John Astley (snooker player)

John Astley
Born 13 January 1989
Gateshead, England
Sport country  England
Professional 2013–
Highest ranking 75 (September–November 2014)[1][2][3]
Current ranking 82 (as of 6 April 2015)
Career winnings £22,979[4]
Highest break 138 (2012 Antwerp Open)
Century breaks 8[4]
Best ranking finish Last 64 (x6)

John J. Astley (born 13 January 1989) is an English professional snooker player from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

Career

Early career

Astley first came into prominence in 2007 by winning the national Under-19 title (defeating Michael Georgiou in the final),[5] however wins in the amateur PIOS tournaments proved hard to come by. His attempts to qualify for the main tour via Q School in 2011 and 2012 were unsuccessful as well. Nevertheless, Astley gained enough sponsorship to be able to enter all the PTC events in the 2012/13 season as an amateur. He reached the last 32 stage three times and finished fourth highest ranked amateur on the Order of Merit, winning a tour card for 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons.

2013/2014

Astley won his opening match of the season 5–2 against Mike Dunn to reach the main draw of the Wuxi Classic. In his first appearance in a ranking event Astley was whitewashed 5–0 by Robert Milkins.[6] He won a match in a ranking event for the first time by edging out Ken Doherty 6–5 in the UK Championship, a performance he described afterwards as the best of his career.[7] He lost 6–1 against Stuart Carrington in the next round.[8] Astley also qualified for the China Open with a 5–2 success over Robbie Williams and then came through a wildcard round match once in China, before losing 5–1 to Ding Junhui.[9] Astley beat Sam Baird 10–9 in the first round of World Championship qualifying, but his season ended in his next match with a heavy 10–2 loss to Jamie Cope.[6] He finished his debut season on the tour ranked world number 98.[10] Astley was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award at the World Snooker Annual Award Ceremony.[11]

2014/2015

Astley's 2014/2015 season proved to be disappointing as he could not qualify for any ranking event, other than the UK Championship and Welsh Open for which he gained automatic entry. He lost in the first round of the UK 6–2 to Jamie Cope and beat David Gilbert 4–1 at the Welsh, before Gary Wilson knocked him out 4–3 in the second round.[12] Astley played in all six of the minor-ranking European Tour events but could not win a match in any of them.[13] After losing his first qualifying match for the World Championship to Dominic Dale, Astley is set to be relegated from the tour.

Tournament wins

Amateur

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2012/
13		 2013/
14 		2014/
15
Ranking[14][nb 1] UR UR[nb 2] 98
Ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic A 1R LQ
Australian Goldfields Open A LQ LQ
Shanghai Masters A LQ LQ
International Championship A LQ LQ
UK Championship A 2R 1R
German Masters A LQ LQ
Welsh Open A 1R 2R
Indian Open NH LQ LQ
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 3] DNQ DNQ DNQ
China Open A 1R LQ
World Championship A LQ LQ
Former ranking tournaments
World Open A 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. ↑ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2012/2013)

References

  1. ↑ "World Rankings after the Shanghai Masters 2014" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "World Rankings after the Bulgarian Open 2014 (ET3)" (PDF). World Snooker. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "World Rankings after the Haining Open 2014 (AT2)" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Career-total Statistics for John Astley - Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Snooker: Young star plays for pro future". The Journal. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "John Astley 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "UK Snooker Championship 2013: John Astley joy at Ken Doherty win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  8. ↑ "Stuart Carrington through to UK Champs third round". Grimsby Telegraph. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "Top seeds safely through at China Open Read". ESPN (UK). Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  10. ↑ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "O’Sullivan Named Player Of The Year". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  12. ↑ "John Astley 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

External links