2003_European_Open_(snooker)
2003 European Open (snooker)
Snooker tournament
The 2003 European Open was a professional snooker tournament and the fifth of eight WPBSA ranking events in the 2002/2003 season, following the Welsh Open. It was held from 11 to 16 March 2003 at the Palace Hotel in Torquay, England.[3] This marked the first and only time when any of the editions of this tournament was not held outside the British Isles. Ronnie O'Sullivan won his 12th ranking title by defeating Stephen Hendry 9–6 in the final.[2] O'Sullivan went on to win back-to-back ranking titles – his next coming at the 2003 Irish Masters, just two weeks later, where he triumphed over John Higgins in a deciding frame.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | 11–16 March 2003 (2003-03-11 – 2003-03-16) |
| Venue | Palace Hotel |
| City | Torquay |
| Country | England |
| Organisation | WPBSA |
| Format | Ranking event |
| Total prize fund | £250,000[1] |
| Winner's share | £44,000[1] |
| Highest break |  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) (142)[2] |
| Final | |
| Champion | Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) |
| Runner-up |  Stephen Hendry (SCO) |
| Score | 9–6 |
← 2001 2004 → | |
Defending champion Stephen Hendry was the number 1 seed with World Champion Peter Ebdon seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings.
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:[1]
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| Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Jan Verhaas. Palace Hotel, Torquay, England, 16 March 2003. | ||
| Stephen Hendry (1) Scotland |
6–9 | Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) England |
| Afternoon: 0–140 (140), 100–11, 101–7 (101), 0–76 (76), 5–65 (52), 3–131 (126), 8–76 (76), 88–33 (88) Evening: 0–142 (142), 97–25 (53), 123–1 (117), 0–77 (77), 72–37 (72), 50–79 (Hendry 50), 0–79 (79) | ||
| 117 | Highest break | 142 |
| 2 | Century breaks | 3 |
| 6 | 50+ breaks | 8 |
Round 1
Best of 9 frames
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Round 2–5
Qualifying stage centuries
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Televised stage centuries
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- "European Open 2003 Prize Money". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 14 March 2003. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- "O'Sullivan triumphs in Torquay". BBC Sport. 16 March 2003. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
- "European Open 2003". snooker.org. 26 November 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
- "2003 European Open". Global Snooker Centre. Archived from the original on 4 June 2004. Retrieved 25 January 2023.