The Best Matches in Snooker World Championship History
The list of great Snooker World Championship matches grows longer each year as the quality on show at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre pushes new boundaries.
Snooker betting on the 2025 World Championship is already underway and punters are eagerly looking forward to some classic matchups on the South Yorkshire baize.
But what are the best Snooker World Championship matches in history – the ones that truly stand out from the rest?
Well, BetMGM is here to show you. From Steve Davis’ black-ball heartbreak to Ronnie O’Sullivan’s erratic semi-final masterclass, here are the best snooker matches of all time from the World Championship.
Steve Davis vs Dennis Taylor – 1985: Final
- Date: 27-28 April 1985
- Score: Taylor 18-17 Davis
- Highest break: 98 Taylor
- Century breaks: None
The 1985 Snooker World Championship final is considered the greatest of all time – not because of the quality of attacking snooker but because of the dramatic end. World No 1 Steve Davis was seeking a fourth championship crown against the unfancied Dennis Taylor.
Davis took an 8-0 lead but Taylor rallied and was in contention heading into the final session. Davis needed to win just one of the last three frames to be crowned champion but Taylor clung on with breaks of 75 and 57 to force a decider. The championship famously came down to the black ball. Both missed shots to win the title before Taylor slotted home a simple pot to end the game at almost 12:30am.
Neither player managed a single century break throughout the final. It was fraught with errors and testy snookers. Had it not been for the tense final session and black ball finish, the 1985 final would have gone down as one for the purists and not attracted anywhere near the 18.5 million TV viewers it did.
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs John Higgins – 2001: Final
- Date: 6-7 May 2001
- Score: O’Sullivan 18-14 Higgins
- Highest break: 139 O’Sullivan
- Century breaks: 4 (O’Sullivan 2, Higgins 2)
The early 2000s was a feverish time in snooker as players sought to fill the vacuum left by perpetual-champion Stephen Hendry's drop in form. Ronnie O’Sullivan had reached three World Championship semi-finals in his burgeoning career but it was finally time to step out of Hendry's shadow. In his way was John Higgins, the 1998 champion who was also looking to profit from Hendry's decline.
The Rocket executed an aggressive attacking game, charging into a 4-1 lead that he wouldn't surrender. Higgins kept the pace but could never truly close the gap. O’Sullivan mixed rapid-fire potting with some smart safety play to keep his opponent guessing. It was a true display of mercurial snooker that we've come to love from him.
In the end, O’Sullivan won it with a 80–45 victory in the 32nd frame. His high point was a three-frame unanswered charge of 139–0, 85–0, 133–0 that knocked the confidence out of Higgins.
Stephen Hendry vs Jimmy White – 1994: Final
- Date: 1-2 May 1994
- Score: Hendry 18-17 White
- Highest break: 116 White
- Century breaks: 1 (White 1)
Jimmy White was the people's champion of snooker and the player millions of fans gravitated towards when Alex Higgins faded from the sport. White was a raw talent and incredibly entertaining to watch. Stephen Hendry, on the other hand, was a calculated, sharp snooker player in the guise of Steve Davis. He was there to win, not entertain.
White played Hendry in four World Snooker Championship finals. He lost all four and is considered one of the best snooker players never to win a World Championship.
His last final – in 1994 – was also his sixth and would be his most galling defeat. After trailing 5-1, White bounced back and led 11-9 at one stage. He and Hendry then traded frames right the way up to 17-17.
There was only one century break in a tense encounter that was decided in the last frame when White, leading 37-24, missed a simple black and opened the gate for Hendry to sweep up.
Mark Williams vs John Higgins – 2018: Final
- Date: 7-6 May 2018
- Score: Williams 18-16 Higgins
- Highest break: 131 Higgins
- Century breaks: 6 (Higgins 4, Williams 2)
Two old timers met in the Crucible final of 2018 when Mark Williams – seeking his first World Championship crown since 2003 – faced '98, '07, '09 and '11 champion John Higgins. It was billed as a battle of the veterans but contested with the sort of youthful vigour that snooker was crying out for.
Williams had said before the tournament that he'd parade around the Crucible naked if he won a third world crown. That looked eminently possible as he reached the final after beating Barry Hawkins 17-15.
Williams looked to be in control against Higgins as he strolled into a 14-7 lead that included three century breaks. Higgins rallied, however, and won five straight frames in the fourth session to draw level at 15-15. It was a tense match where slip-ups proved costly but, at 16-15, Williams delivered a scintillating century break to put the championship within his grasp.
Higgins won a tense penultimate frame after Williams missed a pink that would have secured the title. Yet the Welshman wasn't to be denied as, in the 34th frame, he delivered a steady break of 69 to win the tournament. He held his post-match press conference wearing nothing but a towel as he kept his pre-tournament promise.
Alex Higgins vs Jimmy White – 1982: Semi-Final
- Date: 12, 13 & 14 May 1982
- Score: Higgins 16-15 White
- Highest break: 89 White
- Century breaks: None
Jimmy White's first World Snooker Championship final came in 1984 when he lost 18-16 to Steve Davis in a cracker at the Crucible. Two years earlier, though, titans collided on the baize as a young White came up against arguably the greatest snooker player of all time: Alex Higgins.
Played over three days, their 1982 semi-final had the hallmarks of a classic from the start. It swung back and forth with both players going for big shots that wowed the crowd. There was no room for safety play – nor was there room for error.
Indeed, the match is famous for Higgins' remarkable 69 break when losing 15-14 in the penultimate frame. White recalled years later that Higgins was steaming drunk but still had the poise to waltz around the table and clear up. Higgins won that frame and then the last 96-16 (with another break of 69) to reach the final. It would be Higgins' last final appearance and last last world title.
Mark Selby vs Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2020: Semi Final
- Date: 12, 13 & 14 August
- Score: O’Sullivan 17-16 Selby
- Highest break: 138 O’Sullivan
- Century breaks: 2 (O’Sullivan 2)
Snooker was one of the first sports to return to action during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 World Championship gave the country a real lift. The sport's biggest names were raring to go by mid-summer and wasted no time at all ploughing through the early rounds.
Top seed Judd Trump, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams and Mark Selby all had their eyes on the prize. The semi-finals proved to be the high watermark of the summer, as Kyren Wilson beat Anthony McGill 17-16, before O'Sullivan inflicted the same scoreline on Selby.
Wilson edged McGill with some exceptional safety play in the final two frames. O'Sullivan escaped from the same traps but in a controversial manner. Having trailed from the 11th frame to the 26th, and then falling 16-15 behind, O'Sullivan threw caution to the wind. He blasted the cue ball around when played into tricky positions, and with a slice of luck wriggled out of every trap Selby laid.
The Rocket drew level at 16-16 with a 74-0 frame that included a 71 break, before winning the last frame 81-34. Some might call his style reckless but others loved his willingness to throw the dice. O'Sullivan beat Wilson 18-8 in the final.
Stuart Bingham vs Stephen Hendry – 2000: First Round
- Date: 15 April 2001
- Score: Bingham 10-7 Hendry
- Highest break: 106 Hendry
- Century breaks: 1 (Hendry 1)
Stuart Bingham was a young upstart when he took to the baize to face seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry in the first round of the 2000 World Snooker Championship. The bookies had Hendry as the sure favourite to cruise through. He was the defending champion after all.
Bingham, meanwhile, had never reached the first round. This should have been a breeze for the Scot. Yet Hendry was bang out of form heading to Sheffield and was blown away by Bingham's best career performance up to that point.
Bingham won 10-7 and stole a lead on the contest in the fifth frame that he wouldn't relinquish. He nailed eight 50+ breaks and won the last frame 116-0. It was a whirlwind display from the Basildon man, who then lost 13-9 to Jimmy White in the next round. Bingham would have to wait 13 years to go further than round two at the Crucible and, in 2015, he won the title when beating Shaun Murphy 18-15 in the final.
Yet his first-round win over Hendry way back in 2000 is arguably more memorable and certainly one of most surprising World Snooker matches ever witnessed in Sheffield.
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