Michael Wasley

Michael Wasley
Michael Wasley at the 2015 German Masters
Born (1990-02-23) 23 February 1990 (age 34)
Gloucester, England
Sport country England
Professional2012–2016
Highest ranking72 (May–June 2014)[1]
Best ranking finishLast 16 (2014 World Championship)

Michael Wasley (born 23 February 1990) is an English former professional snooker player.

Wasley turned professional after qualifying via Event 3 of 2012 Q School and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 snooker seasons. He won five matches in the event, concluding with a 4–3 victory over Fraser Patrick.[2] His biggest achievement to date is reaching the last 16 of the 2014 World Championship.

Career

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Debut season

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Wasley's first match as a professional was a 5–4 win against Liam Highfield in qualifying for the 2012 Wuxi Classic. He lost 1–5 to Passakorn Suwannawat in the following round.[3] In November, Wasley qualified for the main draw of a ranking event for the first time. He beat Jack Lisowski 5–1 and former world champion Peter Ebdon 5–3 to reach the last 32 of the German Masters, where Neil Robertson comfortably beat him 5–1.[3] Wasley also qualified for the Welsh Open thanks to wins over Anthony McGill and top 16 player Mark Davis.[4] He led 2–1 in the last 32 against Andrew Higginson, but lost three frames to bow out of the event 2–4.[5] Wasley saw off Sean O'Sullivan in the first round of World Championship Qualifying, but his season was ended in the next round as James Wattana beat him 10–7.[6] Wasley finished his first year on tour ranked world number 80.[7]

2013/2014 season

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Wasley reached the Wuxi Classic, the first ranking event of the 2013–14 season, thanks to Ronnie O'Sullivan's withdrawal for medical reasons and lost 5–1 against Gerard Greene in the first round.[8] He played at the main venue in four more ranking events but lost in the first round in all of them.[8] His best run in European Tour events was at the Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup where he saw off James Wattana, Zhang Anda and Peter Ebdon, before being beaten 4–3 by Jamie Jones.[8] Two other last 32 exits helped Wasley finish 47th on the Order of Merit.[9]

Michael Wasley at the 2015 German Masters

In qualifying for the World Championship, Wasley squeezed past Sydney Wilson 10–9 and then beat Rory McLeod and Mark Joyce both 10–6 to stand just one victory away from playing in the sport's biggest event for the first time.[8] He played world number 16 Robert Milkins in a dramatic match that went to a respotted black in the deciding frame which Wasley potted to reach the Crucible.[10] In the first round, Wasley caused one of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history by eliminating world number two Ding Junhui 10–9 after having trailed 6–3 at the end of the opening session.[11] In the second round he fell 7–1 down to Dominic Dale and could never recover as he was beaten 13–4.[12] Despite this run, Wasley could not quite reach the top 64 in the rankings as he was placed number 72, which would have seen him relegated from the tour.[13] However, he received the fourth of eight spots available on the European Tour for non-qualified players to earn a new two-year tour card for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons.[9]

2014/2015 season

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Wasley won three matches to reach the final qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters, where he was narrowly beaten 5–4 by Dominic Dale.[14] At the European Tour event the Victoria Bulgarian Open, Wasley faced Judd Trump in the last 16 and made a 133 break to send the match into a deciding frame in which he made a 75 break from 73–0 down to play Peter Ebdon in the quarter-finals and lost 4–1.[15] He would go on to finish 29th on the Order of Merit, just outside the top 24 who qualified for the Grand Final.[16] His best runs in full ranking events this season were a pair of last 32 exits at the German Masters (5–1 to Shaun Murphy) and the Welsh Open (4–2 to Trump).[14] He failed to repeat last year's World Championship performances as he lost 10–5 to Alan McManus in the first qualifying round.[17]

2015/2016 season

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Wasley could only win two matches out of 17 during the whole of the 2015–16 season.[18] He dropped off the tour at the end of the season as he was placed 87th in the world rankings and he did not enter the 2016 Q School.[19]

Performance and rankings timeline

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Tournament 2010/
11 		2011/
12 		2012/
13 		2013/
14 		2014/
15 		2015/
16
Ranking[20][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 80 [nb 4] 92
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open NH A LQ LQ LQ LQ
Shanghai Masters A A A LQ LQ LQ
International Championship Not Held LQ LQ LQ LQ
UK Championship A A LQ 1R 1R 1R
German Masters A A 1R LQ 1R LQ
Welsh Open A A 1R 1R 3R 1R
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ
Players Tour Championship Grand Final DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
China Open A A LQ 1R LQ LQ
World Championship A A LQ 2R LQ LQ
Former ranking tournaments
World Open LQ A LQ 1R Not Held
Wuxi Classic Non-Ranking LQ 1R LQ NH
Indian Open Tournament Not Held LQ LQ NH
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 Held means an event was not held
NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event
R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event
  1. ^ Shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
  2. ^ a b He was an amateur
  3. ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
  4. ^ Players qualified through European Tour Order of Merit started the season without prize money ranking points

References

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  1. ^ "Prize Money Rankings after the World Championship 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 May 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Qualifying School - Event Three". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Michael Wasley 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Rob Milkins and Michael Wasley prepare for snooker's Welsh Open". This Is Gloucestershire. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Gloucester snooker player Michael Wasley defeated in Welsh Open by Andrew Higginson". This Is Gloucestershire. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
  6. ^ "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  7. ^ "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.
  8. ^ a b c d "Michael Wasley 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  9. ^ a b "European Order of Merit 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  10. ^ "Xiao / Wasley Earn Crucible Debuts". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  11. ^ "World Snooker Championship: Michael Wasley eyes success". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  12. ^ "Michael Wasley's World Snooker Championship dreams ended by Dominic Dale". Gloucestershire Echo. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  13. ^ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  14. ^ a b "Michael Wasley 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  15. ^ "Michael Wasley 4–3 Judd Trump". Love Snooker. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  16. ^ "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  17. ^ "Reanne Evans loses to Ken Doherty in Worlds qualifier". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  18. ^ "Michael Wasley 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  19. ^ "Historic Seedings After 2016 World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  20. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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