Robbie Williams (snooker player)

Robbie Williams (born 28 December 1986) is an English professional snooker player.

Robbie Williams
Paul Hunter Classic 2016
Born (1986-12-28) 28 December 1986
Wallasey, England
Sport country England
Professional2012–
Highest ranking47 (November 2017)[1]
Current ranking 65 (as of 17 August 2020)
Career winnings£238,184
Highest break144:
2009 PIOS Event 5
Century breaks53
Best ranking finishSemi-final (2013 Indian Open)

Williams turned professional in 2012 after qualifying in Event 3 of the Q School and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012/13 and 2013/14 snooker seasons.

Amateur career

He has represented England in a number of amateur competitions, including the World Under 21 Championships in India.[2] Williams has won the Merseyside Open five times.

In 2010, he won the Paul Hunter English Open.[3] In June 2011, he reached the last 16 of a PTC event, beating Peter Ebdon, Nick Jennings and Ali Carter, before losing to Graeme Dott.[4] In March 2012, he was part of the England team who claimed victory in the European Team Championships.[5] In May, he qualified for the main snooker tour by coming through the third Qualifying School event with a 4–3 win over Mitchell Mann in his final match, with a break of 102 in the deciding frame.[6]

Professional career

Debut season
2012 Paul Hunter Classic

Williams' first match as a professional was in qualifying for the 2012 Wuxi Classic, where he lost 2–5 to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.[7] He won two matches, but lost in the third qualifying round three times during the season in the ranking events.[7] Williams played in all ten of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events, with his best finish coming in the first European Tour Event where he beat established players Tom Ford, Robert Milkins and Jamie Cope, before losing a last frame decider to Mark Selby.[7] It was largely down to this result which saw Williams finish 47th on the PTC Order of Merit.[8] His season ended when he was beaten 7–10 by Li Yan in the first round of World Championship Qualifying, which saw him finish his first year on tour ranked world number 79.[9][10]

2013/14 season

Williams' enjoyed a superb spell of play in October 2013. It began at the minor-ranking Ruhr Open where he won five games to reach the semi-finals, but he lost 4–0 against Mark Allen.[11] At the Indian Open he beat Shaun Murphy to qualify and received a bye through the first round due to Kyren Wilson's withdrawal. Williams then swept into his first ranking event semi-final with the loss of just one frame as he eliminated Andrew Higginson (4–1), Mike Dunn (4–0) and Anthony McGill (4–0).[12] A last four meeting with Ding Junhui followed and it proved a match too far for Williams as he was beaten 4–1.[13] His aforementioned semi-final run in Germany helped him to finish 26th on the European Order of Merit, just one spot short of qualifying for the Finals.[14]

In World Championship qualifying, Williams earned wins over Lü Haotian, Liu Chuang and Pankaj Advani to face Fergal O'Brien for a spot in snooker's biggest event for the first time.[11] Williams produced a superb comeback from 7–2 down to force a deciding frame at 9–9, which he led by 57 points. However, O'Brien then compiled a break of 57 to level the scores meaning a respotted black was required to settle the match which Williams duly potted to seal his first round berth.[15] Williams played world number one Neil Robertson and was beaten 10–2.[16] He ended the season in top 64 of the world rankings for the first time as he was placed 62nd.[17]

2014/15 season

Williams made his debut at a Chinese ranking event at the 2014 Wuxi Classic and lost 5–1 to Mark Selby in the first round.[18] He soon played in his second by qualifying for the International Championship, but lost 6–4 against Stuart Bingham.[19] Williams' only win at the venue stage of a ranking event this season came at the UK Championship, with a 6–4 victory over Sam Baird, before missing a good chance when 5–4 up against Ricky Walden to be ultimately knocked out 6–5.[20]

Williams qualified for his second successive World Championship courtesy of beating Lee Page 10–3, Dechawat Poomjaeng 10–8 and Michael Holt 10–5.[18] He edged the first session against Bingham 5–4, but went on to be defeated 10–7.[21] Williams finished the season with a career high world ranking of 50th.[22]

2015/16 season

The first ranking event Williams could reach in the 2015–16 season was the International Championship and he was beaten 6–5 by Ben Woollaston in the first round. At the UK Championship he overcame both Mitchell Mann and Joe Perry 6–3 and described the latter as the best win of his career, with Perry stating that his opponent's style and speed of play was a joke.[23] Williams went on to lose 6–3 against Matthew Selt in the third round. He reached the second round of the Welsh Open and was edged out 4–3 by Barry Hawkins.[24] Williams qualified for the World Championship for the third year in a row by beating Gareth Allen 10–7, Mark Joyce 10–4 and Anthony Hamilton 10–9.[24] Even though Williams said afterwards that he felt like the worst player in the tournament, he led Ricky Walden (a player who had lost in the final of the previous two ranking events) 5–4 and 7–5, but would ultimately lose 10–8.[25]

2016/17 season
2016 Paul Hunter Classic

At the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic, Williams defeated Simon Lichtenberg 4–1, Joe Perry 4–2 and Andrew Higginson 4–3, but was then heavily beaten 4–0 by David Grace. In the third round of the Northern Ireland Open he levelled at 3–3 after being 3–0 down to Yan Bingtao, before losing the deciding frame.[26] At the UK Championship, Williams overcame Akani Songsermsawad 6–1 and then lost 6–2 to Ali Carter. Wins over Grace, Andy Hicks and Michael White at the Welsh Open saw him reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the second time this season and he was whitewashed 4–0 by Stuart Bingham.[27]

2017/18 season

Williams put on one of the most significant showings of his career to reach the quarter-finals of the 2017 International Championship. He defeated Joe Perry and Neil Robertson along the way, but eventually lost out to Mark Selby.

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20
Ranking[28][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 79 62 50 55 53 57 60
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 4] Tournament Not Held MR LQ 3R 1R LQ
International Championship Not Held LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R QF LQ 1R
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR LQ LQ 1R
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 1R 2R
World Open A A LQ LQ Not Held 1R LQ 1R 1R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 3R 1R 4R 4R
UK Championship A A LQ 2R 2R 3R 2R 2R 1R 2R
Scottish Open Not Held MR Tournament Not Held 1R 1R 2R 1R
European Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ 1R
German Masters A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Welsh Open A A LQ 1R 1R 2R 4R 3R 4R 2R
Shoot-Out Non-Ranking Event 1R A 1R A
Players Championship[nb 5] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 1R 2R 1R 1R
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
World Championship A A LQ 1R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic NR LQ LQ 1R Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open NH A LQ LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R NR
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event 4R 2R 1R NR
Indian Open Not Held SF LQ NH 1R LQ LQ NH
China Open A A LQ LQ LQ LQ WD 1R 2R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Shoot-Out A A 2R 2R A A Ranking Event
Performance Table Legend
LQ lost in the qualifying draw #R lost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		 QF lost in the quarter-finals
SF lost in the semi-finals F lost in the final W won the tournament
DNQ did not qualify for the tournament A did not participate in the tournament WD withdrew from the tournament
NH / Not Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
  1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. He was an amateur.
  3. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  4. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  5. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)

Career finals

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)
Outcome Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 2010 Paul Hunter English Open Stephen Craigie 6–4
gollark: ... if it's public-sector, wouldn't it just not be patented anyway?
gollark: It's not *quite* 1984-level.
gollark: At least the US's handling of it makes me feel better about the UK.
gollark: What, several months beforehand?
gollark: What if it was a SECRET biolab in Spain operated by the Illuminati?

References
  1. "WORLD RANKINGS After 2017 Shanghai Masters". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 21 November 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  2. http://www.cuesportsindia.com/global/2007/ws_u21/players.htm
  3. http://www.maximumbreak.com/results/easb/2010-paul-hunter-english-open.html
  4. http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsArticles/0,,13165~2380127,00.html
  5. http://ebsa.tv/news/?p=638
  6. "Robbie Williams 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  7. "Robbie Williams 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  8. "Issued after Munich Open 2013 (ET6)" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  9. "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  10. "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  11. "Robbie Williams 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  12. "Wallasey's Robbie Williams will face Ding Junhui in the semi-finals of the Indian Open". Sky Sports. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  13. "Indian Open: Ding Junhui crushes Aditya Mehta in final of New Delhi event". Sky Sports. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  14. "European Order of Merit 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  15. "Heartache for Fergal O'Brien in qualifier". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  16. "Neil Robertson shrugs off the challenge of qualifier Robbie Williams". Cambridge News. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  17. "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  18. "Robbie Williams 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  19. "International Championship: John Higgins suffers shock exit, Ronnie O'Sullivan through". Sky Sports. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  20. "Bond - I'll Die Another Day". World Snooker. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  21. "Bingham Shrugs Off Illness to Beat Williams". World Snooker. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  22. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  23. "LISTEN - UK Championship: Joe Perry blasts "boring" Robbie Williams after UK Championship loss". The Press (York). Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  24. "Robbie Williams 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  25. "Ricky Walden beats Robbie Williams to reach second round of 2016 World Snooker Championship". Chester Chronicle. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  26. "Yan Bingtao 4–3 Robbie Williams". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  27. "Robbie Williams 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  28. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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