The 2003 Welsh Open (officially the 2003 Regal Welsh Open) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place from 22 to 26 January at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

Paul Hunter was the defending champion, but he lost in the semi-finals 2–6 against Mark Williams. Williams in turn lost to Stephen Hendry 9–5 in the final. Hendry won his third Welsh Open title and the 34th ranking title of his career.

Tournament summary Defending champion Paul Hunter was the number 1 seed with World Champion Peter Ebdon seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings.

Prize fund The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

Winner: £82,500 Runner-up: £42,500 Semi-final: £21,250 Quarter-final: £11,700 Last 16: £9,600 Last 32: £7,800 Last 48: £4,000 Last 64: £3,150

Last 80: £2,150 Last 96: £1,450

Stage one highest break: £1,800 Stage two highest break: £7,500

Stage one maximum break: £5,000 Stage two maximum break: £20,000

Total: £597,200

Main draw

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Eirian Williams.Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff, Wales, 26 January 2003. Mark Williams (4) 5–9 Stephen Hendry (7)Afternoon: 64–0 (62), 0–127 (127), 26–90 (89), 0–140 (140), 25–83 (64), 59–49, 0–104 (104), 0–108 (108)Evening: 87–0 (87), 65–1 (54), 51–61, 62–0 (50), 31–79 (79), 0–91 (91) 87 Highest break 140 0 Century breaks 4 4 50+ breaks 8

Qualifying

Round 1 Best of 9 frames

Shaun Murphy 1–5 David John Joe Johnson 2–5 Justin Astley Martin Dziewialtowski 4–5 Leo Fernandez Paul Wykes 4–5 Mark Gray Troy Shaw 3–5 Munraj Pal Paul Davison 5–3 David McLellan Neal Foulds 1–5 Johl Younger Craig Butler 5–1 Jimmy Robertson Jeff Cundy 4–5 Jamie Cope John Read 4–5 Peter Roscoe Adrian Gunnell 5–4 David Gilbert Peter Lines 5–4 Darren Clarke Jason Ferguson 5–2 Stefan Mazrocis Stephen Kershaw 5–0 Hugh Abernethy Matthew Couch 5–0 Bob Chaperon Wayne Brown 1–5 Pang Weiguo

Lee Walker 5–3 Matthew Farrant Luke Fisher 5–1 Nick Pearce Tony Jones 5–3 Eddie Manning Jason Prince 5–1 Manan Chandra Phaitoon Phonbun 3–5 Jason Weston Paul Davies 5–4 Jin Long Ryan Day 5–3 James Reynolds Sean Storey 5–0 Kwan Poomjang Andrew Higginson 4–5 Lee Spick Kristján Helgason 5–2 Colm Gilcreest Euan Henderson 5–1 Mario Wehrman Alain Robidoux 3–5 Simon Bedford Rod Lawler 5–1 Atthasit Mahitthi Andrew Norman 5–2 David Donovan Rory McLeod 5–3 Matthew Selt Antony Bolsover 4–5 Ricky Walden

Round 2–5

Century breaks

140, 127, 124, 113, 108, 104 Stephen Hendry 139 Robin Hull 133 Leo Fernandez 132 Ali Carter 128 Michael Holt 127 John Higgins 120 Anthony Hamilton 116, 100 Mark Williams 110 Paul Hunter 109, 104 Ronnie O'Sullivan 109 Alan McManus 101, 101 Marco Fu

References