Mark Davis (snooker player)

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Mark Davis
File:Mark Davis at Snooker German Masters (DerHexer) 2015-02-05 01.jpg
Mark Davis at the 2015 German Masters
Born (1972-08-12) 12 August 1972 (age 51)
Sport country England
Nickname The Battler From Hastings, Dark Mavis
Professional 1991–
Highest ranking 12 (June 2013 and March–May 2014)[1][2][3][4]
Current ranking 26 (as of 2 May 2016)
Career winnings £1,075,065[5]
Highest break 143 (2010 China Open, 2013 International Championship)
Century breaks 186[6]
Best ranking finish Semi-final (x4)
Tournament wins
Non-ranking 4

Mark Davis (born 12 August 1972) is an English professional snooker player from St. Leonards in Sussex, England. Davis became professional in 1991 but for many years was considered something of a journeyman; however, he vastly improved his game in the late 2000s, and as a result managed to get in the top 16 for the first time in 2012. The highlights of his career so far have been winning the Benson & Hedges Championship in 2002 (earning him an appearance at the Masters), and the six-red snooker world championships three times (in 2009, 2012 and 2013).

Career

Davis came close to losing his Main Tour status in the late 1990s, but recovered in the early 2000s to return to the top 48. Reaching the quarter-finals of the 2001 Regal Scottish tournament, his second career quarter-final, was the main catalyst for this. His success in reaching the 2008 World Championship came after 2 poor seasons, leaving him at No. 58 in the rankings. He opened the 2008/2009 season strongly by qualifying for the 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy and defeating local hope Joe Swail 5–4 in the first round, before beating Ding Junhui 5–4 in the last 32 in one of the best wins of his career. He was beaten in the last 16 5–2 by Ali Carter. He followed this up by also qualifying for the Bahrain and UK Championships, though he was forced to pull out early in his last-32 match against Joe Perry in the latter, due to a stomach upset.[7] He exceeded his 2007/2008 ranking points total after only five of the eight events of the 2008/2009 season. In 2009 Davis won the Six-Red World Championship. In 2010, Davis reached the second round of the World Championship for the first time in 15 years by defeating sixth seed Ryan Day.

Davis has compiled 100 competitive centuries in his career up to September 2010, putting him 35th in the top of the players reaching a century of centuries in a career.

He got his career best tournamant break of 143 in the China Open on 29 March 2010, the 93rd century of his career, in a wild-card round match against Tian Pengfei. After an excellent 2009/2010 season, he reached the top 32 of the players and also claim his highest rank, by being ranked 26th.

He also qualified for the 2010 Shanghai Masters event where he reached the last-eight beating Marco Fu and Stephen Maguire on the way before surrendering a 4–1 lead against Jamie Burnett and going out 5–4. However, his strong performances continued and took him to a career high ranking of 18.

2011/2012 season

Davis qualified for all but two of the ranking events in the 2011/2012 season.[8] He could only advance beyond the first round in the Australian Goldfields Open, where he lost 3–5 to Mark Selby in the last 16.[8] Davis played in all 12 of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events during the season, reaching the final of Event 4, where he lost to Selby 0–4. This result was a large contributory factor to Davis finishing 16th on the PTC Order of Merit, inside the top 24 who made the Finals.[9] At the Finals he beat Tom Ford, before losing to Stephen Maguire in the last 16.[8] Davis' season came to an end when he suffered a heavy 2–10 loss, while feeling unwell, in the World Championship to Ali Carter.[10] He finished the season ranked world number 19, with the elite top 16 places still eluding him.[11]

2012/2013 season

Davis started the 2012/2013 season very successfully by reaching the first ranking event semi-final of his 21-year professional career at the Wuxi Classic.[12] His run included wins over local favourite Ding Junhui, Jamie Burnett and Graeme Dott to set up a last 4 clash with Stuart Bingham who had won the previous week's Asian PTC.[12][13] He trailed 0–4 at the mid-session interval, before coming back to play inspired snooker to lead 5–4 in the best of 11 frames match. However, Bingham then levelled the contest before compiling a 134 break to win the decider and end Davis' hopes of a first ranking final.[14] At the Six-red World Championship he claimed the title by defeating Shaun Murphy 8–4 in the final.[15] The winner's cheque of £40,000 is the biggest of his career to date.[16] In the Australian Goldfields Open Davis saw off Jack Lisowski (5–2), home favourite Neil Robertson (5–1) and Martin Gould (5–2), to reach his second successive ranking semi-final.[17] There he played close friend Barry Hawkins and was beaten 4–6.[18]

At the UK Championship he beat Cao Yupeng 6–1 in the first round and led three-time champion John Higgins 5–2 in the second round, before withstanding a fightback from Higgins which included a 147, to win a decider.[19] Davis saw off Matthew Stevens 6–4 in the quarter-finals, however his lack of experience on the big stage showed in his semi-final against Mark Selby, as he was beaten 4–9.[20] Davis qualified for the 2013 Masters tournament thanks to his form earning him a place in the top 16. At his first outing in the tournament for 13 years he faced world number nine Mark Allen in the first round and lost 2–6.[21] This began a dip in form for Davis as he lost in the qualifying round of the Welsh Open, the first round of both the World Open and Players Tour Championship Finals and in the second round of the China Open.[17] However, he was still ranked 16 in the world at the cut-off for the 2013 World Championship,[22] but was forced to qualify due to world number 28 and reigning champion Ronnie O'Sullivan deciding to defend his title after taking a year away from professional snooker.[23][24] O'Sullivan was therefore the number one seed, meaning Davis dropped out of the top 16 who were guaranteed a spot in the event.[25] Davis beat Liang Wenbo 10–6 in qualifying.[17] He faced four-time champion John Higgins in the first round and claimed the best win of his career by winning 10–6 and played Stuart Bingham in the last 16.[26] The match proved to be very tight, but from 10–10 Bingham pulled away to win 13–10 with Davis saying afterwards that he had done well to win 10 frames such was his disappointment at the way he had performed.[27] However, he finished the season inside the top 16 for the very first time, at world number 13.[28]

2013/2014 season

Davis reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Goldfields Open but lost 5–3 to Mark Selby.[29] At the 2013 Six-red World Championship he defended his title by defeating Neil Robertson 8–4 in the final.[30] Only a week later he won his next tournament, the General Cup in Hong Kong, beating Robertson again in the final, this time by 7–2.[31] A second ranking event quarter-final of the year came at the Shanghai Masters with comfortable 5–2 and 5–1 victories over Ali Carter and John Higgins. However, he then squandered a 4–2 lead over Xiao Guodong to be beaten 5–4.[32] At the Masters he forced a decider in the first round against Mark Selby, having been 4–0 down but lost the 55-minute final frame to be defeated 6–5.[33] In the quarter-finals of the German Masters, Davis lost in an extremely close match with Rod Lawler 5–4.[34] Davis was an automatic qualifier for the World Championship for the first time in his career this season and said before the event that his minimum goal was to win through to the quarter-finals, but he was beaten 10–5 in the first round by Dominic Dale.[35][36] Davis hung on to his top 16 ranking at the end of the season as he was the world number 16.[37]

2014/2015 season

Davis began his season at the Australian Goldfields Open, with his quarter-final match against Stuart Bingham containing ten breaks above 50 in the nine frames played, which Davis edged 5–4.[38] In Davis' fourth ranking event semi-final he lost 6–2 to home favourite Neil Robertson.[39] His second quarter-final in a ranking event of the year came at the UK Championship, but he was defeated 6–1 by Judd Trump. He followed that up with a semi-final showing at the minor-ranking Lisbon Open where he was whitewashed 4–0 by Stephen Maguire.[40] Davis was beaten 3–2 by Stuart Bingham in the final of the non-ranking Championship League.[41]

Davis' consistent season continued as he restricted John Higgins to just 38 points to thrash him 4–0 in reaching the last eight of the Indian Open, but he lost 4–2 against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.[42] Davis progressed through to his fourth ranking quarter-final of the season, the most in a single season of his career, at the PTC Grand Final by eliminating Neil Robertson 4–1.[43] He was unable to play in the semi-finals however, as Bingham knocked him out 4–1.[44] Davis earned a 4–0 early advantage over Ding Junhui at the World Championship and won the first session 5–3. However, he went on to be beaten 10–7.[45]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 1991/
92
1992/
93
1993/
94
1994/
95
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
Ranking[46][nb 1] UR[nb 2] 119 91 65 59 55 47 56 78 77 60 37 35 40 42 37 43 58 47 26 19 19 13 16 19
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 3] Not Held NR Not Held 2R SF QF SF 1R
Shanghai Masters Not Held LQ LQ LQ QF 1R 1R QF LQ QF
International Championship Not Held 2R 3R 2R LQ
UK Championship LQ 2R 1R LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ 2R 2R 3R 1R 1R 1R 3R LQ LQ 1R LQ 1R 1R SF 2R QF 3R
German Masters[nb 4] Not Held LQ QF LQ NR Not Held LQ 1R LQ QF 1R LQ
Welsh Open LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 2R LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ 1R LQ 2R 2R
World Grand Prix[nb 5] LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R LQ 3R LQ 2R 1R 1R 1R LQ LQ RR LQ 2R 1R LQ 1R 2R NR
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 6] Not Held 2R 2R 1R 1R QF
China Open[nb 7] Not Held NR LQ LQ LQ 1R Not Held WR LQ LQ LQ LQ WR 2R LQ 2R LQ 2R
World Championship LQ LQ 1R 2R LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ 2R LQ 1R 2R 1R 1R
Non-ranking tournaments
Champion of Champions Not Held 1R A A
The Masters A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ WR LQ A A A LQ A A A A 1R 1R A A
Championship League Not Held A A A RR 2R RR RR F
World Seniors Championship A Not Held A A A A LQ
General Cup [nb 8] Not Held A Not Held A NH A RR W SF RR
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 9] Not Held 1R A 1R NH W W 2R 1R
Shoot-Out Not Held 2R QF 2R QF 1R
Former ranking tournaments
Classic 1R Not Held
Strachan Open[nb 10] 1R MR NR Not Held
Dubai Classic[nb 11] A 1R 2R LQ LQ LQ Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Not Held Non-Ranking Event LQ NR Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 12] A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R NR Not Held NR Not Held
Scottish Open[nb 13] NH LQ LQ 2R 1R LQ 1R LQ 2R QF LQ LQ 1R Not Held MR Not Held
British Open LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ 2R 2R LQ 5R LQ LQ 1R 3R 1R Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event LQ LQ 1R NH NR Not Held
Malta Cup[nb 14] LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ NH LQ Not Held 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ NR Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Not Held NR LQ LQ 3R Not Held
Bahrain Championship Not Held 1R Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 15] Not Held Non-Ranking Event SF A A NH
Indian Open Not Held 3R QF NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Brazil Masters Not Held 1R Not Held
World Grand Prix Not Held QF R
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
DQ disqualified from the tournament
NH / Not Held event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Event event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Event event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event event is/was a minor-ranking 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 run under different names as Australian Open (1994/1995) and Australian Masters (1995/1996)
  4. The event run under different name as German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
  5. The event was called the Grand Prix (1991/1992–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010), the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004), the World Open (2010/2011) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
  6. The event run under different name as Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  7. The event run under different name as China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
  8. The event was called the General Cup International (2004/2005–2011/2012)
  9. The event run under different names as Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  10. The event run under different name as Strachan Challenge (1992/1993–1993/1994)
  11. The event run under different names as Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and Asian Classic (1996/1997)
  12. The event run under different names as Asian Open (1991/1992–1992/1993) and Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)
  13. The event run under different names as International Open (1992/1993–1996/1997) and Players Championship (2003/2004)
  14. The event run under different names as European Open (1991/1992–1996/1997 and 2001/2002–2003/2004) and Irish Open (1998/1999)
  15. The event run under different name as Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)

Tournament wins

Non-ranking finals: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Ref.
Winner 1. 1996 Malta Masters England John Read 6–3 [47]
Winner 2. 2002 Benson & Hedges Championship Cyprus Mehmet Husnu 9–6
Winner 3. 2002 Merseyside Professional Championship Scotland Stephen Maguire 5–2 [48]
Runner-up 1. 2003 Merseyside Professional Championship Scotland Stephen Maguire 1–5 [48]
Winner 4. 2013 General Cup England Neil Robertson 7–2
Runner-up 2. 2015 Championship League England Stuart Bingham 2–3

Variant events finals: 3 (3 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Ref.
Winner 1. 2009 Six-red World Championship Wales Mark Williams 6–3 [49]
Winner 2. 2012 Six-red World Championship England Shaun Murphy 8–4 [16]
Winner 3. 2013 Six-red World Championship Australia Neil Robertson 8–4 [30]

Personal life

Davis lives with his wife Claire, their son Jack and their daughter Millie.

Notes and references

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  7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/7781545.stm
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External links