Ricky Walden

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Ricky Walden
Ricky Walden PHC 2012.jpg
Ricky Walden at the 2012 Paul Hunter Classic
Born (1982-11-11) 11 November 1982 (age 41)
Chester
Sport country  England
Nickname The Stamina Man
The Walnut[1][2]
Professional 2001–
Highest ranking 6 (March 2015)[3]
Current ranking 8 (as of 2 May 2016)
Career winnings £990,402[4]
Highest break 147 (2011 PTC10)
Century breaks 196[5]
Tournament wins
Ranking 3
Minor-ranking 1
Non-ranking 1
www.rickywalden.co.uk

Ricky Walden (born 11 November 1982) is an English professional snooker player from Chester.

Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters. He has since won the 2012 Wuxi Classic and the 2014 International Championship and has been inside the top 16 in the season-ending rankings on four occasions. Walden has reached the televised stages of the World Snooker Championship on five occasions with his best result being a semi-finalist in 2013.

Early years

Walden was born in Chester but raised in Bagillt, north Wales, where he now lives once more, having spent some time living elsewhere in Flintshire. He was one of the Young Players of Distinction in a scheme run in 2000, designed to help young players develop their playing and media skills, alongside Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire and Ali Carter. In 2001 he won the World Under-21 Championship.

Career

1999–2011

Walden began his professional career by playing UK Tour in 1999 (renamed the Challenge Tour in 2000), at the time the second-level professional tour.[6] Then he played Challenge Tour in 2001 and entered Main Tour. He started the 2004/2005 season ranked at number 78 in the world, but climbed 30 places that year. He beat John Higgins twice that season, at the Grand Prix and UK Championship, and reached the Quarter-Final of the China Open.

In 2005/2006 his best run was to the last 16 in the China Open, which he achieved by beating Stephen Maguire. In 2006/2007 he had 2 last-32 appearance including the UK Championship, where he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan 8–9. He lost to eventual finalist Mark Selby in qualifying for the World Championship.

He reached #36 for the 2007/2008 season and the same year he reached the last 16 of the Grand Prix, beating John Parrott in qualifying and four top-32 players in the main round-robin stage. He crashed out in the China Open to Mark Selby and in the qualifying for the World Championship, to Mark Allen.

In the 2008 Shanghai Masters he defeated Lee Spick and Ian McCulloch to qualify. At the venue he defeated wildcard Zhang Anda, Stephen Hendry, Neil Robertson (5–4, from 1–4 down), Steve Davis in the quarter-finals (5–2, from 0–2 down), and Mark Selby in the semi-final (6–4, from 1–4 down).[7] He won his first ranking title by beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–8 in the final.[8] The rest of the season was solid rather than spectacular, but a qualifying victory over Anthony Hamilton earned him a first appearance at the Crucible Theatre, where he lost 6–10 to Mark Selby.

In 2008 he also won the Six-red Snooker International, beating Stuart Bingham 8–3 in the final.[9]

Walden made it to the World Championship for the second time in 2011 as a seeded player, but was beaten by qualifier Rory McLeod 10–6. After the match, Walden criticised McLeod for what he considered to be a slow and 'boring' style of play, although Walden was only marginally quicker than McLeod. McLeod responded to the criticism by arguing that Walden was more responsible for the pace of the match.[10]

2011/2012 season

Walden started the 2011/2012 season slowly, by losing in qualifying for the first two ranking events of the year.[11] However, he qualified for the UK Championship by defeating Jamie Jones 6–2. In the main draw he beat Stephen Lee, Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy all by 6–3 scorelines to set up a semi-final meeting with Mark Allen.[11][12][unreliable source?] After the first session of the best-of 17-frames match Walden held a 5–3 advantage. However, upon resumption in the evening he lost the opening four frames and would eventually lose the match 7–9.[13] This was Walden's first semi-final in a ranking event based in Britain.

Walden played in all 12 of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship series of events throughout the season, reaching the final in Event 6, where he lost to Neil Robertson 1–4.[14] This result was a large factor in him finishing 15th on the PTC Order of Merit, inside the top 24 who reached the Finals.[15] He also produced a maximum break during Event 10, the second 147 of the event.[16] At the Finals he whitewashed Matthew Stevens 4–0, before receiving a bye to the quarter-finals due to Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrawing from the event. He played Stephen Maguire and was beaten 3–4.[11]

Walden's performance in the UK Championship proved to be his best run in the ranking events of the season, as he could not get past the second round in any of the remaining tournaments.[11] His season finished in disappointment as he failed to qualify for the World Championship, losing to Jamie Jones 2–10.[17][unreliable source?] However, Walden's form throughout the season was enough for him to end it ranked world number 15, meaning he had finished the season inside the elite top 16 for the first time.[18]

2012/2013 season

Walden began the season by winning his second ranking event title at the Wuxi Classic. He beat amateur Zhu Yinghui in the first round 5–0 and was leading Joe Perry 4–0 and by 64–0 in the fifth frame, before Perry incredibly went on to level the match.[19] The deciding frame came down to the final black, with Perry missing and Walden potting it at 1am local time, to reach the quarter-finals.[20] He defeated Robert Milkins 5–3 and comfortably beat Marcus Campbell 6–1 in the semi-finals to play in his second career ranking final, where he faced Stuart Bingham.[21] Walden raced into a 7–1 lead in the first session, despite Bingham's solitary frame being a 147, and would return to close out a 10–4 victory.[22] Following this he lost in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open 4–5 to Jamie Cope and in the second round of the Shanghai Masters 2–5 to Mark Williams.[19]

At the inaugural International Championship Walden saw off Lu Ning in the first round and then kept his concentration at 4–0 up against world number one Mark Selby in the next round to triumph 6–3.[23] He was then whitewashed 0–6 by Peter Ebdon in the quarter-finals.[19] At the UK Championship, Walden played 17-year-old world number 74 Luca Brecel in the first round and despite leading 2–0, 4–2, and 5–4 in the best-of-11 frame match, Walden was eventually beaten 5–6.[24] Now a part of the elite top 16, Walden played in the Masters for the second time in his career and looked to have all the momentum in his first round match against Shaun Murphy as he recovered from 1–4 down to draw level at 4–4, but Murphy upped his game to take the last two frames and expel Walden from the tournament.[25]

Successive first round losses at the German Masters and Welsh Open ensued, before Walden rediscovered some form at the World Open by eliminating Ebdon 5–2 and Stephen Maguire 5–4, but then lost to reigning champion Mark Allen 1–5 in the quarter-finals.[19] Walden emphatically recorded his first ever victory at the World Championship by thrashing Michael Holt 10–1 in the opening round.[26] He played Robert Milkins in the last 16 and saw a dominating lead of 9–3 cut to 11–10, before holding his nerve to advance to the quarter-finals with a 13–11 win.[27] Walden played qualifier Michael White in the quarter-finals, defeating him 13–6 to progress to the semi-finals, where he faced Barry Hawkins.[28] Walden led the match 12–8 before Hawkins won eight successive frames and went on to defeat Walden 17–14.[29] He finished the season at a career high world number eight in the rankings.[30]

2013/2014 season

Walden began using a new cue at the start of the 2013/2014 season and lost in the first round of the opening two ranking events, but won the minor-ranking Bluebell Wood Open, defeating Marco Fu 4–3 in the final.[31] In the UK Championship, Walden defeated Mark Williams 6–5 in the last 32, Ding Junhui 6–4 in the last 16, and Mark Allen 6–2 in the quarter-finals to reach his second UK semi-final in three years.[32] Playing Mark Selby in the semi-final, he was on the receiving end of snooker's 100th professional maximum break in the seventh frame and went on to lose the match 9–5.[33] Five days later, Walden witnessed another 147 against him, this time by Gary Wilson in qualifying for the German Masters, a match that Walden lost 5–3.[34]

In the Masters, Walden came from 5–2 behind to defeat Barry Hawkins 6–5 in the first round.[35] He faced Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals, but was whitewashed 6–0 in a match that lasted just 58 minutes. Walden scored 39 points in the first frame, but nothing thereafter as O'Sullivan compiled 556 points without reply, setting a new professional record.[36] He beat Pankaj Advani, Xiao Guodong and Shaun Murphy in reaching the quarter-finals of the China Open, but then lost 5–3 to Ali Carter.[37] At the World Championship, Walden beat Kyren Wilson 10–7 to face Hawkins in the second round, a repeat of last year's semi-final.[38] At 9–5 ahead, Walden again squandered a lead against Hawkins as he was defeated 13–11.[39]

2014/2015 season

In September 2014, he reached the final of the Six-red World Championship but lost 8–7 against Stephen Maguire.[40] In November, he won through to the final of the International Championship without facing a top 16 player. From 7–7 in the final against Mark Allen, Walden produced three breaks above 50 and a further century to take his third ranking title with a 10–7 victory. The winner's cheque of £125,000 is the highest of his career.[41] He lost in the fourth round of the UK Championship 6–0 to Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan knocked him out of the Masters for the second year in a row, this time 6–4 in the opening round.[42] Walden lost five frames in a row against Luca Brecel in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open to be defeated 5–3.[43]

Walden reached his second ranking event final of the season by coming back from 3–0 down against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh at the Indian Open to win 4–3.[44] He met Michael White in a one-sided match where White scored 419 points to Walden's 27 as he thrashed him 5–0 in 53 minutes.[45] He could not recover from this loss in the remaining three ranking events as he lost in the last 32 of each, ending his season with a 10–8 defeat to Graeme Dott in the first round of the World Championship.[42]

Personal life

Walden married Natalie Wilton in a short ceremony at New York City Hall on Thursday 22 May 2014. They have been together since 2010.[46] Their son was born in September 2015, causing Walden to withdraw from the Shanghai Masters.[47]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 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[48][nb 1] UR[nb 2][nb 3] UR[nb 3] UR 109 99 78 48 36 36 35 20 20 20 15 8 10 10
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open Not held LQ 1R 1R QF 2R
Shanghai Masters Not held LQ W QF 1R LQ 2R 1R 1R WD
International Championship Not held QF LQ W LQ
UK Championship A A LQ LQ LQ 3R 1R 2R 1R LQ 1R 1R SF 1R SF 4R 2R
German Masters Not held 2R 2R 1R LQ LQ LQ
Welsh Open A A LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ 1R 4R QF
World Grand Prix[nb 4] A A LQ LQ LQ 2R 2R LQ 2R 1R 1R QF 1R QF 3R NR
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 5] Not held 2R QF DNQ 1R 1R
China Open A A LQ Not held QF 2R LQ 1R 2R LQ 2R 2R 2R QF 2R
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ 1R LQ SF 2R 1R
Non-ranking tournaments
Champion of Champions Tournament Not Held 1R QF A
The Masters A A A LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ A A 1R QF 1R 1R
Championship League Not held A RR RR RR RR RR 2R WD
General Cup [nb 6] Not Held A Not Held W NH F F RR RR A
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 7] Not held W 2R F NH SF 2R F A
Shoot-Out Not held 1R 2R 2R 1R 2R
Former ranking tournaments
Thailand Masters A A LQ NR Not Held NR Tournament Not Held
Scottish Open[nb 8] A A LQ LQ LQ Not held MR Not Held
British Open A A LQ 1R 2R LQ Not held
Irish Masters Non-ranking LQ LQ LQ NH NR Not held
Malta Cup[nb 9] Not held LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R NR Not held
Northern Ireland Trophy Not held NR LQ LQ 1R Not held
Bahrain Championship Not held 1R Not held
Wuxi Classic[nb 10] Not held Non-ranking W 1R 2R NH
Indian Open Tournament Not Held 2R F NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Brazil Masters Not held QF Not held
World Grand Prix Not held 2R 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
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. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. ↑ New players don't have a ranking.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 He was not on the Main Tour.
  4. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (1999/2000–2000/2001 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)
  5. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  6. ↑ The event was called the General Cup International (2004/2005–2011/2012)
  7. ↑ The event was called the Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and the Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  8. ↑ The event was called the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  9. ↑ The event was called the European Open (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  10. ↑ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 4 (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–0)
UK Championship (0–0)
Other (3–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2008 Shanghai Masters England Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–8
Winner 2. 2012 Wuxi Classic England Stuart Bingham 10–4
Winner 3. 2014 International Championship Northern Ireland Mark Allen 10–7
Runner-up 1. 2015 Indian Open Wales Michael White 0–5

Minor-ranking event finals: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2011 Warsaw Classic Australia Neil Robertson 1–4
Winner 1. 2013 Bluebell Wood Open Hong Kong Marco Fu 4–3
Runner-up 2. 2015 Haining Open China Ding Junhui 3–4

Non-ranking event finals: 1 (1 title)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2009 General Cup International China Liang Wenbo 6–2

Variant event finals

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2008 Six-red Snooker International England Stuart Bingham 8–3
Runner-up 1. 2010 Six-red World Championship England Mark Selby 6–8
Runner-up 2. 2014 Six-red World Championship Scotland Stephen Maguire 7–8

Amateur wins

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Walden Springs Shanghai Surprise[dead link]
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ http://www.worldsnooker.com/walden-withdraws-from-shanghai-masters/
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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