2008 Malta Cup

Malta Cup

Tournament information
Dates	4–10 February 2008
Venue	Hilton Conference Center
City	Portomaso
Country	Malta
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Non-ranking event
Highest break	137
Final
Champion	Shaun Murphy
Runner-up	Ken Doherty
Score	9–3
← 2007 Last →

The 2008 Malta Cup professional non-ranking snooker tournament took place between 4 and 10 February 2008, at the Hilton Conference Center, Portomaso, Malta.

The Gambling Commission looked at allegations of match-fixing during the round-robin stage of the tournament.^[1]

Shaun Murphy won the title by defeating Ken Doherty 9–3 in the final.

Group stage

Group matches were played over 6 frames. A win was worth 2 points and a tie 1 point. The top player from each group qualified to the semi-finals.^[2][3]

Group 1

POS Player MP MW MT ML FW FL FD PTS 1 John Higgins 4 3 1 0 18 6 +12 7 2 Joe Perry 4 2 1 1 12 12 0 5 3 Ryan Day 4 1 2 1 12 12 0 4 4 Allister Carter 4 1 1 2 12 12 0 3 5 Alex Borg 4 0 1 3 6 18 −12 1

John Higgins 6–0 Alex Borg Joe Perry 3–3 Ryan Day John Higgins 4–2 Ryan Day Ali Carter 5–1 Alex Borg Joe Perry 4–2 Alex Borg John Higgins 3–3 Ali Carter Joe Perry 4–2 Ali Carter Ryan Day 3–3 Alex Borg John Higgins 5–1 Joe Perry Ali Carter 2–4 Ryan Day

Group 2

POS Player MP MW MT ML FW FL FD PTS 1 Ken Doherty 4 4 0 0 18 6 +12 8 2 Marco Fu 4 2 1 1 15 9 +6 5 3 Neil Robertson 4 2 1 1 13 11 +2 5 4 Stephen Lee 4 1 0 3 9 15 −6 2 5 Joe Swail 4 0 0 4 5 19 −14 0

Ken Doherty 4–2 Marco Fu Neil Robertson 5–1 Stephen Lee Ken Doherty 4–2 Stephen Lee Joe Swail 1–5 Marco Fu Ken Doherty 5–1 Joe Swail Neil Robertson 3–3 Marco Fu Neil Robertson 4–2 Joe Swail Stephen Lee 1–5 Marco Fu Ken Doherty 5–1 Neil Robertson Joe Swail 1–5 Stephen Lee

Group 3

POS Player MP MW MT ML FW FL FD PTS 1 Shaun Murphy 4 4 0 0 19 5 +14 8 2 Stephen Hendry 4 2 1 1 12 12 0 5 3 Stephen Maguire 4 1 2 1 12 12 +0 4 4 Mark Selby 4 1 1 2 11 13 −2 3 5 Tony Drago 4 0 0 4 6 18 −12 0

Shaun Murphy 6–0 Tony Drago Stephen Hendry 4–2 Mark Selby Stephen Maguire 4–2 Tony Drago Shaun Murphy 4–2 Mark Selby Stephen Hendry 4–2 Tony Drago Shaun Murphy 4–2 Stephen Maguire Mark Selby 4–2 Tony Drago Stephen Hendry 3–3 Stephen Maguire Shaun Murphy 5–1 Stephen Hendry Stephen Maguire 3–3 Mark Selby

Group 4

POS Player MP MW MT ML FW FL FD PTS 1 Ding Junhui 4 3 1 0 17 7 +10 7 2 Dominic Dale 4 3 0 1 14 10 +4 6 3 Peter Ebdon 4 1 1 2 11 13 −2 3 4 Mark Williams 4 1 1 2 9 15 −6 3 5 Graeme Dott 4 0 1 3 9 15 −6 1

Graeme Dott 2–4 Dominic Dale Peter Ebdon 2–4 Ding Junhui Graeme Dott 3–3 Ding Junhui Mark Williams 2–4 Dominic Dale Graeme Dott 2–4 Mark Williams Peter Ebdon 2–4 Dominic Dale Mark Williams 3–3 Peter Ebdon Ding Junhui 4–2 Dominic Dale Graeme Dott 2–4 Peter Ebdon Mark Williams 0–6 Ding Junhui

Knock-out stage

^[2][3]

	Semi-finals Best of 11 frames					Final Best of 17 frames
		John Higgins	2
		Ken Doherty	6
							Ken Doherty	3
							Shaun Murphy	9
		Shaun Murphy	6
		Ding Junhui	5

Final

Final: Best of 17 frames Hilton Conference Center, Portomaso, Malta, 10 February 2008.[2][3]
Ken Doherty  Ireland	3–9	Shaun Murphy  England
Afternoon: 91–1 (91), 24–57, 36–78, 8–100, 22–87, 75–44, 0–67, 39–56 Evening: 0–110 (75), 66–34, 30–74, 0–76 (76)
91	Highest break	76
0	Century breaks	0
1	50+ breaks	2

Century breaks

^[3]

• 137, 110, 104 Shaun Murphy
• 134, 127, 118 Ken Doherty
• 129, 100 Ali Carter
• 128, 103 Peter Ebdon
• 127, 125, 125, 123, 106 Ding Junhui
• 127, 110, 101 Mark Selby
• 116, 107 Neil Robertson
• 113 Ryan Day
• 108, 106, 101 Marco Fu
• 103 Stephen Hendry

References