World Snooker Championship Greatest Comeback Victories

We've seen some of the most astonishing comebacks in snooker history at the World Championship over the years, and ahead of the 2025 Crucible spectacular we pick out five of the very best.

No.5 - Rob Milkins 10-9 Joe Perry

2023 World Snooker Championship (L32)

Robert Milkins produced an extraordinary fightback to end Joe Perry's Crucible dream in 2023, reeling off eight of the final 10 frames to record a remarkable 10-9 triumph.

'The Milkman' appeared down and out after losing seven of the opening nine frames during a one-sided first session, but returned a day later a different beast, defying the odds of the bookmakers to turn the game on its head.

"My belief was terrible at 7-2 down, but the crowd got behind me and I was reeling off frames," he told BBC Radio 5 Live following the contest. "I'm chuffed to bits - it really was a tale of two halves."

To add to the drama, play had to be stopped during the opening frame after a protester climbed on the table and covered it in orange powder.

"It wasn't a nice experience and I was a little bit shaken up, but it didn't have any impact on the match," Perry told the BBC after being eliminated from the competition.

"For Rob, it was probably a massive help, but it doesn't get away from how rubbish I was."

No.4 - Marco Fu 10-9 Luca Brecel

2017 World Snooker Championship (R32)

Just six years prior to Robert Milkins' marauding comeback, Marco Fu dished up an even more astounding comeback victory in the last 32 of the World Snooker Championship, leaving Belgian star Luca Brecel crestfallen inside the Crucible.

The supremely talented Hong Kong cueist, one of Asia's greatest snooker names, displayed remarkable powers of recovery to overturn a 7-1 deficit and leave 'The Belgian Bullet' still searching for his maiden victory at the sport's spiritual home.

"At 7-1 down, it's game over - I really didn't expect to comeback," Fu said in his post match press conference.

"I always say play one ball at a time and one frame at a time, but even I thought that this match was over. I just can't believe it.

"The Crucible is the most difficult place to defend a lead; I've been there before with Joe Perry in the quarter-finals where I was 9-1 up and almost found the game tied at 12 each, so I have been in that position before, and it's horrible."

Brecel, who had been beaten in the opening round in each of his two previous appearances at the Crucible, wasted no time in re-acclimatising himself to the venue, racing into a 5-0 lead before extending his advantage even further at 7-1.

A huge swing in momentum saw Fu reel off seven of the next eight frames to tie the match at 8-8, before Brecel stopped the rot to edge within a frame of victory with a classy 78.

But then, after stalling with a match-winning opportunity in the 18th frame, Brecel watched painfully as Fu produced a couple of 'ice cool' breaks of his own to seal the most unlikely victory.

No.3 - Dennis Taylor 18-17 Steve Davis

1985 World Snooker Championship (Final)

It's fair to say that the fabled 1985 World Snooker Championship final caught the imagination of the nation.

Over 19.5 million captivated snooker enthusiasts were hooked to their television screens post midnight as two of the game's most iconic players, Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis, battled for Crucible glory some 40 years ago.

Davis was, of course, the huge odds-on favourite to capture a fourth world title, whilst Taylor - donning his trademark 'upside down' glasses - was determined not to allow his moment to land the biggest prize in snooker to pass him by.

The showdown was enthralling, with the 35th, and final, frame remaining one of the most iconic sporting moments in British history.

Now known as 'the black ball final', it was Taylor who ultimately went on to reign supreme on the hallowed green baize, holding his nerve to edge a Sheffield thriller on the deciding black ball.

The sight of the Northern Irishman holding his cue aloft after sinking the final ball remains vivid in the memories of many, but something that may have passed people by is the fact that Taylor was actually 7-0 down during the first session of play - remaining the largest deficit ever overturned in a World Snooker Championship final to this day.

"To keep nearly 19 million people up past midnight, watching a fella with ginger hair playing another fella with a big pair of upside down glasses, it's amazing how it captured everybody's imagination," Taylor told the BBC.

"If we'd ever thought there was that many people watching I don't think we'd have been able to hold the cue. The audience kept building, and the BBC were cancelling programmes to stay with it, and the drama just built and built.

"Steve says he'll remember that final more than the six that he won, which tells you everything about the drama and significance of that night.

"I am just still so thankful that I managed to get over the line."

No.2 - Stephen Hendry 18-14 Jimmy White

1992 World Snooker Championship (Final)

A total of 28 players have been crowned World Snooker Champion over the years, and it remains an absolute mystery, and travesty, as to how Jimmy White didn't quite manage to extend that list to 29!

'The Whirlwind' is commonly regarded as the best player never to have captured the coveted Crucible title, and openly admits to being haunted by his six agonising final defeats.

Five of those losses came in successive years, between 1990 and 1994 (four of which were at the hands of Stephen Hendry), but the one in 1992 is the one that truly got away.

The hugely-popular White was sensational in establishing a 14-8 lead in the race to 18 encounter, but buckled under the mental pressure as he somehow failed to haul himself past the winning post.

In fact, the Londoner wasn't able to win a single frame after moving just four away from victory as Hendry turned the game on its head in dramatic fashion - remarkably reeling off 10 successive frames to secure the second of his seven titles and leave White crestfallen in Sheffield yet again.

"I feel good now, even despite the defeat," 'The Whirlwind' remarked on the BBC immediately after the conclusion of the match.

"I played really well in patches, but missed an easy red in the final frame of the session earlier today, and I just never recovered from that, and, I guess,Stephen capitalised on it.

"He was sensational in fairness to him, he was potting the balls off lampshades and I had no answer - safety shots had to be snookers, because he truly did play that well.

"It's gutting of course, but I'll be back, and I will win the title at some point."

Famous last words, of course, as despite reaching another couple of finals, that sought after Crucible crowning glory continued to evade the great Londoner.

No.1 - Luca Brecel 18-15 Si Jiahui

2023 World Snooker Championship (Semi-Final)

There are great sporting comebacks and there are GREAT sporting comebacks, and what Luca Brecel managed to produce, against all the odds, in April 2023, was truly Herculean.

Si Jiahui had, up until that point, established himself as the true breakout star of the tournament.

The qualifier had already seen off the likes of Shaun Murphy, Robert Milkins and Anthony McGill en-route to an unlikely semi-final appearance against the free-flowing Brecel.

His remarkable form continued in the last four too, establishing a seemingly unassailable 14-5 lead, and moving to within just three frames from a spot in the showpiece Crucible final.

At that point, victory was inevitable, surely?!

Well, you'd have thought so but Brecel had other ideas, producing a staggering fightback that shook the Sheffield venue to its fabled core!

'The Belgian Bullet' pulled one frame back, then two, then three, then four, yet, even then, he remained a 25/1 outsider to see the job through to a successful conclusion.

Overcoming deficits of this magnitude in snooker was simply unheard of... but Brecel proved that he was cut from a different cloth to most, stringing together a blistering 12 frame sequence to reign supreme in a match that will forever live in World Snooker Championship folklore.

"I was thinking about losing with a session to spare," Brecel said in the Eurosport studio.

"Even at 14-8, 14-9, I was still so far behind you do not think of winning, but when it got to 14-14, I started believing then.

"I don’t know how I did it. I was very calm, even at the end. It hasn't sunk in to be honest with you, but it has to quickly because I have a final to look forward to now, which I have to improve for."

Even the great Ronnie O'Sullivan couldn't quite fathom out what had transpired on the green baize before his eyes, telling Eurosport: "It has to be the greatest comeback ever - 14-5 down, and he wins - it is unbelievable.

"The way that Si Jiahui was playing, if he did not get tight he would have won the match. Luca sensed it and he got on a roll. The frames were going past at a rapid speed and the other guy was choking, and then it was over.

"I can't believe what I have witnessed, we'll never see the like again!"