2021 Northern Ireland Open Explained

Tournament Name:2021 BetVictor Northern Ireland Open
Venue:Waterfront Hall
Location:Belfast
Country:Northern Ireland
Organisation:World Snooker Tour
Format:Ranking event
Total Prize Fund:£405,000
Winners Share:£70,000
Highest Break: (147)
Score:9–8
Previous:2020
Next:2022

The 2021 Northern Ireland Open (officially the 2021 BetVictor Northern Ireland Open) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 9 to 17 October 2021 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.[1] It was the third ranking event of the 2021–22 season and the first tournament in both the Home Nations Series and the European Series. It was the sixth edition of the Northern Ireland Open.

Qualifying for the tournament took place from 23 to 27 August 2021 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England,[2] although matches involving the top 16 players, and three other matches featuring Northern Irish players, were held over and played at the Waterfront Hall.[3] All of the top 16 players participated except for world number 9 Ding Junhui.[4] Mark Allen made a maximum break in his held over qualifying match against Si Jiahui.[5]

The defending champion was Judd Trump, who defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 finals by a scoreline of 9–7 each time.[6] Trump lost 3–5 in the quarter-finals to Allen, having led 3–0.[7]

Allen faced John Higgins in the final, which was tied at 4–4 after the afternoon session. Higgins moved 8–6 ahead in the evening session, but Allen won the last three frames for a 9–8 victory. It was Allen's first Northern Ireland Open title, his second Home Nations win, and the sixth ranking title of his professional career.[8]

Format

The Northern Ireland Open was first played in 2016, and was won by Mark King.[9] [10] The 2021 event was the first of four Home Nations Series events, and the third world ranking tournament of the 2019–20 snooker season.[11] The event took place from 9 to 17 October 2021 at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.[12] The event followed the British Open, and preceded the English Open.[11] [12]

The defending champion was Judd Trump, who defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 finals by a scoreline of 9–7 each time.[6] All matches were played as the best of 7 in the first four rounds, at which point the number increased: 9 in the quarter-finals; 11 in the semi-finals; and the best of 19 frames in the final.[13] Sports betting company BetVictor sponsored the event,[14] which was broadcast in Europe by Eurosport; CCTV, Rigour, Liaoning TV in China; NowTV in Hong Kong; Astro SuperSports in Malaysia and Brunei; True Vision in Thailand; Sky Sports in New Zealand and Matchroom Sport in all other territories.[15]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below:[16]

Main draw

The results from the event are shown below. Seeded players have their seedings in brackets. Players highlighted in bold denote match winners.[17]

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Olivier Marteel
Waterfront Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 17 October 2021.
Mark Allen (9)
9–8John Higgins (7)
Afternoon: 78–21, 82–1, 0–123 (123), 70–6, 11–68, 70–47, 0–78, 63–64
Evening: 76–47, 40–89, 86–0, 40–89, 1–64, 6–144 (136), 51–6, 80–43, 65–31
85Highest break136
0Century breaks2

Qualifying

Qualification for the tournament took place from 23 to 27 August 2021 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. Matches involving the top 16 players — including the defending champion — alongside three other matches involving local players, were held over and played at the Waterfront Hall.[18] Graeme Dott, Anthony Hamilton, Mark Davis and Robbie McGuigan were due to take part in the event, but withdrew and were replaced by James Cahill, Dylan Emery, Mark Lloyd and Robert McCullough respectively.[19] [20] [21]

An incident took place in the players lounge after the Peter Lines v Xiao Guodong match. Lines confronted Xiao in the players' lounge after the match, accused him of cheating. Lines also swore at Xiao, and challenged him to a fight, leading to security personnel removing Lines from the lounge. The incident was in relation to perceived inaccuracies in ball placement by the referee after a foul and a miss was called during a frame of their match. The incident was reported to the WPBSA and Lines was found guilty at a subsequent hearing after the tournament of; breaching the code of conduct for members of the WPBSA, bringing the WPBSA into disrepute, bringing the game of snooker into disrepute, and for engaging in conduct likely to cause an opponent to be unduly influenced so as to affect the outcome of a match or event. Lines was ordered to pay a fine and costs. Lines subsequently apologised for his conduct to Xiao.[22] [23]

Century breaks

Main stage centuries

Total: 50[25]

Qualifying stage centuries

Total: 29[26]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2021 Northern Ireland Open. https://web.archive.org/web/20200111141348/https://wst.tv/tournaments/northern-ireland-open/. dead. 11 January 2020. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 10 June 2021.
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20210709102108/https://wst.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Click-here-for-the-calendar-9721.pdf "Updated 2021/22 Calendar"
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20210818120458/https://wst.tv/betvictor-northern-ireland-open-draw/ "BetVictor Northern Ireland Open Draw"
  4. News: Trump goes for four in a row - all you need to know about snooker's Northern Ireland Open. en-GB. BBC Sport. 2021-10-14.
  5. News: Allen hits maximum 147 in Belfast win. en-GB. BBC Sport. 2021-10-14.
  6. Web site: Judd Trump edges out Ronnie O'Sullivan to win Northern Ireland Open. 22 November 2020. SKY Sports. 24 November 2020.
  7. Web site: 15 October 2021. Allen Roars Back From 3–0 Down To Beat Defending Champion Trump In Thriller. Eurosport.
  8. News: Allen beats Higgins in NI Open final. en-GB. BBC Sport. 2021-10-18.
  9. News: Northern Ireland Open: Mark King ends 25-year wait for ranking title . 20 November 2016 . . 21 November 2016 . 21 November 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161121074103/http://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/38045803 . live.
  10. Web site: King Crowned in Belfast . 21 November 2016 . World Snooker . 21 November 2016 . 22 November 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161122000457/http://www.worldsnooker.com/king-crowned-in-belfast/ . live.
  11. Web site: Calendar 2021/2022 . snooker.org . 3 June 2021 .
  12. Web site: 2021 Northern Ireland Open. https://web.archive.org/web/20200111141348/https://wst.tv/tournaments/northern-ireland-open/. dead. 11 January 2020. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 10 June 2021.
  13. Web site: Results (Northern Ireland Open 2021) . Årdalen . Hermund . snooker.org . 4 July 2021 .
  14. Web site: The first event prediction, the latest sports news-19 information . 19.com . 12 April 2021 . 12 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210412184522/https://19.com/cn/ . live.
  15. Web site: Tournament Broadcasters 2021/22 - World Snooker . World Snooker . 11 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211211013432/https://wst.tv/watch-live/tournament-broadcasters/. dead. 11 December 2021.
  16. Where the money went . Snooker Scene . November 2021 . 15 .
  17. Web site: Results (Northern Ireland Open 2021) - snooker.org . Årdalen . Hermund . snooker.org . 11 March 2022 .
  18. Web site: BetVictor Northern Ireland Open Draw. https://web.archive.org/web/20210818120458/https://wst.tv/betvictor-northern-ireland-open-draw/. dead. 18 August 2021. 18 August 2021. World Snooker Tour. 23 August 2021.
  19. Web site: Dott and Hamilton withdraw from Belfast Qualifiers. https://web.archive.org/web/20210822235409/https://wst.tv/dott-withdraws-from-belfast-qualifiers/. dead. 22 August 2021. 22 August 2021. World Snooker Tour. 23 August 2021.
  20. Web site: BetVictor Northern Ireland Open Updated Draw. https://web.archive.org/web/20210927162725/https://wst.tv/betvictor-northern-ireland-open-updated-draw-2/. dead. 27 September 2021. 27 September 2021. World Snooker Tour. 27 September 2021.
  21. Web site: McGuigan Replaced By McCullough. https://web.archive.org/web/20211005153339/https://wst.tv/mcguigan-replaced-by-mccullough/. dead. 5 October 2021. 5 October 2021. World Snooker Tour. 5 October 2021.
  22. News: Lines fined for Xiao confrontation. en-GB. BBC Sport. 2022-01-15. 15 January 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220115144554/https://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/59998651. live.
  23. Web site: 2022-01-14. Peter Lines fined over Xiao Guodong confrontation. . en. 15 January 2022. 15 January 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220115144553/https://www.rte.ie/sport/snooker/2022/0114/1273695-peter-lines-fined-over-xiao-guodong-confrontation/. live.
  24. Match held over and played in Belfast.
  25. Web site: BetVictor Northern Ireland Open 2021 Centuries. 9–17 October 2021. World Snooker Tour.
  26. Web site: 23–27 August 2021. BetVictor Northern Ireland Open 2021 Qualifiers Centuries. World Snooker Tour. 24 August 2021. 6 December 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211206173703/https://livescores.worldsnookerdata.com/Centuries/CenturyBreaks/14470/betvictor-northern-ireland-open-2021-qualifiers. dead.

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