Mark Davis (snooker player)

For other people named Mark Davis, see Mark Davis (disambiguation).
Mark Davis

Mark Davis at the 2015 German Masters
Born (1972-08-12) 12 August 1972
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 29 (as of 31 October 2016)
Career winnings £1,075,065[5]
Highest break 143 (2010 China Open, 2013 International Championship)
Century breaks 204[6]
Best ranking finish Semi-final (x4)
Tournament wins
Non-ranking 5

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 over 200 competitive centuries in his career up to October 2016, putting him 27th 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

Mark Davis at the 2015 German Masters

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]

2015/2016 season

Davis' first quarter-final of the 2015/2016 season came at the Shanghai Masters, courtesy of 5–1 and 5–3 wins over Michael White and Shaun Murphy, but he was beaten 5–1 by Mark Allen. He lost in the third round of the UK Championship 6–4 to Stephen Maguire.[46] Davis claimed the World Seniors Championship, his first televised title in the UK, by seeing off Darren Morgan in the final.[47] He failed to qualify for the World Championship for the first time since 2011 after losing 10–5 to Zhang Anda.[46]

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		 2016/
17
Ranking[48][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 26
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 3] Tournament Not Held MR 1R
Indian Open Tournament Not Held 3R QF NH 2R
World Open[nb 4] LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R 1R 1R LQ 3R LQ 2R 1R 1R 1R LQ LQ RR LQ 2R 1R LQ 1R 2R Not Held 1R
Paul Hunter Classic[nb 5] Tournament Not Held Pro-am Event Minor-Ranking Event QF
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ LQ QF 1R 1R QF LQ QF LQ
European Masters[nb 6] LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ LQ NR Tournament Not Held QF
English Open Tournament Not Held 2R
International Championship Tournament Not Held 2R 3R 2R LQ LQ
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held LQ Tournament Not Held 2R
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 2R
Scottish Open[nb 7] NH LQ LQ 2R 1R LQ 1R LQ 2R QF LQ LQ 1R Tournament Not Held MR Not Held
German Masters[nb 8] Tournament Not Held LQ QF LQ NR Tournament Not Held LQ 1R LQ QF 1R LQ
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ
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 3R
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR
Players Championship[nb 9] Tournament Not Held 2R 2R 1R 1R QF 1R
China Open[nb 10] Tournament Not Held NR LQ LQ LQ 1R Not Held WR LQ LQ LQ LQ WR 2R LQ 2R LQ 2R 1R
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 LQ
Ranking & variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held Variant Format Event
Non-ranking tournaments
Champion of Champions Tournament Not Held 1R A A 1R
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 A
Championship League Tournament Not Held A A A RR 2R RR RR F RR
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 11] Tournament Not Held 1R A 1R NH W W 2R 1R 1R
Former ranking tournaments
Classic 1R Tournament Not Held
Strachan Open[nb 12] 1R MR NR Tournament Not Held
Dubai Classic[nb 13] A 1R 2R LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Malta Grand Prix Not Held Non-Ranking Event LQ NR Tournament Not Held
Thailand Masters[nb 14] A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R NR Not Held NR Tournament Not Held
British Open LQ 1R LQ LQ LQ 2R 2R LQ 5R LQ LQ 1R 3R 1R Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters Non-Ranking Event LQ LQ 1R NH NR Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held NR LQ LQ 3R Tournament Not Held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held 1R Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 15] Tournament Not Held Non-Ranking Event SF A A Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open[nb 16] Not Held Non-Ranking Tournament Not Held 2R SF QF SF 1R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Brazil Masters Tournament Not Held 1R Tournament Not Held
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held QF Ranking
World Seniors Championship A Tournament Not Held A VF A A LQ W NH
General Cup[nb 17] Tournament Not Held A Tournament Not Held A NH A RR W SF RR NH
Former variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held 2R QF 2R QF 1R 1R RV
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.
RV / Ranking & Variant Format Event means an event is/was a ranking & variant format event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
PA / Pro-am Event means an event is/was a pro-am event.
VF / Variant Format Event means 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 (1991/1992–2000/2001 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 Grand Prix Fürth (2004/2005) and the Fürth German Open (2005/2006–2006/2007)
  6. ↑ The event was called the Malta Cup (2004/2005–2007/2008)
  7. ↑ The event was called the International Open (1992/1993–1996/1997) and the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  8. ↑ The event was called the German Open (1995/1996–1997/1998)
  9. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013) and the Players Championship Grand Final (2013/2014–2015/2016)
  10. ↑ The event was called the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
  11. ↑ The event was called the Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and the Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  12. ↑ The event was called the Strachan Challenge (1992/1993–1993/1994)
  13. ↑ The event was called the Thailand Classic (1995/1996) and the Asian Classic (1996/1997)
  14. ↑ The event was called the Asian Open (1991/1992–1992/1993) and the Thailand Open (1993/1994–1996/1997)
  15. ↑ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)
  16. ↑ The event was called the Australian Open (1994/1995) and the Australian Masters (1995/1996)
  17. ↑ The event was called the General Cup International (2004/2005–2011/2012)

Tournament wins

Non-ranking finals: 7 (5 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Ref.
Winner 1. 1996 Malta Masters England John Read 6–3 [49]
Winner 2. 2002 Benson & Hedges Championship Cyprus Mehmet Husnu 9–6
Winner 3. 2002/03 Merseyside Professional Championship Scotland Maguire, StephenStephen Maguire 5–2 [50]
Runner-up 1. 2003/04 Merseyside Professional Championship Scotland Maguire, StephenStephen Maguire 1–5 [50]
Winner 4. 2013 General Cup England Robertson, NeilNeil Robertson 7–2
Runner-up 2. 2015 Championship League England Bingham, StuartStuart Bingham 2–3
Winner 5. 2016 World Seniors Championship Wales Morgan, DarrenDarren Morgan 2–1

Variant events finals: 3 (3 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Ref.
Winner 1. 2009 Six-red World Championship Wales Williams, MarkMark Williams 6–3 [51]
Winner 2. 2012 Six-red World Championship England Murphy, ShaunShaun Murphy 8–4 [16]
Winner 3. 2013 Six-red World Championship Australia Robertson, NeilNeil Robertson 8–4 [30]

Personal life

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

References

  1. ↑ "Issued after the Bugarian Open 2013 (ET1)" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 12 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "The World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association Official World Rankings after the Haikou World Open 2014" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "World Rankings after the Players Championship 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 31 March 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "World Rankings after the China Open 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "Prize Money – All-time, Professional". CueTracker – Snooker Database. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "Centuries". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  7. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/7781545.stm
  8. 1 2 3 "Mark Davis 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  9. ↑ "Order of Merit". Snooker.org. 8 January 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Carter cruises into round two as Davis suffers at The Crucible". London: Daily Mail. 26 April 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  12. 1 2 "In Form Bingham Keeps Run Going". World Snooker. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  13. ↑ "Wuxi Classic 2012 results". worldsnooker.com. World Snooker. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  14. ↑ "Closing Century Puts Bingham into Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  15. ↑ "SangSom 6 Red World Championship (2012)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  16. 1 2 "Six of the Best For Davis". World Snooker. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  17. 1 2 3 "Mark Davis 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  18. ↑ "Ebdon to face Hawkins in Goldfields final". Eurosport. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  19. ↑ "UK Snooker Championship 2012: Higgins out despite 147". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  20. ↑ "UK Snooker Championship 2012: Mark Selby beats Mark Davis". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  21. ↑ Metcalfe, Nick (13 January 2013). "Allen sees off Davis to book place in last eight of Masters". London: Daily Mail. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  22. ↑ "Official world rankings issued after the China Open 2013". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  23. ↑ "Ronnie O'Sullivan to defend snooker world title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  24. ↑ "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  25. ↑ "Snooker – O'Sullivan set for another Crucible battle with Carter". Eurosport. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  26. ↑ "World Snooker Championship 2013: Mark Davis delighted at win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  27. ↑ "Bingham Reaches First Crucible Quarter". World Snooker. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  28. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  29. ↑ "Mark Davis 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  30. 1 2 "SangSom 6 Red World Championship (2013)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  31. ↑ "General Cup (2013)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  32. ↑ "Breaking news: Davis beaten in decider". Bexhill-on-Sea Observer. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  33. ↑ "Masters 2014: Mark Selby and John Higgins into quarter-finals". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  34. ↑ "Trump charges into German Masters semis". Eurosport. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  35. ↑ "Davis keen to make his mark". Hastings & St. Leonards Observer. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  36. ↑ "World Championship: Dominic Dale and Neil Robertson reach second round at Crucible". Sky Sports. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  37. ↑ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  38. ↑ "Robertson To Face Davis in Bendigo". World Snooker. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  39. ↑ "Trump To Face Robertson in Bendigo Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  40. ↑ "Mark Davis 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  41. ↑ "Bingham Is Championship League King". World Snooker. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  42. ↑ "John Higgins beaten 4–0 by Mark Davis in India". The Herald. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  43. ↑ "Davis defeats Robertson again". Hasting & St. Leonards Observer. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  44. ↑ "Davis suffers another last eight exit". Hasting & St. Leonards Observer. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  45. ↑ "World Snooker Championship: Ding Junhui beats Mark Davis". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  46. 1 2 "Mark Davis 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  47. ↑ "Senior Success for Davis". World Snooker. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  48. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  49. ↑ "1996 Malta Masters". CueTracker – Snooker Database. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  50. 1 2 Turner, Chris. "Merseyside Professional Championship". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  51. ↑ "Davis makes his Mark in Killarney". Global Snooker. 18 December 2009. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
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