Gerard Greene

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerard Greene
Born (1973-11-12) 12 November 1973
Kent
Sport country  Northern Ireland
Professional 1993–
Highest ranking 26 (04/05)
Current ranking 63 (as of 10 February 2014)
Career winnings GB£544,304[1]
Highest break 144 (Ruhr Open 2013)
Century breaks 85[1]
Best ranking finish Semi-finals (Grand Prix 2007)
Gerard Greene
Medal record
Competitor for  United Kingdom
Men's Snooker
World Games
Gold 2005 Duisburg Individual

Gerard Greene (born 12 November 1973 in Kent, South East England) is a left-handed Northern Irish professional snooker player, who has represented Northern Ireland in international events (the Nations Cup in 2000 and 2001), as his parents are from Belfast. He lives in Rainham in Medway. He has enjoyed moderate success in his career; with a high ranking of 26 and has reached one ranking semi-final (the 2007 Grand Prix) and four quarter-finals. In 2013 he played in the first final carrying ranking points of his career.

He has qualified for the World Championship three times without winning a match at the Crucible Theatre, although he has twice drawn the defending champion – (John Higgins in 1999 and Peter Ebdon in 2003). The other time he qualified was in 2005 where he lost 10–9 to Steve Davis .

He had an extraordinary match in the 1996 Grand Prix, going in-off on the final black to decide the frame three times (thus losing all 3 frames) in a 5–0 defeat to Davis, who called him "the unluckiest man in the snooker world".

Career

Early career

Greene turned pro and joined the professional ranks in 1993/94 at the age of 20. In 1995/96 he got to the latter stages of three events and was up 38 places to 72nd in the World Rankings. In 1997 he got to his first ranking Quarter-final in the UK Snooker Championship by beating Ian Burmby 6–5 in the first round, Steve Davis 6–2 in the second round, Andy Hicks 9–6 in the third round, and Gary Ponting 9–6 in the last 16, taking him to the Quarter-finals where he lost 6–9 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

2003/2004

He started the 2003/04 season in superb form reaching the British Open quarter final and the last 32 of the UK Championship beating Joe Swail 9–4 in the first round, then losing 9–7 to Matthew Stevens. He also reached the last 32 of the LG Cup. He was briefly provisionally in the top 16 but then suffered a mid season slump. Things picked up a little later in the campaign and he was assured of a place in the top 32 for the first time at number 26, and overtook Swail to become the number one player from Northern Ireland.

2004/2005

He then had some problems with his cue and his form suffered during the 2004/5 season when he failed in all but two of the ranking events, and despite reaching the Irish Masters quarter final he found himself back down to 38th in the rankings.

2006/2007

He returned to the top 32 after 2006/2007, the highlight being a run to the last 16 of the Northern Ireland Trophy.

2007/2008

He reached his first ranking semi-final at the 2007 Grand Prix. Greene came through Group B which included Ronnie O'Sullivan, Steve Davis, Dominic Dale and qualifiers Tom Ford and Mark Joyce. He beat Davis and Dale 4–0, Ford 4–3 and Joyce 4–2, his only defeat coming at the hands of Ronnie O'Sullivan, 4–2. He defeated qualifier Ricky Walden 5–0 in the last 16 with breaks of 101 and 91. In his Quarter-Final he faced Joe Perry, who he defeated 5–3 with breaks of 68, 57, 123 and rounding of the match with a 53. Eventual champion Marco Fu edged him out 6–5 in the semi-final. For a while before this tournament, he had no snooker club to practice in.[2]

Showing his best form for years, he also reached the Quarter-final of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy, beating Liang Wenbo (5–2) in the first round. Then he beat former World Champions Mark Williams (5–3) and Ken Doherty (5–1) on the way. His run ended in the hands of Mark Allen, who he lost to 5–3. He lost form in 2008 however, failing to qualify for the World Championship after a 2–10 defeat to journeyman Mark Davis.

2008/2009

Greene's 2008/2009 season was solid but unspectacular. He won his opening match in six of the season's eight tournaments, but only went further in two of them. Crucially, he qualified for the World Championship by defeating Liu Song and Ken Doherty (gaining revenge for a defeat Doherty inflicted on him in the Northern Ireland Trophy). He was beaten 10–5 by Ali Carter in the first round.[3]

2009/2010

Greene qualified for five of the six ranking events during the 2009/2010 season, but once there lost in the wildcard round of the Shanghai Masters to Li Yan and in the first round of the other four.[4] He finished the year ranked world number 28.[5]

2010/2011

Greene began the 2010/2011 season brightly by reaching the semi-finals of the second Players Tour Championship event. He defeated Anthony McGill in the last 16 and Ricky Walden in the quarter-finals, before losing 1–4 to Barry Pinches.[6] He played in all 12 of these minor-ranking events and reached the last 16 on three occasions, which helped him finish 25th on the Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals, where he was defeated 2–4 by Matthew Stevens in the first round.[7][6] He qualified for two other ranking events, the Welsh Open and China Open, but lost in the first round on both occasions to finish the season ranked world number 32.[8]

2011/2012

Greene could not qualify for a single ranking event during the 2011/2012 season.[9] He also did not fare well in the Players Tour Championship events as he took part in all 12 of them but only advanced to the last 16 once to finish 57th on the PTC Order of Merit and 42nd in the world rankings.[10][11]

2012/2013

Greene could not feature in the main draw of a ranking event until the Welsh Open in February. He beat David Grace and Ali Carter to qualify, but was then whitewashed 0–4 by Sam Baird in the first round.[12] He had a very poor season in the PTC events to finish 89th on the Order of Merit.[13] Green's slide down the world rankings during recent years continued as he finished 56th, a drop of 14 places from the start of the season.[14]

2013/2014

Greene beat Martin O'Donnell 5–3 to qualify for the first ranking event of the 2013/2014 season, the Wuxi Classic. At the venue he saw off Michael Wasley 5–1, before losing 5–2 to David Morris in the second round.[15] Greene reached his first final after 20 years as a professional at the minor-ranking Paul Hunter Classic in August. He won four matches to reach the quarter-finals where he beat Joe Swail 4–1, then held his nerve against Ali Carter to win 4–3 after leading 3–0. In the final he faced Ronnie O'Sullivan and was defeated 4–0 in 44 minutes.[16] He then secured the highest break in the qualifying rounds of the International Championships, a break of 142 in a 6-5 defeat to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. At the 2013 Ruhr Open Greene went on to make his highest break of his professional career a 144 in a 4-0 first round win over Germany's Phil Barnes. Greene then went on to beat Nigel Bond 4-2 then lost 4-2 to Anthony Hamilton in the last 32.

Career finals

Minor-ranking event finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2013 Paul Hunter Classic England O'Sullivan, RonnieRonnie O'Sullivan 0–4

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Gerard Greene". Cue Tracker. Retrieved 26 August 2013. 
  2. ↑ BBC SPORT | Other Sport... | Snooker | Higgins angry after defeat by Fu
  3. ↑ "Betfred.com World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 26 August 2013. 
  4. ↑ "Gerard Greene 2009/2010". Snooker.org. Retrieved 25 August 2013. 
  5. ↑ Ardalen, Hermund (2010). "Provisional World Rankings 2010/2011". Snooker.org. Retrieved 2 December 2010. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Gerard Greene 2010/2011". Snooker.org. Retrieved 25 August 2013. 
  7. ↑ "Order of Merit 2010/2011". Snooker.org. Retrieved 25 August 2013. 
  8. ↑ "Rankings after 2011 World Championship" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 4 May 2011. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2011. 
  9. ↑ "Gerard Greene 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 25 August 2013. 
  10. ↑ "Order of Merit 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 25 August 2013. 
  11. ↑ "Rankings after 2012 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 8 May 2012. Archived from the original on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2012. 
  12. ↑ "Gerard Greene 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 25 August 2013. 
  13. ↑ "Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 25 August 2013. 
  14. ↑ "World Rankings 2012/2013 Updated after the 2013 World Championship". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 May 2013. 
  15. ↑ "Gerard Greene 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 26 August 2013. 
  16. ↑ "O'Sullivan Triumphs In Germany". World Snooker. Retrieved 26 August 2013. 

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.