The 2023 WST Classic was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 to 22 March 2023 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. It was the 13th ranking event of the 2022âÂÂ23 season and the inaugural staging of the WST Classic, which the World Snooker Tour added to the calendar midway through the season to replace the cancelled 2023 Turkish Masters. The last qualifying event before the 2023 Tour Championship, the tournament was streamed on Matchroom.live in all territories apart from China, Hong Kong, and Thailand, where it was carried by local broadcasters. The winner received ã80,000 from a total prize fund of ã427,000.
Mark Selby won the only edition of the tournament. Competing in his home city, he defeated Pang Junxu 6âÂÂ2 to win his 22nd ranking title, this was the first ranking final of Pang's career.
There were 88 century breaks made during the event. Judd Trump made his 900th century break in professional competition during his first-round match against David Lilley, becoming the third playerâÂÂafter Ronnie O'Sullivan and John HigginsâÂÂto reach that milestone. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made the highest break of the tournament, a maximum break in the fifth frame of his last-64 match against Xu Si. This was Un-Nooh's fourth competitive maximum break.
The tournament featured 128 players. The top 64 players in the snooker world rankings after the Players Championship were seeded in the draw, with the remaining 64 players drawn at random against them. Matches were played as the best of seven up to and including the quarter-finals. The semi-finals were played over the best of nine frames. The final was played over the best of 11 frames. The last three rounds were all played on the final day.
The event featured a prize fund of ã427,000, with the winner receiving ã80,000. The breakdown of prize money for this event is shown below:
A total of 88 century breaks were made during the event.