The Statman
8th July 2006, 12:04 AM
The shortest match in terms of number of frames played came in 2004, when Chris Small became the first and so far only player to retire from a Crucible match before its due conclusion. After 8 frames Small retired from the first-round (best of 19 frames) match owing to ill health, with his opponent Alan McManus leading 7–1.
There have been three instances of a match requiring only 10 frames to reach a scheduled result: the 1978 and 1979 third-place play-offs (best of 13 frames), which were both won 7–3 by Eddie Charlton (versus Fred Davis in 1978 and John Virgo in 1979), and the first-round match in 1992 (best of 19 frames), in which John Parrott beat Eddie Charlton 10–0.
There have been three instances of a match requiring only 10 frames to reach a scheduled result: the 1978 and 1979 third-place play-offs (best of 13 frames), which were both won 7–3 by Eddie Charlton (versus Fred Davis in 1978 and John Virgo in 1979), and the first-round match in 1992 (best of 19 frames), in which John Parrott beat Eddie Charlton 10–0.