2001 Masters (snooker)

2001 Masters (snooker)

The 2001 Benson & Hedges Masters professional non-ranking snooker tournament took place between 4 and 11 February 2001 at the Wembley Conference Centre, London, England.

Paul Hunter won the first of his three Masters titles beating Fergal O'Brien in a dramatic match. O'Brien had led 6–2 at the end of the afternoon session the final before Hunter dominated the evening session of the final by putting four century breaks in six frames to lead 9–8 and finally winning the title 10–9 in a long final frame.

Also in the competition, Steve Davis had failed to compete for the first time since 1980, after he had dropped out of the top 16 the previous season and was denied a wild card. Jimmy White took the wild card entry as he was the local favourite. The other was future World Champion Shaun Murphy played in his TV debut after winning the Benson and Hedges Championship a few months previously and beat Marco Fu 6–1 in the wild card round before losing to Stephen Hendry 4–6 in the first round. The highest break of the tournament was 138. This was achieved by both Paul Hunter and Jimmy White.