1985 World Snooker Championship

Embassy World Snooker Championship

Tournament information
Dates	12–28 April 1985
Venue	Crucible Theatre
City	Sheffield
Country	England
Organisation(s)	WPBSA
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£250,000
Winner's share	£60,000
Highest break	Bill Werbeniuk (143)
Final
Champion	Dennis Taylor
Runner-up	Steve Davis
Score	18–17
← 1984 1986 →

The 1985 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1985 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 12 and 28 April 1985 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.^[1]

Defending champion Steve Davis was unable to make it three world titles in a row, as he lost 17–18 against Dennis Taylor in the final. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Tournament summary

The semi-final matches both finished with a session to spare, with Steve Davis winning 16–5 against Ray Reardon and Dennis Taylor defeating Tony Knowles by the same scoreline.^[1] Davis compiled the 100th century break at the Crucible, a 106 break in the thirteenth frame.^[2]

The final between Davis and Taylor attracted 18.5 million viewers on BBC2, and the last session finished at 12:25 a.m. after Taylor potted the last black to win the title.^[3]

Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:^[1][4]

Main draw

Shown below are the results for each round. The numbers in parentheses beside some of the players are their seeding ranks (each championship has 16 seeds and 16 qualifiers).^[1][5][6][7]

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Best of 19 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 25 frames

Best of 31 frames

12 April

Steve Davis (1)

10

17 & 18 April

Neal Foulds

8

Steve Davis (1)

13

12 & 13 April

David Taylor (16)

4

David Taylor (16)

10

22 & 23 April

Dene O'Kane

4

Steve Davis (1)

13

13 & 14 April

Terry Griffiths (8)

6

Alex Higgins (9)

10

18 & 19 April

Dean Reynolds

4

Alex Higgins (9)

7

13 & 14 April

Terry Griffiths (8)

13

Terry Griffiths (8)

10

24 & 25 April

Rex Williams

3

Steve Davis (1)

16

14 & 15 April

Ray Reardon (5)

5

Ray Reardon (5)

10

19 & 20 April

Eugene Hughes

9

Ray Reardon (5)

13

15 & 16 April

Patsy Fagan

9

Willie Thorne (12)

6

22 & 23 April

Patsy Fagan

10

Ray Reardon (5)

13

15 & 16 April

John Parrott

12

John Spencer (13)

3

20 & 21 April

John Parrott

10

John Parrott

13

15 & 16 April

Kirk Stevens (4)

6

Kirk Stevens (4)

10

Ray Edmonds

8

16 & 17 April

Cliff Thorburn (3)

10

20 & 21 April

Mike Hallett

8

Cliff Thorburn (3)

13

16 April

Bill Werbeniuk (14)

3

Bill Werbeniuk (14)

10

22 & 23 April

Joe Johnson

8

Cliff Thorburn (3)

5

15 April

Dennis Taylor (11)

13

Dennis Taylor (11)

10

19 & 20 April

Silvino Francisco

2

Dennis Taylor (11)

13

Eddie Charlton (6)

6

Eddie Charlton (6)

10

24, 25 & 26 April

John Campbell

3

Dennis Taylor (11)

16

14 & 15 April

Tony Knowles (2)

5

Jimmy White (7)

10

18 & 19 April

Wayne Jones

4

Jimmy White (7)

13

13 & 14 April

Tony Meo (10)

11

Tony Meo (10)

10

22 & 23 April

John Virgo

6

Jimmy White (7)

10

12 & 13 April

Tony Knowles (2)

13

Doug Mountjoy (15)

10

17, 18 & 19 April

Murdo MacLeod

5

Doug Mountjoy (15)

6

12 April

Tony Knowles (2)

13

Tony Knowles (2)

10

Tony Jones

8

Final (Best of 35 frames) Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, 27 & 28 April. Referee: John Williams[8]
Steve Davis (1)  England	17–18	Dennis Taylor (11)  Northern Ireland
88–50, 93–0, 49–2, 65–38, 95–1, 85–6, 83–20, 121–0, 49–59, 76–27, 49–63, 27–75, 19–99, 1–71, 0–100, 48–77, 25–68, 72–43, 66–58, 48–80, 2–73, 1–80, 64–56, 58–46, 86–13, 43–82, 78–17, 29–84, 4–72, 29–83, 66–6, 81–0, 45–75, 24–71, 62–66	Century breaks: 0 Highest break by Davis: 87 Highest break by Taylor: 98	88–50, 93–0, 49–2, 65–38, 95–1, 85–6, 83–20, 121–0, 49–59, 76–27, 49–63, 27–75, 19–99, 1–71, 0–100, 48–77, 25–68, 72–43, 66–58, 48–80, 2–73, 1–80, 64–56, 58–46, 86–13, 43–82, 78–17, 29–84, 4–72, 29–83, 66–6, 81–0, 45–75, 24–71, 62–66
Dennis Taylor wins the 1985 Embassy World Snooker Championship

Century breaks

There were 14 century breaks in the championship. Bill Werbeniuk's 143 against Joe Johnson in the first round was at the time the joint third-highest break in the Championship's history, tied with Willie Thorne in 1982.^[9][10]

References