The 2023 WST Classic was a professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

tournament that took place from 16 to 22 March 2023 at the Morningside Arena in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, England. It was the 13th ranking event of the 2022–23 season and the inaugural staging of the WST Classic, which the

World Snooker Tour The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, ...

added to the calendar midway through the season to replace the cancelled 2023 Turkish Masters. The last qualifying event before the 2023 Tour Championship, the tournament was streamed on Matchroom.live in all territories apart from China, Hong Kong, and Thailand, where it was carried by local broadcasters. The winner received £80,000 from a total prize fund of £427,000. Pang Junxu reached the first ranking final of his career, where he faced

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player. Ranked List of world number one snooker players, world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 24 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the all ...

. Competing in his home city, Selby defeated Pang 6–2 to win his 22nd ranking title. There were 88

century break In snooker, a century break (also century, sometimes called a ton) is a of 100 points or more, compiled in one to the table. A century break requires potting at least 25 consecutive balls, and the ability to score centuries is regarded as a m ...

s made during the event.

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player who is a former List of World Snooker Championship winners, world champion and the current List of world number one snooker players, world number one. He is currently in ...

made his 900th

in professional competition during his first-round match against

David Lilley David William Lilley (born 31 October 1977) is a Scottish former professional footballer who usually plays at centre back but has also played at right back. Lilley was most recently the manager of Bellshill Athletic in the Scottish Junior Foo ...

, becoming the third player—after

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a m ...

and

John Higgins John Higgins (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player from Wishaw in North Lanarkshire. Since turning professional in 1992, he has won 33 ranking titles, placing him in third position on the List of snooker players by num ...

—to reach that milestone. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made the highest break of the tournament, a

maximum break A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a onefourseven) is the highest possible in snooker in normal circumstances and is a special type of . A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, fo ...

in the fifth frame of his last-64 match against Xu Si. This was Un-Nooh's fourth competitive maximum break.

Format

The tournament featured 128 players. The top 64 players in the

snooker world rankings The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine their qualification and seeding for events on the World Snooker Tour and other tournaments, as well as their future professional status on th ...

after the Players Championship were seeded in the draw, with the remaining 64 players drawn at random against them. Matches were played as the best of seven up to and including the quarter-finals. The semi-finals were played over the best of nine frames. The final was played over the best of 11 frames. The last three rounds were all played on the final day.

Prize fund

The event featured a prize fund of £427,000, with the winner receiving £80,000. The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below: * Winner: £80,000 * Runner-up: £35,000 * Semi-final: £17,500 * Quarter-final: £11,000 * Last 16: £7,500 * Last 32: £4,500 * Last 64: £3,000 * Highest break: £5,000 * Total: £427,000

Tournament draw

Top half

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Bottom half

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Finals

Final

Century breaks

A total of 88 century breaks were made during the event. * 147, 115 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh * 143, 140

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murp ...

* 141, 123 Daniel Wells * 140 Mark Joyce * 139 Pang Junxu * 138, 138, 120, 105, 104

* 138, 130, 104 Xu Si * 137, 104

* 137

Stephen Maguire Stephen Maguire (born 13 March 1981) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won six major ranking tournaments, including the 2004 UK Championship, and has twice since reached the finals of that event. Maguire turned professional in ...

* 136, 135, 126, 126, 121, 102

* 136

Andrew Higginson Andrew Higginson (born 13 December 1977) is an English professional snooker player from Widnes, Cheshire. He is best known for being the surprise finalist of the 2007 Welsh Open (snooker), 2007 Welsh Open. Career Early years After some succ ...

* 135, 135, 121, 107, 103 Gary Wilson * 135, 104, 103 Hossein Vafaei * 135

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He ...

* 133

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 15 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (2005 ...

* 132

Jimmy White James Warren White (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player who has won ten ranking events. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, White has reached six World Snooker Championship finals ...

* 131, 113

* 131 Jamie Jones * 131 Andrew Pagett * 130 Graeme Dott * 129, 112

Barry Hawkins Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979) is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championship, ...

* 129, 106, 101

Ali Carter Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been a World Championship finalist, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won six ranking titles and briefly reached number t ...

* 129, 101

Jack Lisowski Jack Lisowski (born 25 June 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Churchdown, Gloucestershire. He turned professional in 2010 by finishing first in the 2009/2010 International Open Series, PIOS rankings. A left-handed player, he ...

* 128, 102, 102

Zhou Yuelong Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open. Career Between 2 ...

* 128 John J. Astley * 127

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched Tom Ford (brand), his eponymous brand in 2005, having previously been the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves Sai ...

* 126

Noppon Saengkham Noppon Saengkham (; born 15 July 1992) is a Thai professional snooker player. Since turning professional in 2010, he has reached one ranking final (the 2023 Scottish Open) in which he finished as runner-up to Gary Wilson. Career Early years I ...

* 123 Si Jiahui * 122

Xiao Guodong Xiao Guodong (; born 10 February 1989) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He turned professional in 2007 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championships. He won his first ranking event 17 years after first turning professional at the 202 ...

* 120, 118, 117 Lyu Haotian * 120 David Grace * 115, 113

Haydon Pinhey Haydon Pinhey is an English professional snooker player from Devon. He has earned a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour starting with the 2024–25 snooker season. Early life From Plymouth, Devon. Pinhey attended Sir John Hunt Community S ...

* 115, 103

Chris Wakelin Chris Wakelin (born 16 March 1992) is an English professional snooker player from Rugby, Warwickshire. He turned professional in 2013 and won his first ranking title at the 2023 Snooker Shoot Out. Career Early career Wakelin started playing s ...

* 113, 100 David Gilbert * 110 Jackson Page * 109, 100

Stuart Bingham Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former World Champion and Masters winner. Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his pro ...

* 109 Lukas Kleckers * 109

Matthew Selt Matthew Selt (born 7 March 1985) is an English professional snooker player. He qualified for the professional tour by finishing seventh in the Pontin's International Open Series in 2006/2007. Selt played in his first professional final in 2014 ...

* 107 Anton Kazakov * 107

Ben Mertens Ben Mertens (born 13 October 2004) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championships in 2018. Career Ben Mertens is from Wetteren. When he was 12 years old, he reached the 2nd round of the 2017 EBSA ...

* 105, 101

Kyren Wilson Kyren James Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering. He has won 10 ranking titles. Wilson made his professional tour debut in the 2010–11 snooker season, 2010–11 season after finishing fif ...

* 105 Jenson Kendrick * 104, 103 Jamie Clarke * 104 Anthony Hamilton * 103, 100

Neil Robertson Neil Alexander Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player, who is a former List of World Snooker Championship winners, world champion and former List of world number one snooker players, world number one. He ...

* 102 Mark Davis * 101 James Cahill * 101 Dechawat Poomjaeng * 100 Fan Zhengyi * 100 Liam Highfield * 100

Yuan Sijun Yuan Sijun (; born 29 May 2000) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Career Yuan started to play snooker at the age of 10 and played as a wildcard in many professional tournaments between ages of 13 and 16. Yuan first drew attention in 201 ...

Notes

References

{{2022–23 snooker season WST Classic WST Classic WST Classic Snooker competitions in England Sport in Leicester