The 2009 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2009 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 18 April and 4 May at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. This was the first time that the World Snooker Championship had been sponsored by Betfred. Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, but he lost in the second round 11–13 against Mark Allen. John Higgins won his third World title by defeating Shaun Murphy 18–9 in the final. It was Higgins' 20th ranking title. Tournament summary First round Debutants at the Crucible were Rory McLeod, Martin Gould, Andrew Higginson, and Ricky Walden. They were all defeated in the first round. Rory McLeod became the first ever black player at the Crucible. Only two out of the sixteen seeded players lost their first round matches. Peter Ebdon lost 5–10 against Nigel Bond, while Joe Perry lost 6–10 against Jamie Cope. Steve Davis qualified for the World Championship for a record 29th time, but lost his first round match 2–10 against Neil Robertson. In September 2013 Stephen Lee was found guilty of conspiring to lose his first round match 4–10 against Ryan Day, for which as part of other offences Lee received a 12-year ban and was ordered to pay £40,000 in costs. Second round Hendry won his 1,000th frame at the Crucible during his match against Ding Junhui. In this very frame Hendry compiled a 140 break. In total, at that moment Hendry had played over 1,700 frames at the Crucible, more than any other player. Hendry went on to win the match 13–10 and qualified for the quarter-finals for a record 18th time. This was the second consecutive year that Hendry had knocked out Ding in the Last 16. Mark Allen beat defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 13–11. Allen made his best appearance at the tournament, ultimately reaching the semi-finals. This would be the last time that O'Sullivan failed to reach the quarter finals until 2016. Neil Robertson won four frames on the final black during the second session of his match with Ali Carter, and went on to win the match 13–8. John Higgins beat Jamie Cope 13–12 having trailed 10–12. Stephen Maguire and Mark King set a new record for the longest frame ever played at the Crucible at 74 minutes 58 seconds, breaking the previous record of