The 2008 Masters (officially the 2008 SAGA Insurance Masters) was a professional non-rankingsnooker tournament that took place between 13 and 20 January 2008 at the Wembley Arena in London, England.
Mark Selby won the tournament on his first attempt by defeating Stephen Lee 10–3 in the final. In the final frame, he tied Ken Doherty for the highest break of the tournament, recording a total clearance of 141.
This was the first time since 2003 that Ronnie O'Sullivan had failed to reach the final; the defending champion lost 5–6 to Stephen Maguire in the first round.
Facts and figures
Ryan Day potted 15 reds and 14 blacks in his wild-card match against Barry Hawkins before attempting a long black in an attempt to achieve a 147, instead of potting a straightforward brown and getting an almost assured 144.
Peter Ebdon also was on for a 147, but missed the last-but-one red in his quarter-final match against Stephen Lee.
Ding Junhui won his match against John Higgins 6–4, needing a snooker in the last frame with the last 5 colours remaining.
Mark Williams scored his first century of the season (a 118) in winning the first two frames against Ken Doherty, before losing the next six.
Ken Doherty was 4–1 down to Shaun Murphy, but made three centuries in four frames in winning 6–5.
Seven matches went to a deciding frame (6–5).
Two first-round matches went to the last black: Stephen Lee's match against Graeme Dott, where he came from 5–2 down to win 5–6; and Marco Fu also won on the black in defeating Neil Robertson.
Mark Selby won three deciding-frame matches in reaching the final, coming from 5–3 to beat both Stephen Hendry and Stephen Maguire 6–5, and he also beat Ken Doherty by the same scoreline in his semi-final.
Michaela Tabb became the first woman to referee a Masters final. She had already refereed the Welsh Open final in 2007.
