1994 World Snooker Championship
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The 1994 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1994 Embassy World Snooker Championship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 16 April and 2 May 1994 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
Stephen Hendry won his fourth world title by defeating Jimmy White 18–17 in the final. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.
Overview
Prize fund
The winner of the event received £180,000 from a total prize fund of £1,068,000. The breakdown of prize money is shown below:
- Winner: £180,000
- Runner-up: £110,000
- Semi-final: £55,000
- Quarter-final: £27,500
- Last 16: £15,000
- Last 32: £8,500
- Last 48: £6,000
- Last 64: £4,000
- Last 96: £1,750
- Last 128: £1,000
- Last 192: £600
- Stage one highest break: £5,000
- Stage two highest break: £15,400
- Stage two maximum break: £100,000
- Total: £1,068,000
Summary
First round
The first round took place from 16 to 21 April, each match played as the best of 19 frames over two sessions.
Two-time world champion Alex Higgins qualified for the championship for the last time, losing 6–10 in the first round to Ken Doherty.
Cliff Thorburn, another former champion making his final World Championship appearance, lost 9–10 in the first round to Nigel Bond after leading 9–2.
18-year-old Ronnie O'Sullivan knocked out 1985 champion Dennis Taylor, who was also making his final appearance at the World Championship. O'Sullivan won their first-round match 10–6, his first victory at the Crucible after losing in the first round on his debut the previous year.
Second round
The second round took place from 21 to 25 April, each match played as the best of 25 frames over three sessions.
Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals took place on 26 and 27 April, each match played as the best of 25 frames over three sessions.
Semi-finals
The semi-finals took place from 28 to 30 April, played as the best of 31 frames over four sessions.
Hendry sealed his position as world number one with a 16–9 semi-final victory over Steve Davis. This was Davis' eleventh and last appearance in a World Championship semi-final.
Final
The best-of-35-frame final took place over four sessions on 1 and 2 May between Hendry and White.
Hendry won his third consecutive world title and his fourth in five years. This achievement was all the more remarkable because he played every match after the first round with a broken elbow.
This was Jimmy White's fifth consecutive final appearance, his fourth against Hendry, and his sixth overall. The match went to a deciding frame; White had a great chance to win his first World title when leading 37–24 and only needing a handful of pots to win the title but missed a black off the spot, and Hendry cleared up to clinch the title. This was White's last appearance in a World Championship final and the closest he ever came to winning the tournament.
Main draw
Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).
| Frame | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final: (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 1 & 2 May 1994 Referee: John Williams | |||||||||||
| Stephen Hendry (SCO) (1) | 18–17 | Jimmy White (ENG) (3) | |||||||||
| Session 1: 5–2 | |||||||||||
| Hendry | 7 | 64† | 89† (50) | 68† | 93† (80) | 76† (76) | 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| White | 94† (60) | 52 | 0 | 21 | 24 | 0 | 85† (63) | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Session 2: 2–7 (7–9) | |||||||||||
| Frame | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| Hendry | 68 (57) | 42 | 29 | 15 | 37 | 71† (63) | 59 | 94† (66) | 15 | N/A | N/A |
| White | 70† | 85† (58) | 72† (61) | 110† (58) | 84† | 54 (54) | 60† | 27 | 64† | N/A | N/A |
| Session 3: 5–3 (12–12) | |||||||||||
| Frame | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| Hendry | 71† | 89† (89) | 0 | 25 | 73† (53) | 88† (87) | 53 | 72† (52) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| White | 26 | 0 | 77† (77) | 69† | 4 | 13 | 64† | 34 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Session 4: 6–5 (18–17) | |||||||||||
| Frame | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| Hendry | 56 | 68† | 66† | 67† | 0 | 72† | 66 (51) | 66 | 68† | 0 | 82† (58) |
| White | 61† | 31 | 34 | 34 | 116† (116) | 39 | 71† | 67† | 0 | 85† (75) | 37 |
| 89 | Highest break | 116 | |||||||||
| 0 | Century breaks | 1 | |||||||||
| 12 | 50+ breaks | 9 | |||||||||
| Stephen Hendry wins the 1994 World Snooker Championship Breaks over 50 are shown in parentheses. † = Winner of frame |
Century breaks
A total of 35 century breaks were made during the main stage of the tournament, tying the record with the 1993 tournament. The highest break of the tournament was 143 made by Alan McManus in the first round. The highest break of the qualifying stage was 143 made by Karl Payne.
| 143, 105, 102 – Alan McManus 139, 102 – Martin Clark 139 – Cliff Thorburn 137 – Billy Snaddon 134, 108 – Brian Morgan 134, 101 – Steve Davis 133, 112 – Drew Henry 132 – John Parrott 124, 120, 120, 109, 100 – Stephen Hendry | 124 – Peter Ebdon 119, 100 – Ken Doherty 118, 100 – Fergal O'Brien 118 – Willie Thorne 116, 112, 108, 107, 103 – Jimmy White 115, 107, 100 – Darren Morgan 114 – Dene O'Kane 100 – James Wattana |
Books
- Downer, Chris (2026). Crucible Almanac. 2025 edition. Bournemouth.
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