Ryan Day

This article is about the Welsh snooker player. For the American football player and coach, see Ryan Day (American football).
Ryan Day

Born (1980-03-23) 23 March 1980
Pontycymer, Bridgend, Wales
Nickname Dynamite
Professional 1998–2001, 2002–
Highest ranking 6 (2009/10)
Current ranking 18 (as of 1 December 2015)
Career winnings £838,778[1]
Highest break 147 (2014 Haining Open)
Century breaks 240[2]
Best ranking finish Runner-up (2007 Malta Cup, 2007 Shanghai Masters, 2008 Grand Prix)
Tournament wins
Non-ranking 3

Ryan Day (born 23 March 1980) is a Welsh professional snooker player. As a prolific break-builder, he has compiled more than 200 century breaks during his career.[2]

Career

Early career

Day was born in Pontycymer, Bridgend, and began his professional career by playing UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour.[3] He is named Young Player of Distinction of the season 2000/2001 by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA). He won the 2001 Benson & Hedges Championship. With this win, he qualified for the 2002 Masters, where he defeated Dave Harold, before losing 0–6 to Stephen Hendry. He also won the WPBSA Challenge Tour in the 2001/2002 season and was named WPBSA Newcomer of the Year in 2002. Due to problems with his liver in 2003, his results suffered badly.

In 2004, however, he qualified for the World Snooker Championship and he led John Higgins 9–7 in the first round, becoming the first player to score three centuries in his first Crucible match, but missed a pink in the 17th frame that would have left Higgins needing a snooker to stay in the tournament. Higgins went on to win the frame and the next two for the match. As some consolation, Higgins commented that Day was "going to be a top player for many years to come".[4]

2005–2011

Day reached the quarter-finals of his home tournament, the 2005 Welsh Open defeating Allister Carter and Steve Davis along the way (coming back from 0–4 to beat Steve Davis 5–4). He finished this season ranked 33, but as Quinten Hann did not participate in any events, Day was always among the top 32 seeds, meaning one less qualifying match than he would otherwise have faced.

Back at the Crucible in 2006, he beat Joe Perry 10–3 in the first round and led Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–7 in the second round before losing 10–13. He narrowly missed reaching the top 16 of the rankings as a result.

The 2006/2007 season was the most successful of his career to date. Day reached the quarter-finals of the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy and was runner up in the 2007 Malta Cup, losing 4–9 to Shaun Murphy. That year's performance saw him ranked 16 in the world for the 2007/2008 season, one place higher than in the previous year. As a member of the Top 16, he automatically qualified for tournaments.

Day's 2007/2008 season started with an appearance in the final of the Shanghai Masters; Day led his practise partner Dominic Dale 6–2 after the first session, but eventually succumbed to a 6–10 defeat. After failing to progress past the last 16 in the next three tournaments, he reached the semi-finals of the China Open, beating Matthew Stevens, Ken Doherty and Mark Williams before he was beaten by Stephen Maguire 5–6, denying him a place in the final. Day made it through to the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the first time in his career by beating Irishman Michael Judge 10–6 and the defending champion John Higgins 13–9 in one of the best wins of his career,[5] before losing 7–13 to Stephen Hendry. His consistent performances took him up to 8th place in the rankings.

Day reached the final of the 2008 Grand Prix where he lost to John Higgins, defeating Ricky Walden, Mark Selby, Jamie Cope and Ali Carter. The year ended on a disappointing note when he lost in the first round at the UK Championship to Matthew Stevens. He again reached the World Championship quarter-finals in 2009, before losing 11–13 to Mark Allen. However, he continued to move up the rankings, climbing 2 places to number 6, the highest ranked player not to have won a ranking event.

A disappointing 2009/2010 season in which he reached only one quarter-final (in the Welsh Open), culminated in an 8–10 first round defeat in the World Championship to Mark Davis.[6] This continued into the next season where he made a number of early exits which meant that at the first revision under the new ranking system he dropped out the top 16, down to number 20.

2011/2012 season

Day qualified for five of the eight ranking tournaments during the 2011/2012 season, losing in the first round in four.[7] His best performance came at the end of the season in the biggest event on the tournament calendar, the World Championship. He came back from 3–7 down in his qualifying match against Gerard Greene to win 10–8, to set up a first round match with China's number 1, Ding Junhui.[8] Day produced another comeback, this time from trailing 6–9 to win the last 4 frames and advance to the second round.[9] There he beat fellow qualifier Cao Yupeng 13–7 and held a 5–2 lead in the early stages of his quarter-final match against compatriot Matthew Stevens.[7] However, he suffered a migraine at the start of the next session and went on to lose 11 consecutive frames to exit the tournament 5–13.[10] Day finished the season ranked world number 30.[11]

2012/2013 season

Day lost in qualifying for the opening ranking event of the 2012/2013 season the Wuxi Classic 0–5 to Robert Milkins.[12] He was then beaten in the second round of the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters, 3–5 to Matthew Selt and 0–5 to John Higgins respectively.[12] Day was defeated 3–6 by Neil Robertson in the opening round of the International Championship, but then came perhaps the best result of his season at the UK Championship.[12] He beat Ding Junhui 6–4 in a high quality first round encounter,[13] before letting a 3–0 lead against world number two Mark Selby slip to lose 4–6.[14] Day played in nine of the ten minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events during the season with his best results being two quarter-final defeats to be ranked 32nd on the Order of Merit, just outside the top 26 who qualified for the Finals.[15] Day struggled in the second half of the season as he failed to qualify for four of the remaining five ranking events, losing 2–5 in the first round of the World Open to Mark Allen in the one he did reach.[12] He failed to qualify for the World Championship for the first time since 2006, narrowly losing to Ben Woollaston 9–10 in the fourth and final qualifying round. He finished the season ranked world number 31.[16]

2013/2014 season

Ryan Day at the 2014 German Masters

Day was beaten in the second round once and first round three times in the opening four ranking events of the 2013/2014 season, but then reached the quarter-finals for the first time in over a year at the International Championship.[17] Day won the first frame against Joe Perry but was thrashed 6–1.[18] He went a stage further at the German Masters and, in an attempt to play in his first ranking final since 2008, he came from 5–3 down against Ding Junhui to level the match, but lost the deciding frame.[19] A trio of second round losses and a first round defeat in the China Open followed.[17] At the World Championship, Day maintained his composure when Stephen Maguire levelled the scores from 8–4 and 9–6 down in the first round, to win the final frame and advance to the second round.[20] His season then ended when he lost 13–7 to Judd Trump,[21] but he did increase his ranking by 10 places to world number 21, his highest finish for four years.[22]

2014/2015 season

For the second season in a row Day qualified for every ranking event. A pair of last 16 defeats at the Wuxi Classic and Shanghai Masters proved to be his best results in the first half of the year.[23] At the Haining City Open he achieved his first official maximum break in his last 32 match against Cao Yupeng.[24] Day would go on to reach the quarter-finals, but lost 4–2 to Oliver Lines. After Day won the final two frames of his first round match against world number one Ding Junhui at the German Masters to eliminate him 5–4, he said that he was working on his consistency to get back into the highest echelons of the game.[25] He then beat Alfie Burden 5–2 to face Liang Wenbo in Day's only quarter-final appearance of the season and was narrowly beaten 5–4.[26] In Day's home event he suffered a surprise 4–1 loss to amateur Oliver Brown in the second round of the Welsh Open.[27] Day was 3–1 ahead of Mark Allen in the first round of the World Championship, but then lost nine successive frames to be knocked out 10–3.[28]

Personal life

Day's younger brother Rhys has played football for Manchester City and captained the Welsh under-21 side. He is currently playing for Hyde FC.

Day and his father run The Veterans Club in Pontycymmer. The club is a combination of a snooker club and a public bar.

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 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
Ranking[29][nb 1] UR[nb 2][nb 3] UR[nb 3] UR UR 215[nb 3] 140 69 45 33 17 16 8 6 12 28 30 31 21 20
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open Tournament Not Held 1R 2R 1R 1R A
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held F QF QF 1R 1R 2R 2R 2R 2R
International Championship Tournament Not Held 1R QF 2R 3R
UK Championship A A 1R 1R A LQ LQ 2R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R 1R 2R 2R
German Masters[nb 4] A NR Tournament Not Held 1R 1R LQ SF QF QF
Welsh Open A A 3R LQ A LQ LQ QF 3R 1R 3R 1R QF 2R LQ LQ 2R 2R
World Grand Prix[nb 5] A A 1R LQ A 2R LQ 1R 1R 2R 2R F 1R LQ LQ 1R 2R NR
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 6] Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ 2R 1R
China Open[nb 7] NR A LQ LQ A Not Held 2R LQ LQ SF SF 2R 2R LQ LQ 1R 2R
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ 2R 1R QF QF 1R 1R QF LQ 2R 1R
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters LQ A LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ A LQ LQ 1R 1R QF A A A A A A
Championship League Tournament Not Held SF RR RR 2R RR RR 2R RR RR
Variant format tournaments
Six-red World Championship[nb 8] Tournament Not Held A 2R A NH A A 1R 2R
Shoot-Out Tournament Not Held 3R 3R 2R SF 1R QF
Former ranking tournaments
Malta Grand Prix Non-ranking LQ NR Tournament Not Held
Thailand Masters A A LQ LQ A NR Not Held NR Tournament Not Held
Scottish Open[nb 9] A A 1R 2R A 1R 2R Tournament Not Held MR Not Held
British Open A A 1R LQ A LQ LQ 1R Tournament Not Held
Irish Masters Non-ranking Event WD LQ LQ NH NR Tournament Not Held
Malta Cup[nb 10] NH A Not Held A LQ LQ 1R LQ F NR Tournament Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held NR QF 3R 3R Tournament Not held
Bahrain Championship Tournament Not Held 2R Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 11] Tournament Not Held Non-ranking LQ 1R 3R NH
Indian Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Malta Cup[nb 10] NH R Not Held Ranking Event RR Tournament Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 11] Tournament Not Held SF RR QF A Ranking Event
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held 1R R
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. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. ↑ New players don't have a ranking.
  3. 1 2 3 He was not on the Main Tour.
  4. ↑ The event was called the German Open (1997/1998)
  5. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (1997/1998–2000/2001 and 2004/2005–2009/2010), the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004), the World Open (2010/2011) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
  6. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  7. ↑ The event was called the China International (1997/1998–1998/1999)
  8. ↑ The event was called the Six-red Snooker International (2008/2009) and the Six-red World Grand Prix (2009/2010)
  9. ↑ The event was called the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  10. 1 2 The event was called the Irish Open (1998/1999) and the European Open (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  11. 1 2 The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 3 (3 runners-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–0)
UK Championship (0–0)
Other (0–3)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2007 Malta Cup England Murphy, ShaunShaun Murphy 4–9
Runner-up 2. 2007 Shanghai Masters Wales Dale, DominicDominic Dale 6–10
Runner-up 3. 2008 Grand Prix Scotland Higgins, JohnJohn Higgins 7–9

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

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Runner-up 1. 2015 Bulgarian Open Northern Ireland Allen, MarkMark Allen 0–4

Non-ranking wins:(3)

Pro-am wins

References

  1. ↑ "Prize Money - All-time, Professional". CueTracker - Snooker Database. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Centuries". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Ryan Day - Season 1997/1998". Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  4. ↑ Harlow, Phil (2004-04-19). "Higgins wins thriller". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  5. ↑ "Champion Higgins stunned by Day". BBC Sport. 2008-04-26. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  6. ↑ "Frustrated Ryan Day bemoans 'poor' year". BBC Sport. 2010-04-22. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  7. 1 2 "Ryan Day 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  8. ↑ "Doherty edges out Hamilton to reach World Championship". Daily Mail. 15 April 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  9. ↑ "World Snooker Championship 2012: Ryan Day stuns Ding". BBC Sport. 25 April 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  10. ↑ "Snooker: Victory for Matthew Stevens". Wales Online. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  11. ↑ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Ryan Day 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  13. ↑ "Ding Junhui crashes out of UK Snooker Championship against Ryan Day". The Press (York). Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  14. ↑ "Mark Selby surges back from brink to keep UK Snooker title dream alive". The Press (York). Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  15. ↑ "Order of Merit 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  16. ↑ "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  17. 1 2 "Ryan Day 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  18. ↑ "Fu To Meet Perry In Semis". World Snooker. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  19. ↑ "German Masters: Ding Junhui & Judd Trump to meet in final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  20. ↑ "Stephen Maguire crashes out in the first round to qualifier Ryan Day at The Crucible". Daily Mail. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  21. ↑ "Judd Trump beats Ryan Day to set up World Snooker Championship quarter-final clash against world number one Neil Robertson". Daily Mail. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  22. ↑ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  23. ↑ "Ryan Day 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  24. ↑ "Day Makes First 147". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2014.
  25. ↑ "Welsh snooker star Ryan Day celebrates win over world number one Ding Junhui". Wales Online. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "Murphy Downs Rocket in Thriller". World Snooker. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  27. ↑ "Welsh Open: Wales' Lee Walker loses after beating Ding Junhui". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  28. ↑ "Ryan Day bows out at Crucible as Welsh representation at World Snooker Championships set to be cut to one". Wales Online. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  29. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.

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