The 2021 Scottish Open (officially the 2021 BetVictor Scottish Open) was a professional snooker tournament that was played from 6 to 12 December 2021 at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales.[1] It was the sixth ranking event of the 2021–22 season, and the third tournament in the Home Nations Series, following the Northern Ireland Open and English Open, and preceding the Welsh Open. It was also the third of eight tournaments in the season's European Series. The tournament was sponsored by BetVictor and broadcast by Eurosport in the UK and Europe.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 6–12 December 2021 |
| Venue | Venue Cymru |
| City | Llandudno |
| Country | Wales |
| Organisation | World Snooker Tour |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £405,000 |
| Winner's share | £70,000 |
| Highest break |  Xiao Guodong (CHN) (147) |
| Final | |
| Champion |  Luca Brecel (BEL) |
| Runner-up |  John Higgins (SCO) |
| Score | 9–5 |
← 2020 2022 → | |
The day before tickets were due to go on sale, the Emirates Arena in Glasgow informed the World Snooker Tour that the venue would not host an event sponsored by a betting company.[2] Unable to find a suitable replacement venue in Scotland, the organisers moved the event to Wales.[1] The qualifying stage of the tournament took place from 24 to 29 September 2021 at the Metrodome in Barnsley, England, although qualifying matches involving top-16 players and two wildcard entrants from the home nation were held over and played at Venue Cymru.[3] In his first-round match against Lee Walker, Jimmy Robertson scored 178 points in a single frame, including 44 points in fouls, breaking the previous professional record of 167 set by Dominic Dale at the 1999 World Championship.[4]
Mark Selby was the defending champion, having won the event in 2019 and 2020. By reaching the fourth round, Selby won 17 consecutive Scottish Open matches before he was defeated 3–4 by Anthony McGill.[5][6] Luca Brecel, who had been runner-up at the UK Championship a week earlier, defeated John Higgins 9–5 in the final to claim the second ranking title of his career. Higgins lost his fourth consecutive final of the season, as well as his third consecutive Home Nations final.[7][8] The highest break of the tournament was by Xiao Guodong, who made the first maximum break of his career in his qualifying round match against Fraser Patrick.[9]
Prize fund
editThe breakdown of prize money for the event is shown below:
- Winner: £70,000
- Runner-up: £30,000
- Semi-final: £20,000
- Quarter-final: £10,000
- Last 16: £7,500
- Last 32: £4,000
- Last 64: £3,000
- Highest break: £5,000
- Total: £405,000
Main draw
editTop half
editBottom half
editFinal
edit| Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Colin Humphries Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Wales, 12 December 2021. | ||
| Luca Brecel |
9–5 | John Higgins (7) |
| Afternoon: 71–33, 96–0, 61–8, 0–91, 69–21, 59–56, 46–75, 104–0 (104) Evening: 79–27, 98–0, 5–97, 17–73, 25–62, 127–0 (127) | ||
| 127 | Highest break | 73 |
| 2 | Century breaks | 0 |
Qualifying
editQualification for the tournament took place from 24 to 29 September 2021 at the Metrodome in Barnsley, but the matches which involve top 16 players and the two wild card players were played at Venue Cymru.[10] Zhou Yuelong was due to take part in this event, but withdrew and was replaced by John Astley.[11] Ahead of the final stages, Neil Robertson and Mark Williams withdrew, and were replaced by Bai Langning and James Cahill respectively.[12]
Mark Selby (ENG) (1) 4–1
Gerard Greene (NIR) 1–4
Xiao Guodong (CHN) 4–3
Fraser Patrick (SCO)
Duane Jones (WAL) 4–2
Sunny Akani (THA) 4–0
Lukas Kleckers (GER)
Soheil Vahedi (IRN) 2–4
Fergal O'Brien (IRL) 4–2
Iulian Boiko (UKR)
Luca Brecel (BEL) 4–1
Alexander Ursenbacher (SUI)
Farakh Ajaib (PAK) 0–4
Michael Georgiou (CYP)
Rory McLeod (JAM)
Kurt Maflin (NOR) 2–4
Ng On-yee (HKG)[nb 1]
Century breaks
editMain stage centuries
editTotal: 39[13]
- 140 – Fergal O'Brien
- 139, 125 – John Higgins
- 135 – Martin O'Donnell
- 133, 118 – Jimmy Robertson
- 131 – Jamie Jones
- 131 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
- 130, 130, 113, 106 – David Gilbert
- 128, 115 – Liang Wenbo
- 127, 104 – Luca Brecel
- 127 – Pang Junxu
- 125 – Gary Wilson
- 120 – Ryan Day
- 117 – Jordan Brown
- 117 – Xiao Guodong
- 116, 107, 105 – Mark Selby
- 116 – Li Hang
- 113, 110 – Anthony McGill
- 113, 109, 105, 104 – Judd Trump
- 111 – Zhao Jianbo
- 108 – Sam Craigie
- 107 – Sunny Akani
- 107 – Steven Hallworth
- 104 – Lei Peifan
- 103 – Hossein Vafaei
- 101 – Scott Donaldson
- 101 – Matthew Selt
Qualifying stage centuries
edit- 147, 108 – Xiao Guodong
- 135, 100 – Mark Selby
- 133, 100 – Michael Judge
- 133 – Fan Zhengyi
- 132 – Jack Lisowski
- 132 – Ronnie O'Sullivan
- 131, 113 – David Gilbert
- 130, 107 – Kyren Wilson
- 130 – Shaun Murphy
- 130 – Robbie Williams
- 126 – Jackson Page
- 125 – Michael Georgiou
- 121 – Ricky Walden
- 118, 115 – Noppon Saengkham
- 116 – Oliver Lines
- 116 – Kurt Maflin
- 115 – Tom Ford
- 114 – Elliot Slessor
- 112 – Zhang Anda
- 109 – Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
- 109 – Chang Bingyu
- 107 – Mark Allen
- 107 – Stephen Maguire
- 105 – Si Jiahui
- 104 – Martin Gould
- 103 – Jak Jones
- 102 – Michael Holt
- 102 – David Lilley
- 100 – Mitchell Mann
- 100 – Judd Trump
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "BetVictor Scottish Open to be Staged in Llandudno". World Snooker Tour. 17 August 2021.
- ^ https://podcast.sport-social.co.uk/podcast/snooker-scene/ Episode 183 @ 47:50
- ^ "2021-22 Snooker Calendar Announced". World Snooker Tour. 7 May 2021.
- ^ "Snooker: Jimmy Robertson sets single-frame record of 178 points in win over Lee Walker". Irish Examiner. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2021-12-09.
- ^ "Selby Extends Winning Streak". World Snooker. 2021-12-06. Archived from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
- ^ "Scottish Open 2021 – Mark Selby's reign ended by Anthony McGill after bizarre end to deciding frame". Eurosport UK. 2021-12-09. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
- ^ "Brilliant Brecel Claims Second Ranking Crown". World Snooker. 2021-12-12. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-12.
- ^ "Scottish Open snooker 2021 - Luca Brecel fends off John Higgins rally to win title". Eurosport UK. 2021-12-12. Retrieved 2021-12-13.
- ^ "Xiao Fires In Maiden Maximum". World Snooker. 2021-09-24. Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-09.
- ^ "BetVictor Scottish Open Draw". World Snooker Tour. 26 August 2021
- ^ "Zhou Withdraws From Scottish Open". World Snooker Tour. 23 September 2021.
- ^ "Robertson And Williams Withdraw". World Snooker Tour. 5 December 2021.
- ^ a b "BetVictor Scottish Open 2021 | Centuries". World Snooker Tour. 6–12 December 2021. Archived from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
- ^ "BetVictor Scottish Open 2021 Qualifiers | Centuries". World Snooker Tour. 24–29 September 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-09-24.