2001 Welsh Open (snooker)

For the Darts tournament of the same name, see Welsh Open (darts).

The 2001 Welsh Open (officially the 2001 Regal Welsh Open) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 24 and 28 January 2001 at the Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

2001 Regal Welsh Open

Tournament information
Dates	24–28 January 2001 (2001-01-24 – 2001-01-28)
Venue	Cardiff International Arena
City	Cardiff
Country	Wales
Organisation	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£440,200
Winner's share	£62,000
Highest break	Alan McManus (SCO) (140)
Final
Champion	Ken Doherty (IRL)
Runner-up	Paul Hunter (ENG)
Score	9–2
← 2000 2002 →

John Higgins was the defending champion, but he lost his quarter-final match against Stephen Lee.

Ken Doherty defeated Paul Hunter 9–2 in the final to win his fourth ranking title.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[1]

• Winner: £62,000
• Runner-up: £33,000
• Semi-finalists: £16,500
• Quarter-finalists: £9,400
• Last 16: £4,800
• Last 32: £3,900
• Last 48: £3,100
• Last 64: £2,400
• Last 96: £1,550
• Last 128: £950
• Highest break (televised): £5,000
• Highest break (untelevised): £1,000
• Total: £440,200

Tournament summary

Defending champion John Higgins was the number 1 seed with World Champion Mark Williams seeded 2. The remaining places were allocated to players based on the world rankings.

Main draw

	Round 1 Best of 9 frames					Last 16 Best of 9 frames					Quarter Final Best of 9 frames					Semi Final Best of 11 frames					Final Best of 17 frames
	1	John Higgins	5
	21	Chris Small	1
						1	John Higgins	5
						12	Peter Ebdon	3
	12	Peter Ebdon	5
		Noppadon Noppachorn	1
											1	John Higgins	1
											5	Stephen Lee	5
	9	Fergal O'Brien	5
	53	Gary Ponting	4
						9	Fergal O'Brien	3
						5	Stephen Lee	5
	5	Stephen Lee	5
	40	Anthony Davies	3
																5	Stephen Lee	3
																14	Paul Hunter	6
	6	Matthew Stevens	4
	31	Joe Perry	5
						31	Joe Perry	4
						14	Paul Hunter	5
	14	Paul Hunter	5
		Nick Walker	0
											14	Paul Hunter	5
											16	Joe Swail	2
	16	Joe Swail	5
	33	Jamie Burnett	3
						16	Joe Swail	5
						4	Ronnie O'Sullivan	4
	4	Ronnie O'Sullivan	5
	19	Graeme Dott	3
																					14	Paul Hunter	2
																					7	Ken Doherty	9
	3	Stephen Hendry	5
	52	David Gray	3
						3	Stephen Hendry	5
						15	Marco Fu	3
	15	Marco Fu	5
		Wayne Brown	1
											3	Stephen Hendry	3
											7	Ken Doherty	5
	11	Anthony Hamilton	3
	32	Quinten Hann	5
						32	Quinten Hann	3
						7	Ken Doherty	5
	7	Ken Doherty	5
	20	Dominic Dale	3
																7	Ken Doherty	6
																2	Mark Williams	3
	8	Alan McManus	5
	62	Michael Holt	0
						8	Alan McManus	5
						29	Drew Henry	3
	10	John Parrott	3
	29	Drew Henry	5
											8	Alan McManus	4
											2	Mark Williams	5
	13	Dave Harold	3
	22	Mark King	5
						22	Mark King	1
						2	Mark Williams	5
	2	Mark Williams	5
	23	Nigel Bond	3

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames. Referee: Graham Harding. Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff, Wales, 28 January 2001.[2]
Paul Hunter (14)  England	2–9	Ken Doherty (7)  Ireland
Afternoon: 1–63, 76–1 (68), 23–77 (71), 59–0, 56–62 (52), 5–57, 51–73, 13–129 (125) Evening: 44–72, 8–99 (56), 36–85 (69)
68	Highest break	125
0	Century breaks	1
1	50+ breaks	5