland)         6-4 Matthew Couch
Quinten Hann (Australia)         6-3 Joe Johnson
Martin Dziewialtowski (Scotland) 6-3 Anthony Davies (Wales)
Shokat Ali (Pakistan)            6-4 Karl Payne
Dean Reynolds                    6-3 Stephen O'Connor (Ireland)
Ian McCulloch                    6-5 Jason Ferguson
Matthew Stevens (Wales)          6-3 Jamie Woodman
Jonathan Birch                   6-0 Mark Gray
Dennis Taylor (N.Ireland)        6-2 Waye Brown
Gary Ponting                     6-4 Nick Pearce
Dene O'Kane (New Zealand)        6-2 Stuart Pettman
Gerard Greene (N.Ireland)        6-5 Ian Brumby
Lee Richardson                   6-5 Stefan Mazrocis
Wayne Jones (Wales)              6-4 Leigh Griffin
Willie Thorne                    6-2 Peter McCullagh
Marcus Campbell (Scotland)       6-5 Tony Chappel (Wales)
Chris Scanlon                    6-4 Joe Perry
Paul Wykes                       6-5 Mark Davis
Peter Lines                      6-5 Jimmy Michie
Dominic Dale (Wales)             6-5 Alfie Burden
Bradley Jones                    6-5 Drew Henry (Scotland)
Paul Hunter                      6-3 Nick Walker
Mark Bennett (Wales)             6-4 Darren Clarke
Karl Broughton                   6-2 Lee Walker (Wales)
Karl Burrows                     6-4 David Roe

Related Pages

     
1994 Royal Liver Assurance UK Championship
1995 Royal Liver Assurance UK Championship
1996 UK Championship
1997 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship
1998 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship
1999 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship
2000 Liverpool Victoria UK Championship
2001 UK Championship
2002 PowerHouse UK Championship
2003 Travis Perkins UK Championship
2004 Travis Perkins UK Championship
2005 Travis Perkins UK Championship
2006 Maplin Electronics UK Championship
2007 Maplin UK Championship
2008 Maplin UK Championship
2009 Pukka Pies UK Championship
2010 UK Championship
2011 williamhill.com UK Championship
2012 williamhill.com UK Championship

UK Finals (Old version)

1998 Match stats
1999 Match stats

2003 UK Championship Prediction Contest
2004 UK Championship Prediction Contest
2005 UK Championship Prediction Contest
2006 UK Championship Prediction Contest
2007 UK Championship Prediction Contest
2008 UK Championship Prediction Contest
2009 UK Championship Prediction Contest
2010 UK Championship Prediction Contest
2011 UK Championship Prediction Contest
2012 UK Championship Prediction Contest

UK Championship Cumulative Rankings (2004-2012)

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