Dates 17–23 June 2013 Country China Format Ranking event | City Wuxi Organisation(s) WPBSA | |
Venue Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium | ||
The 2013 Sports Lottery Cup Wuxi Classic was a professional ranking snooker tournament held between 17–23 June 2013 at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in Wuxi, China. It was the first ranking event of the 2013/2014 season.
Contents
The tournament was the first to use the new format, similar to the one used in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events, where every player, including members of the top 16, started in the first round. Some of the sport's biggest names did not reach the tournament's final stage. Reigning world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrew for personal reasons shortly before his qualifying match against Michael Wasley. World number one Mark Selby lost his qualifying match 3–5 to Andrew Pagett. World number four Shaun Murphy also exited the tournament at the qualifying stage, losing 1–5 to Alex Davies.
Nine-time women's world champion Reanne Evans defeated Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5–4 in her qualifying match to become the first woman ever to reach the final stages of a major professional ranking tournament. Evans was chosen as one of four players to play against local opponents in the wildcard round, and she lost 2–5 against Chinese teenager Zhu Yinghui.
Ricky Walden was the defending champion, but he lost 2–5 against Jimmy White in the last 64.
Neil Robertson won his eighth ranking title by defeating John Higgins 10–7 in the final. Robertson also made the 98th official maximum break during his qualifying match against Mohamed Khairy. This was Robertson's second 147 break and the first in the 2013/2014 season.
Prize fund
The total prize money of the event was raised to £470,000 from the previous year's £400,000. This is £45,000 more than what was announced in 2012. The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:
Wildcard round
These matches were played in Wuxi on 17 June 2013.
Qualifying
These matches were held between 27 and 29 May 2013 at The Capital Venue in Gloucester, England. All matches were best of 9 frames.