Matthew Stevens

For other people named Matthew Stevens, see Matthew Stevens (disambiguation).

Matthew Stevens

Born	11 September 1977 (1977-09-11) (age 34) Carmarthen
Sport country	Wales
Nickname	The Welsh Dragon
Professional	1994–
Highest ranking	4 (2005/06)
Current ranking	15
Highest break	145 (1996, 2001)
Century breaks	220
Tournament wins
Ranking	1
Non-ranking	6

Matthew Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player.^[1] Stevens has won two of the game's most prestigious events, the Benson and Hedges Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been the runner-up in the World Snooker Championship on two occasions, in 2000 and 2005. Stevens reached a career high ranking of #4 for the 2005/2006 season, and is currently ranked inside of the elite top 16 at number 15. Stevens is known as a good breakbuilder, and has compiled over 200 competitive centuries so far during his career.^[2]

Career

Early career

Stevens turned professional in 1994 and in his second season won the Benson & Hedges Championship to qualify for the 1996 Masters. At the Masters he beat Terry Griffiths 5–3 but lost 6–5 to Alan McManus. The following season he also showed potential by beating Stephen Hendry 5–1 in the Grand Prix. In the 1997/1998 season he reached the semi-finals of both the Grand Prix and UK Championship. He also reached the quarter-finals on his debut at the Crucible of the World Championship, beating Alain Robidoux and Mark King before losing to Ken Doherty. In 1998 he reached his first ranking final at the UK Championship, losing 10–6 to John Higgins.

2000–2005

In 2000, he won the Masters, with a 10–8 win over Ken Doherty in the final. Later that season at the World Championship he reached the first of his two World Championship finals to date. After victories over Tony Drago, Alan McManus, Jimmy White and Joe Swail he faced Mark Williams losing 16–18 after having led 10–6, 13–7 and then 14–10 with only the final session to play. Stevens became only the second player in the history of the world championship to lose in the final from holding a 4 frame overnight lead.

He has also been a beaten semi-finalist on three occasions in 2001, 2002 and 2004. In 2002 he looked certain to have won a place in the final leading Peter Ebdon 16–14 in their semi final tie, and just needed a relatively simple red in the 31st frame to leave his opponent needing snookers. Stevens missed the pot and Ebdon made a famous clearance to win the frame, and went on to take the next two to win the match 17–16.^[3]

Stevens won the 2003 UK Championship beating Stephen Hendry 10–8 in the final. He trailed Hendry 0–4, but remarkably he reeled off the next five frames. Hendry found his form again to lead 7–5, but Stevens was not to be denied and clinched a 10–8 victory, which remains the only ranking tournament victory of his career.^[4] However, he followed this with a run of nine successive first round defeats in best-of-nine matches, only interrupted by a run to the semi-final of the 2004 World Championship.

In 2005 he was again runner-up, losing 16–18 to Shaun Murphy in the final, having been up 10–6 and then 12–11 with only the final session to play. Again Stevens relinquished a 4 frame overnight lead to lose in the final, only the third time this has ever happened. This defeat was all the more painful as Stevens had been widely considered as the player of the tournament.

2006–2010

In 2007 he lost 12–13 to Murphy in the quarter finals having led 11–5 and 12–7, making him the first person to ever lose a best of 25 match from leading 12–7. The defeat left him ranked outside of the top 16 for the first time in 8 years. In 2008 he was defeated in the first round of the world championship for the first time in his career by defending champion John Higgins, and he finished ranked outside the top 16 for the second consecutive season. The only highlight of the 2008/09 season was a run to the final of the Bahrain Championship, in which the unavailability of three leading players gave him a top sixteen seeding. He only reached the last sixteen of one other event, and failed to qualify for the World Championship after a defeat to Martin Gould. He finished the season with a drop of nine places to #26.

Stevens enjoyed a solid 2009/2010 season. He qualified for the Welsh Open by beating Barry Pinches 5–4. In the first round, he caused an upset by defeating Shaun Murphy 5–4. He faced Northern Ireland's Mark Allen in round two, and despite making two century breaks he lost the match 5–2. Stevens also lost a close match 10–9 to Marcus Campbell in the 2010 World Championship qualifiers, and thus did not make it to The Crucible for the second year in succession.

2010/2011

Stevens made a promising start to the 2010/2011 season by qualifying for the Shangai Masters, beating Anda Zhang 5–2. In the first round he defeated Liang Wenbo 5–3. He caused another upset in the last 16 by beating Shaun Murphy. He played Ali Carter in the quarter-finals but lost 5–4 on the final black, despite leading 4–1.

Stevens continued his solid form by reaching the quarter-finals at the Welsh Open. He qualified by beating Anthony Hamilton 4-2. There he whitewashed number 5 seed Shaun Murphy 4-0 and in the last 16 he beat fellow Welshman and close friend Ryan Day 4-3. In the quarter-finals, Stevens was drawn against John Higgins, but was edged out 5-3. Despite these performances he still wasn't ranked in the top 16 and so had to qualify for the World Championship, where he managed to beat Fergal O'Brien 10–9 on the final black to qualify for the first time since 2008. He was eliminated by Mark Allen in the first round, losing 4 consecutive frames after leading 9-6. Still it was enough to secure his return to the top 16.

He then won the 2011 Championship League beating Mark Williams 3-1 in the semi-final and Shaun Murphy 3-1 in the final, to qualify for the prestigious Premier League.

Personal life

Stevens was born in Carmarthen, Wales, attended an all Welsh speaking school, and is fluent in the Language – Bro Myrddin Welsh Comprehensive School.

The unexpected death of his father, manager and friend Morrell in 2001 was tough on him.^[5] This caused Matthew to have an uneventful few seasons. Stevens and his wife Claire Holloway have two sons, Freddie and Ollie, who were born in 1993 and 2008 respectively.

Stevens was a close friend to Paul Hunter and was pallbearer at his funeral.^[6] He is also a celebrity Texas hold 'em poker player and in 2004 won the UK's richest poker tournament at just 27 years old, beating 15 time World Darts champion Phil Taylor to first place. Stevens had only been playing poker for 18 months before his victory.^[7][8]

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 7 (1 title, 6 runner-ups)

Legend World Championship (0–2) UK Championship (1–2) Other (0–2) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Runner-up 1. 1998 UK Championship Higgins, JohnJohn Higgins 6–10 Runner-up 2. 1999 UK Championship (2) Williams, MarkMark Williams 8–10 Runner-up 3. 2000 World Snooker Championship Williams, MarkMark Williams 16–18 Winner 1. 2003 UK Championship Hendry, StephenStephen Hendry 10–8 Runner-up 4. 2005 Irish Masters O'Sullivan, RonnieRonnie O'Sullivan 8–10 Runner-up 5. 2005 World Snooker Championship (2) Murphy, ShaunShaun Murphy 16–18 Runner-up 6. 2008 Bahrain Championship Robertson, NeilNeil Robertson 7–9 Non-ranking Benson & Hedges Championship – 1995 Regal Scottish Masters – 1999 Benson & Hedges Masters – 2000 Northern Ireland Trophy – 2005 Pot Black – 2005 Championship League – 2011 Team events Nations Cup with team Wales – 1999 References ^ "Profile on World Snooker". World Snooker Association. 2010. http://www.worldsnooker.com/player_list-8138.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-02.  ^ "Chris Turners Snooker Archive – Top Century Makers". 2008. http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Centuries.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-01.  ^ "Brave Ebdon sinks Stevens". BBC Sport. 2002-05-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/world_champs_2002/1965134.stm. Retrieved 2010-09-03.  ^ "Stevens clinches UK crown". BBC Sport. 2003-11-30. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/3251450.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-02.  ^ "Profile on Sporting Life 2001/2002". Sporting Life. 2001/2002. http://www.sportinglife.com/snooker/season01-02/profiles/mstevens/. Retrieved 2008-08-02.  ^ "Hundreds gather at Hunter funeral". BBC News / West Yorkshire. October 19, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/west_yorkshire/6066570.stm. Retrieved April 20, 2007.  ^ "Snooker star wins poker's big pot". BBC News. December 13, 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/4091481.stm. Retrieved 2007-04-20.  ^ "Matthew Stevens: Hendon Mob Poker Database". The Hendon Mob.com. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=28026. Retrieved April 20, 2007.  External links "Matthew Stevens". WorldSnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 2007–2010 [copyright date]. "" section. http://www.worldsnooker.com/page//0,,8138.html.  Official WPBSA player profile. Matthew Stevens – results & statistics at CueTracker.net Profile on Pro Snooker Blog Profile on Global Snooker Official Site Persondata Name Stevens, Matthew Alternative names Short description Date of birth 11 September 1977 Place of birth Carmarthen Date of death Place of death