English Open 2018 – Crawley

The first of the 2018 Home Nations tournaments is English Open which is being played in Crawley, south of London. This is the tournament that will identify the player who will have a chance of winning the £1 million prize which will be awarded to the player who can win all four Home Nations tournaments in the same seasons. The reigning champion is Ronnie O’Sullivan, who beat Kyren Wilson in the 2017 final in Barnsley.

Where will English Open 2018 be played?

English Open 2018 will be played in the K2 Sports Center in the town of Crawley, close to the Gatwick airport south of London. Crawley in itself does not have much to offer and mostly functions as a service town to the airport. On the other hand, this means that it is easy to get to from most places in the world, and there are lots of hotels and branch offices of international companies.

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When is English Open 2018?

The tournament will be played from October 15 until October 21, 2018. The matches are best of 7 frames in the first few rounds, best of 9 in the quarterfinals, best of 11 in the semi-finals and the final is played as a best of 17 frames match with 8 frames in the first session and up to 9 frames in the second. Eight simultaneous matches will be played during the first four rounds, so there’s plenty of opportunity for watching several of the world’s best players at the same time.

Where can I get tickets for English Open 2018 and what is the price?

Standard day tickets for English Open 2018 are £20 for the first four rounds, £35 for the quarterfinals (Friday, October 19), £45 for the Saturday semifinals and £55 for the Sunday final. It is possible to get a ticket for the entire tournament for £160. Tickets are available for at See Tickets, World Snooker’s official ticketing partner.

Where can I stay close to the tournament venue?

There are plenty of accommodations in all categories close to Crawley. Nearest to the venue is the small B&B Barrington Lodge, although it is rather basic and in a dull area. Another possibility, slightly farther away, but close to the Crawley train station is the four-star business hotel Arora Hotel Gatwick.

Other Crawley hotels are available here.

How do I get to Crawley?

Nearby Gatwick Airport is one of the busiest in Europe with a lot of flights from all over the world.

Gatwick is situated about 2-3 km from Crawley and 40 km south of London. There are a lot of airpoirt busses and shuttles in the town going to and from the airport at all hours. From the nearby train station Three Bridges it is possible to go to the centre of London in just over half an hour, with about 3-4 departures an hour. It is also possible to go to the popular coastal resort of Brighton in just around half an hour.