The 2021 English Open (also known as the BetVictor English Open, for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...

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

tournament that took place from 1–7 November 2021 at the

Marshall Arena The Marshall Arena (formerly known as Arena MK, also Milton Keynes Arena) is a multi-purpose arena in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, located beside Stadium MK. The multi-use event space is positioned over three floors and anticipates m ...

in Milton Keynes, England. It was the fourth

event of the 2021–22 season, and the second event in both the

Home Nations Series The Home Nations Series is a snooker tournament series in the four home nations of the United Kingdom. It began in the 2016–17 snooker season, combining two existing tournaments, the Scottish Open and Welsh Open, with two newly created tournam ...

and the

European Series The BetVictor European Series is a snooker tournament series established in 2019. It was expanded from four tournaments in the 2019–20 season to six tournaments in the 2020–21 season and then to eight tournaments in the 2021–22 season and ...

. Qualifying for the tournament took place from 17 to 22 September 2021 at the

Metrodome The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (commonly called the Metrodome) was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It opened in 1982 as a replacement for Metropolitan Stadium, the former home of the National Football League' ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

, England, although matches involving the top 16 players, and two other matches involving English wildcards, were held over and played at the

. The event was broadcast on

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

across the United Kingdom and Europe.

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player, a former world champion and former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport's most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranki ...

was the defending champion, having defeated

Neil Robertson Neil Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player who is a former world champion and former world number one. The only Australian to have won a ranking event, he is also the only player from outside the United ...

9–8 in the previous year's final. Trump lost 3–5 to Mark King in the quarter-finals. Robertson faced

John Higgins John Higgins, (born 18 May 1975) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has won 31 career ranking titles, placing him in third position on the all-time list of ranking event winners, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (39) and Stephen Hendry ( ...

in the final. Although Robertson led 5–3 after the afternoon session, Higgins won the first four frames of the evening session to lead 7–5, and then moved within one frame of victory at 8–6. However, Robertson won the last three frames to defeat Higgins 9–8 and claim the 21st ranking title of his professional career. He became the third player, after Trump and

Mark Selby Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983) is an English professional snooker player, who is a four-time World Snooker Champion. Ranked world number one on multiple occasions, he has won a total of 21 ranking titles, placing him eighth on the ...

, to win three Home Nations Series titles. He also became the first player to win three different tournaments in the series, having previously won the Scottish Open and the Welsh Open. Higgins sustained his second successive defeat from 8–6 ahead in a best-of-17 ranking final. He had lost the 2021 Northern Ireland Open final to

Mark Allen Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

under similar circumstances the previous month.

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below: * Winner: £70,000 * Runner-up: £30,000 * Semi-final: £20,000 * Quarter-final: £10,000 * Last 16: £7,500 * Last 32: £4,000 * Last 64: £3,000 * Highest break: £5,000 * Total: £405,000

Main draw

Top half

Bottom half

Final

Qualifying

Qualification for the tournament took place from 17 to 22 September 2021 at the

, England. Matches which involved the top 16 players and two wildcard nominations were held over and played at the

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 ...

and Zhang Jiankang were withdrawn from the event due to being identified as a close contact of a positive

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

case; they were replaced by

Ross Muir Ross Muir (born 6 October 1995 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former professional snooker player. He regularly wears a glove on his bridge hand. Muir turned professional in 2013 after graduating from event two of the Q School, defeating David Mor ...

and

Bai Langning Bai Langning (, born 17 April 2002) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Bai is one of eight Chinese players currently suspended from the professional tour amid a match-fixing investigation. Career Early career Bai Langning was born in J ...

respectively. Separately,

Lei Peifan Lei Peifan (; born 31 May 2003) is a Chinese former professional snooker player. Career In May 2019, Lei came through Q School on the overall Order of Merit to earn a two-year card on the World Snooker Tour for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 ...

withdrew and was replaced by James Cahill. Cahill won his qualifying match but then he had to withdraw due to a positive

test. Mark Williams was also withdrawn from the event after testing positive for

in October; he was replaced by Mark Lloyd. Teenage amateurs Paul Deaville and Oliver Sykes played in their first professional events after receiving an invite from WST. * (1) 4–1 Match was held over and played in Milton Keynes. * 4–0 * (32) 4–2 * 3–4 * (16) 4–1 * 4–1 * 4–1 * 4–3 * 4–2 * (24) 4–0 * 4–0 * (9) 3–4 * 4–2 * (25) 4–1 * 4–1 * 0–4 * (5) 4–0 * 4–2 * (28) 4–2 * 4–0 * (12) 4–1 * 2–4 * (21) 2–4 * 4–0 * 1–4 * (20) 4–2 * 4–0 * (13) 4–1 * 4–1 * (29) 4–0 * 4–2 * (4) 4–0 * (3) 4–1 * 1–4 * (30) 2–4 * 4–2 * (14) 3–4 * 4–2 * (19) 4–0 * 3–4 * 4–1 * (22) 4–1 * 4–2 * (11) 1–4 * 1–4 * (27) 1–4 * 4–1 * (6) 4–3 * (7) 4–1 * 4–0 * (26) 3–4 * 1–4 * (10) 4–1 * 0–4 * (23) 4–0 * 3–4 * 3–4 * (18) 4–2 * 4–1 * (15) 4–1 * 1–4 * (31) 3–4 * 4–0 * (2) 4–2

Notes

Century breaks

Main stage centuries

Total: 45 * 141, 135

Chris Wakelin Chris Wakelin (born 16 March 1992) is an English professional snooker player from Rugby, Warwickshire. He practices in Bar 8 in Rugby. Career Early career Wakelin started playing snooker aged 8, when his parents Mark and Angie bought him his ...

* 140, 126, 123, 120, 111, 106, 104, 101

* 138

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. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight Cue stick, cue action and his lo ...

* 138

Zhao Xintong Zhao Xintong (; born 3 April 1997) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Long considered one of the brightest talents in the game, he won his first ranking title (also his first Triple Crown title) at the 2021 UK Championship, defeating Luc ...

* 136

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

* 135, 117, 110, 102, 100

Kyren Wilson Kyren Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering and a five-time ranking event winner. He has been a runner-up at two of the three Triple Crown events, having reached the final at both the 2018 ...

* 129, 127, 123, 120, 119, 108, 108, 103

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

* 128 Gary Wilson * 127

Ali Carter Allister Carter (born 25 July 1979) is an English professional snooker player. He has twice been the World Championship runner-up, in 2008 and 2012, losing both finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He has won four ranking titles and briefly reached numb ...

* 120

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. Career 2007–2010 Xiao appeared as a wildcard in the 2007 China Open, and beat t ...

* 119, 104, 103

* 115, 105

Martin Gould Martin Gould (born 14 September 1981) is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He has appeared in four ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Career Gould began his prof ...

* 114

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

* 111, 104

* 111

Ben Woollaston Ben Woollaston (born 14 May 1987) is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. His sole professional title came at the minor-ranking third Players Tour Championship event in 2011. Woollaston's only ranking event final came at the ...

* 109, 101 David Gilbert * 105

Chang Bingyu Chang Bingyu (; born 8 August 2002) is a Chinese professional snooker player. Chang is one of ten Chinese players currently suspended from the professional tour amid a match-fixing investigation. In January 2023, the WPBSA charged him with fi ...

* 103 Jamie Clarke * 102

* 101

Luca Brecel Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the European Under-19 title at the age of 14 and went on to break Stephen Hendry's record as the youngest player ever to compete at the Crucible Theatre. He made hi ...

* 100

Qualifying stage centuries

Total: 23 * 146

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 Championsh ...

* 139, 123, 105

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (, ; born 18 April 1985) is a Thai professional snooker player. He has won one ranking event, the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out, and finished as runner-up in the 2019 World Open. He is regarded as one of the fastest snooker playe ...

* 135

* 129

* 126

Ricky Walden Ricky Walden (born 11 November 1982) is an English professional snooker player from Chester. Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters. He has since won the 2012 Wuxi ...

* 125

Cao Yupeng Cao Yupeng (; born 27 October 1990) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He won the 2011 Asian Under-21 Championship, thus qualifying for the professional main tour for the 2011–12 season. In his first season on the circuit, he reached ...

* 113

Mark Joyce Mark Joyce (born 11 August 1983) is an English professional snooker player who lives in Walsall. He began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003. Joyce enjoyed an outstanding amateur career, winning the European Under-19 Cham ...

* 113

* 111

Alexander Ursenbacher Alexander Ursenbacher (born 26 April 1996) is a Swiss professional snooker player from Rheinfelden. He is Switzerland's first professional snooker player (former professional Darren Paris represented England, in the mid-1990s, before moving to S ...

* 109

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 wo ...

* 109

* 108 Jimmy Robertson * 107 David Gilbert * 106

* 106

* 104

Stuart Carrington Stuart Carrington (born 14 May 1990) is an English professional snooker player. He practises frequently with Steven Hallworth and Ian Glover in Grimsby. In May 2011, Carrington qualified for the 2011–12 professional Main Tour as one of fou ...

* 104 Anthony Hamilton * 101

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

* 101 Gary Wilson * 100

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:English Open, 2021

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

2021 in English sport

English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

Home Nations Series European Series Sport in Milton Keynes