Robert Milkins

Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player from Bedminster Down.

Robert Milkins
German Masters 2013
Born (1976-03-06) 6 March 1976
Bedminster Down, Bristol, England
Sport country England
Nickname
  • The Milkman
Professional1995–
Highest ranking12 (February 2014)[1]
Current ranking 47 (as of 27 June 2020)
Career winnings£1,090,665
Highest break147 (2 times)
Century breaks159
Best ranking finishSemi-finals (x6)
Tournament wins
Non-ranking1

Career

Milkins turned professional in 1995, but dropped off the Main Tour when it was reduced in size after the 1996/1997 season, but returned a year later via the UK Tour. After four seasons of solid progress with occasional last-16 runs, he reached the last 16 of the World Snooker Championship in 2002, and the first round in each of the next three years.

He made history in qualifying for the 2006 World Snooker Championship by making a 147 break in his match against Mark Selby. He became only the sixth player to achieve a maximum in the tournament, and the first to do so in qualifying (as a result, he earned £5,000; in the main tournament it would have been worth £147,000).[2] He ultimately lost to Selby 4–10, becoming only the second player to lose a World Championship match despite a 147, the other being Ronnie O'Sullivan against Marco Fu in 2003. Milkins also made a maximum break against Xiao Guodong in the fourth qualifying round of the 2012 tournament, and this time he won the match 10–4. He has also been on the wrong end of a 147 in the tournament – Mark Williams completed a 10–1 victory in the first round of the 2005 tournament with a final-frame maximum.

In 2005 he reached the Irish Masters semi-final, but lost 8–9 against Matthew Stevens.[3]

He lost in the final qualifying round of the World Championships for the second year in a row in 2007 – 10–4 against Mark Allen. In 2008 he did not get this far, losing 10–4 to Barry Pinches.

At the 2006 Grand Prix he and Ronnie O'Sullivan were the only players to win all 5 group matches, however Milkins lost 5–0 to eventual finalist Jamie Cope in the last 16. The 2007–08 season was a poor one for Milkins, and he has slipped down the rankings to number 51.

Milkins had a strong run at the 2008 Bahrain Championship. After being elevated into the top 48 seeds due to a clash with previously-arranged Premier League Snooker matches, he won two qualifiers before reaching the quarter-finals at the venue, defeating Michael Holt 5–4 in the last 16 having trailed 0–3.

In 2009, Milkins joined player management company on Q Promotions.

Milkins' walk on music for the main stages of events is I Am a Cider Drinker by The Wurzels, and after his defeat in the 2014 Ruhr Open Final, performed a verse of the song in his post-match interview to the crowd.

Milkins reached the second ranking event semi-final of his career in the 2012 World Open. He qualified for the tournament with 5–1 and 5–0 wins over Sam Craigie and Ryan Day respectively. He was required to play in a wildcard round once at the event in Haikou, China, where he beat amateur Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon 5–3 to set up a first round encounter against Stephen Maguire which Milkins won by another 5–3 scoreline.[4] He defeated Jin Long 5–2, before dispatching reigning world champion John Higgins 5–3 in the quarter-finals.[5] However, Milkins lost his last 4 encounter with Stephen Lee 2–6 and admitted after the match his performance levels had dropped from his previous displays in the tournament.[6] Milkins also reached the second round of the Shanghai Masters and the first round of the UK Championship during the 2011–12 season and made a 147 break in the qualifying stage of the World Championship.[4] He finished 2011/12 ranked world number 36.

Milkins began the 2012–13 season by qualifying for the Wuxi Classic by beating Liu Chuang and Ryan Day. Once at the venue in China he came through the wildcard round and then defeated Andrew Higginson 5–3, world number two Judd Trump 5–3 (after being 1–3 down) to reach the quarter-finals where he was on the wrong side of a 5–3 scoreline against Ricky Walden.[7][8] After this Milkins lost in the qualifying draw of the Australian Goldfields Open and in the first round of four consecutive ranking events.[7] He bucked the trend at the Welsh Open by scoring 4–1 and 4–2 wins over Mark Williams and Sam Baird, but lost 1–5 to Ding Junhui in the quarter-finals.[9] Milkins followed this up by reaching the second round of both the World Open and the China Open, losing to Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham respectively.[7]

Milkins finished 41st on the Players Tour Championship Order of Merit, outside of the top 26 who secured berths into the Finals.[10] However, he took part in all three of the new Asian PTC's and performed well enough to finish 5th on the Order of Merit, which was high enough to qualify for the Finals.[11] There, Milkins lost 2–4 to Anthony McGill in the first round.[7] Milkins qualified for the World Championship for the first time in eight years by defeating six-time runner-up Jimmy White 10–5 in the final qualifying round.[12] Milkins was drawn against world number two and 2010 champion Neil Robertson in the first round, and defeated him 10–8 having trailed 2–5 and described the win as the best of his career afterwards.[13] He found himself 3–9 down to Ricky Walden in the second round, but stormed back into the match to only trail 10–11 before falling short of completing a remarkable comeback as Walden secured the two frames he required to seal a 13–11 win.[14] His successful season saw him rise 18 places in the rankings to world number 18, the highest he has ended a season to date.[15]

2013/2014 season

He continued his form into the 2013 Wuxi Classic, the first ranking event of the 2013–14 season. Milkins beat John Astley 5–0, Jimmy White 5–3, Scott Donaldson 5–1 and Anthony Hamilton 5–3.[16] In Milkins' third ranking event semi-final of his career he faced new world number one Neil Robertson and lost all four frames in the first mini session, going on to be beaten 2–6.[17][18] His consistent play carried into the next ranking event, the Australian Goldfields Open by seeing off Ben Woollaston 5–3, Rory McLeod 5–2 and Tom Ford 5–3 to reach another semi-final.[16] Milkins was 1–4 down against Marco Fu, but pulled it back to 4–4 before losing the next two frames to fall short of making his first ranking final.[19] Milkins advanced to the fourth round of the 2013 UK Championship, but was thrashed 6–0 by Ronnie O'Sullivan.[20] Nevertheless, he was ranked inside the top 16 after the event to qualify for the Masters for the first time in his career.[21] He faced O'Sullivan in a one sided match once again with Milkins losing 6–1.[22]

Milkins' season finished in disappointment as he lost in qualifying for the German Masters and China Open, the first round of the Welsh Open and second round of the World Open.[16] His match against Michael Wasley in the final round of World Championship qualifying went to a re-spotted black in the deciding frame which Wasley potted to beat Milkins 10–9.[23] He dropped out of the top 16 by the end of the season to finish it as the world number 20.[24]

2014/2015 season

Milkins began the season well once again by beating Liang Wenbo 5–3 and John Higgins 5–2 to play Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals of the Australian Goldfields Open and was defeated 5–2.[25][26] He eliminated Barry Pinches 6–2, Shaun Murphy 6–1 and Xiao Guodong 6–4 to play in the quarter-finals of the International Championship.[27] A high quality match with Marco Fu followed which Milkins edged 6–5. He said ahead of his match with Ricky Walden that he had to forget it was a semi-final and focus on his game in an attempt to reach his first ranking event final.[28] However, it would be a fifth exit at the last four stage as Milkins was thrashed 9–2.[29] In November, he reached the final of the minor-ranking Ruhr Open, but lost 4–0 against Murphy.[30]

Milkins did not drop a frame in seeing off Michael Leslie and Marcus Campbell at the UK Championship, but was then whitewashed 6–0 by Graeme Dott in the last 32.[27] In the first round of the Masters he was beaten 6–4 by Robertson having been 4–3 ahead.[31] Milkins won through to the quarter-finals of the Indian Open and lost 4–1 to Mark Williams.[27] After he overcame Michael White 5–1 at the China Open, Milkins knew that he had to reach the final to enter the top 16 in the world rankings and avoid playing three qualifying matches for the World Championship.[32] In his fourth ranking event quarter-final of the season, Milkins led Mark Selby on four occasions but each time he levelled and Selby won the deciding frame 71–0.[33] Milkins did win three matches to qualify for the World Championship and lost 10–5 to John Higgins in the opening round.[34] Milkins finished the season inside the top 16 for the first time in his career as he was 16th.[35]

2015/2016 season

Milkins lost 5–3 in the second round of the Australian Goldfields Open to Joe Perry and 5–0 in the first round of the Shanghai Masters to Judd Trump. He reached the semi-finals of the Asian Tour's Haining Open, but was defeated 4–1 by Ricky Walden.[36] Milkins was knocked out in the second round of the UK Championship 6–2 by David Grace.[37] His second last 16 appearance in a ranking event this season came at the PTC Finals courtesy of eliminating Tian Pengfei 4–1. He had chances in the deciding frame against Barry Hawkins to make the quarter-finals, but failed to take them to lose 4–3.[38] Milkins ensured his place in the World Championship draw by beating Kurt Maflin 10–7.[36] He fell 7–2 behind Mark Selby after the first session, before winning four frames in a row upon the resumption of play to trail by one. However, Selby then took the three frames he needed to overcome Milkins 10–6.[39]

2016/2017 season

Milkins lost in the third round of the Indian Open 4–2 to amateur David Lilley. He did not win another match at the venue stage of a ranking event until November when he beat Hamza Akbar 6–1 at the UK Championship.[40] Milkins followed that up with a 6–5 victory over Hammad Miah, before playing in his opinion the worst match of his professional career as he was defeated 6–1 by Mark Selby.[41] His first ranking event quarter-final in two years came at the Scottish Open by beating Anthony Hamiltom 4–3, but he lost 5–3 to Judd Trump.[42] At the next Home Nations event, the Welsh Open he went one better by overcoming Kurt Maflin 5–2 to play in his sixth ranking event semi-final. His search for a maiden final will go on though, as Stuart Bingham whitewashed Milkins 6–0.[43]

Personal life

Milkins has spoken openly about problems with debt, lack of motivation and over-dependence on alcohol consumption.[13] He was coached by 1979 World Champion Terry Griffiths up until the end of the 2014/2015 season.[13] He has two children.

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 1995/
96		 1996/
97		 1997/
98		 1998/
99		 1999/
00		 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2005/
06		 2006/
07		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20
Ranking[44][nb 1] [nb 2] 231 91 99 100 75 54 33 21 28 26 32 47 51 55 36 33 36 18 20 16 21 34 35 36
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 3] Tournament Not Held MR LQ 2R 1R WD
International Championship Tournament Not Held 1R 1R SF LQ LQ 3R 2R 2R
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR 1R 1R LQ
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R 3R 4R 1R
World Open[nb 4] LQ LQ A 1R LQ 3R LQ LQ 1R 2R 1R 2R LQ LQ QF LQ SF 2R 2R Not Held LQ 2R 3R LQ
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 1R QF 1R 1R
UK Championship LQ 2R A LQ 1R LQ 1R QF 1R 2R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 4R 3R 2R 3R 2R 2R 2R
Scottish Open[nb 5] LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ 1R 2R 1R Tournament Not Held MR Not Held QF 2R 2R 2R
European Masters[nb 6] LQ 1R NH LQ Not Held 1R 1R LQ 1R 1R 1R NR Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ 1R
German Masters[nb 7] LQ LQ A NR Tournament Not Held 1R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R 1R
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ DNQ 1R DNQ DNQ
Welsh Open LQ LQ A 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ QF 1R 3R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ QF 1R 1R 2R SF 1R 1R 3R
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held Non-ranking Event 2R 2R 1R 1R
Players Championship[nb 8] Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ 1R DNQ 1R 2R DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 2R 1R QF 1R
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R 1R 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R LQ 1R 1R LQ 2R LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ A A A A LQ LQ A A A 1R 1R A A A A A
Championship League Tournament Not Held A A A A A RR RR RR RR RR RR RR RR
World Seniors Championship Tournament Not Held A VF A A A QF A A A A
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 9] Tournament Not Held A A A NH A 2R 1R 2R 1R A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Dubai Classic[nb 10] LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Non-Ranking Event 2R NR Tournament Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 11] LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ NR Not Held NR Tournament Not Held
British Open LQ 1R A LQ LQ 3R LQ 1R 1R 2R Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event 1R LQ SF NH NR Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held NR 2R LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held QF Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 12] Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking Event QF SF 2R Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 13] NR Tournament Not Held LQ LQ SF QF 2R Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ WR 2R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R NR
Paul Hunter Classic[nb 14] Tournament Not Held Pro-am Event Minor-Ranking Event WD 1R 2R NR
Indian Open Tournament Not Held LQ QF NH 3R 1R LQ NH
China Open[nb 15] Not Held NR LQ LQ LQ LQ Not Held 1R LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 2R LQ 2R LQ QF 2R 1R LQ 1R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held 2R Ranking Event
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held F 3R 2R 1R 1R QF 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.
RV / Ranking & Variant Format Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking & variant format event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Eventmeans an event is/was a pro-am event.
VF / Variant Format Eventmeans an event is/was a variant format event.
  1. From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  4. The event was called the Grand Prix (1995/1996–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010), the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
  5. The event was called the International Open (1995/1996–1997/1998) and the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  6. The event was called the Malta Cup (2004/2005–2007/2008)
  7. The event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
  8. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
  9. The event was called the Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and the Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  10. The event was called the Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and the Asian Classic (1996/1997)
  11. The event was called the Thailand Open (1995/1996–1996/1997)
  12. The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
  13. The event was called the Australian Masters (1995/1996)
  14. The event was called the Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005) and the Fürth German Open (2005/2006–2006/2007)
  15. The event was called the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)

Career finals

Minor-ranking finals: 1 (1 runner-up)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2014 Ruhr Open Shaun Murphy 0–4

Non-ranking finals: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2009 Pro Challenge Series – Event 3 Joe Jogia 5–3
Runner-up 1. 2011 Snooker Shoot Out Nigel Bond 0−1

Pro-am finals: 1 (1 title)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2017 Pink Ribbon Rob James 4–2
gollark: Yeees, the NHS has efficiency issues.
gollark: Yes, vote liberal democrats except haha your vote is meaningless because FPTP and gerrymandered constituencies.
gollark: Apparently good dry humor.
gollark: Also an economy which works?
gollark: And saner leaders than the US.

References
  1. "World Rankings after Gdynia Open (ET8) 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  2. "Maximum Breaks". Chris Turner. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  3. "WWW Snooker Coverage". Archived from the original on 22 June 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  4. "Robert Milkins 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  5. "World Open: Scots stars John Higgins and Graeme Dott crash out of last eight in shock defeats". Daily Record. 3 March 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  6. "Mark Allen to face Stephen Lee in World Open final". BBC Sport. 3 March 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  7. "Robert Milkins 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  8. "Milkins ends Trump's Wuxi Classic hopes". Eurosport. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  9. Dawes, Mike (15 February 2013). "Ding storms into the semis after a comfortable win over Milkins". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  10. "Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  11. "Asian Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  12. "Betfair World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  13. "World Snooker Championship 2013: Milkins beats Robertson". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  14. "Walden Holds Nerve To Reach Last Eight". World Snooker. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  15. "Official World Snooker Ranking List for the 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  16. "Robert Milkins 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  17. "Robertson To Meet Milkins in Semis". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  18. "Robertson into Wuxi Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  19. "Fu into Aussie Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  20. "UK Snooker: Ronnie O'sullivan fires past Robert Milkins". The Press. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  21. "Ronnie O'Sullivan faces Milkins". Sporting Life. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  22. "Rocket Flies Past Milkins". World Snooker. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  23. "Xiao / Wasley Earn Crucible Debuts". World Snooker. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  24. "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  25. "Robert Milkins beats John Higgins in Australian Goldfields Open". Gloucester Citizen. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  26. "Robertson To Face Davis in Bendigo". World Snooker. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  27. "Robert Milkins 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  28. "Gloucester's Robert Milkins aiming to break semi-final hoodoo in International Championships snooker". Gloucester Citizen. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  29. "International Championship: Ricky Walden beats Robert Milkins in semis". Sky Sports. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  30. "Murphy Wins in Mulheim – And Makes 147". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 23 November 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
  31. "Masters: Neil Robertson reaches quarter-finals after battling past Robert Milkins". Sky Sports. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  32. "Milkins Still Chasing Crucible Spot". World Snooker. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  33. "Selby To Meet Maflin in Semis". World Snooker. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  34. "Gloucester snooker star Robert Milkins goes out of world championship to a charge from John Higgins". Western Daily Press. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  35. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  36. "Robert Milkins 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  37. "Robertson Too Strong for Mehta". World Snooker. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  38. "Murphy Stays on Course". World Snooker. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  39. "Mark Selby survives Robert Milkins comeback to reach second round". Eurosport. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  40. "Robert Milkins 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  41. "That's the worst I've ever played, admits Milkins after drubbing by Selby". Gloucestershire Live. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  42. "John Higgins to face Judd Trump after impressive win over Ronnie O'Sullivan". Eurosport. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  43. "Bingham Crushes Milkins to Reach Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  44. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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