Chris Wakelin

Chris Wakelin
Born (1992-03-16) 16 March 1992
Rugby, England
Sport country  England
Professional 2013–
Highest ranking 69 (March–April 2015)[1]
Current ranking 66 (as of 31 October 2016)
Career winnings £48,415[2]
Highest break 136 (2014 Wuxi Classic Qualifying)
Century breaks 8[2]
Best ranking finish Quarter-final (2015 Indian Open, 2016 English Open)

Chris Wakelin (born 16 March 1992)[3] is an English professional snooker player from Rugby, Warwickshire. He practices frequently with Kyren Wilson, David Gilbert and Mark Selby at the Atack Club in Nuneaton.[4]

Career

Early career

Wakelin started playing snooker aged 8, when his parents Mark and Angie bought him his first mini snooker table, and by the time he was 11 he was successfully playing in the local league.[5] However his career nearly came to a halt at the age of 17 when he had to start working full-time as ASDA delivery driver to support himself financially, and only played snooker as a hobby. In 2012 Wakelin decided to give the game another go but soon had to face more difficulties as family issues resulted in a severe depression: "I could line up but I just couldn’t pot. I thought I would never play again. But thankfully with the help of my friends I managed to turn it around."[6] Since then Wakelin reached the semi-finals of the 2013 English Amateur Championship, before making it through to the England's Under 21 final (where he would later beat Hammad Miah).[5][7]

These results encouraged him to enter Q School in May. After having made it to the final round of the first event, he again reached the final round at the Event 3. There he faced former professional Adam Wicheard, who led 2–0 before Wakelin hit back to lead 3–2. Then, in the sixth frame when Wakelin was already 23–0 up, Wicheard accidentally snapped his cue when leaning on it, and had to concede the match.[7] As a result, Wakelin won a tour card for the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons.

2013/2014 season

Wakelin had a tough debut season as a professional as he lost his opening match in all the ranking tournaments aside from the UK Championship, where he defeated 22nd seed Ryan Day 6–5 before losing by the same scoreline to Jamie Burnett in the subsequent round.[3] He had better results in the minor-ranking European Tour events, reaching the last 32 of the Rotterdam Open before going all the way to the quarter-finals of the Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup, where he lost 4–2 to Judd Trump.[3] Wakelin's season ended when he was edged out 10–9 by Paul Davison in the first round of World Championship qualifying, with him ranked world number 106 after his first year on tour.[8][9]

2014/2015 season

Wakelin's second season on the tour was a vast improvement on his first. He beat Tom Ford 5–2 to qualify for the 2014 Wuxi Classic and in his first appearance in a ranking event outside of the UK he overcame Joe O'Connor 5–2, before losing 5–2 to Shaun Murphy.[10] At the minor-ranking Ruhr Open, Wakelin overcame Matthew Stevens 4–1 and then fought back from 3–0 and needing two snookers in the deciding frame to beat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4–3. A 4–2 win over Fergal O'Brien saw him reach the quarter-finals where he lost 4–1 to Judd Trump.[10] At the Indian Open, Wakelin beat Rhys Clark 4–2, Andrew Pagett 4–1 and Nigel Bond 4–1 to play in the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time.[11] He was 2–1 ahead of Michael White, but would lose 4–2.[12]

Wakelin's performances in the European Tour events this season saw him finish a lofty 22nd on the Order of Merit to earn a new two-year tour card.[13] It also gave him entry into the Grand Final where he whitewashed Robert Milkins 4–0, before Matthew Selt ousted Wakelin 4–2 in the second round.[14]

2015/2016 season

Wakelin saw off Alex Taubman 5–1, Craig Steadman 5–0 and Liam Highfield 5–2 to reach the final qualifying round of the Australian Goldfields Open, but lost 5–3 to Jamie Jones.[15] A 6–4 victory over Peter Lines saw him qualify for the International Championship, where he lost 6–4 to Barry Hawkins having led 3–1.[16] Wakelin beat Matthew Stevens 6–5 on the final black in the first round of the UK Championship and apologised to his opponent for an exuberant celebration at the end in a win he described as one of his best.[17] He was defeated 6–2 by Michael Holt in the second round. Wakelin qualified for the China Open by eliminating Kurt Maflin 5–3 and was edged out 5–4 by Matthew Selt in the first round.[18] After beating world number 25 and former practice partner Ben Woollaston 10–9, Wakelin looked set to reach the final qualifying round for the World Championship after leading Anthony Hamilton 4–0 and 9–6, but went on to lose 10–9.[19]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17
Ranking[20][nb 1] UR[nb 2] UR[nb 3] 106 UR 83
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters[nb 4] Tournament Not Held Minor-Ranking 1R
Indian Open NH LQ QF NH LQ
World Open A LQ Not Held LQ
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event 2R
Shanghai Masters A LQ LQ LQ LQ
European Masters Tournament Not Held LQ
English Open Tournament Not Held QF
International Championship A LQ LQ 1R 1R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 2R
UK Championship A 2R 1R 2R 2R
Scottish Open MR Tournament Not Held
German Masters A LQ LQ LQ
Welsh Open A 1R 2R 1R
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 5] DNQ DNQ 2R DNQ
China Open A LQ LQ 1R
World Championship A LQ LQ LQ
Variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out A A 2R A
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic A LQ 2R NH
Australian Goldfields Open A LQ 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. ↑ It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. ↑ He was an amateur.
  3. ↑ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  4. ↑ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)
  5. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2012/2013)

Tournament wins

Amateur

References

  1. ↑ "World Rankings after the Players Championship 2015" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Career-total Statistics for Chris Wakelin – Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 "Chris Wakelin 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "Chris Wakelin Q&A". World Snooker. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Chris has staked it all on a pot of gold". Rugby Advertiser. 28 April 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  6. ↑ Evans, Gregg (16 June 2013). "Chris takes his cue from bizarre accident". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  7. 1 2 Arrowsmith, Jamie (19 June 2013). "Wakelin set to star on the baize". Rugby Observer. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  8. ↑ "Steadman Sets Up Davis Meeting". World Snooker. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Chris Wakelin 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "Wakelin Keeps Run Going". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "White Makes Semi Breakthrough". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "Williams Fight Back Floors Selby". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "Chris Wakelin 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  16. ↑ "Champion Ricky Walden beaten by Tian Pengfei in China". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  17. ↑ "UK Championship 2015: Chris Wakelin in pieces at black-ball win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  18. ↑ "Snooker: Wakelin hopes to make the Crucible cut". Nuneaton News. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  19. ↑ "Snooker World Championship 2016: Wakelin suffers comeback defeat". Nuneaton News. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  20. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

External links

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