Michael Wasley (born 23 February 1990) is an English former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player. Wasley turned professional after qualifying via Event 3 of 2012 Q School and gained a two-year tour card for the 2012–13 and

2013–14 snooker season The 2013–14 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 6 June 2013 and 5 May 2014. From this season every qualifying match was held open to the public at various venues in the United Kingdom, replacing the Worl ...

s. He won five matches in the event, concluding with a 4–3 victory over

Fraser Patrick Fraser Patrick (born 8 November 1985) is a Scottish former professional snooker player from Glasgow. Career Patrick started his professional career in 2002 by playing Challenge Tour, where he spent three seasons without success. In 2007 Patric ...

. His biggest achievement to date is reaching the last 16 of the 2014 World Championship.

Career

Debut season

Wasley's first match as a professional was a 5–4 win against Liam Highfield in qualifying for the 2012 Wuxi Classic. He lost 1–5 to

Passakorn Suwannawat Passakorn Suwannawat (; born 1 May 1986, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand) is a former Thai professional snooker player. Career Early career Suwannawat first turned professional in the 2006–07 season by winning the 2006 ACBS Asian Under-21 Snooker C ...

in the following round. In November, Wasley qualified for the main draw of a ranking event for the first time. He beat

Jack Lisowski Jack Lisowski (born 25 June 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Churchdown, Gloucestershire. He turned professional in 2010 by finishing first in the 2009/2010 International Open Series, PIOS rankings. A left-handed player, he ...

5–1 and former world champion

Peter Ebdon Peter David Ebdon (born 27 August 1970) is an English retired professional snooker player who is a former world champion and current coach. Ebdon won nine ranking titles during his career, placing him in joint 14th position (with John Parrott ...

5–3 to reach the last 32 of the

German Masters The German Masters is a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011, except for 2021, when it was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. An ear ...

, where

Neil Robertson Neil Alexander Robertson (born 11 February 1982) is an Australian professional snooker player, who is a former List of World Snooker Championship winners, world champion and former List of world number one snooker players, world number one. He ...

comfortably beat him 5–1. Wasley also qualified for the Welsh Open thanks to wins over

Anthony McGill Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus. McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings. He ...

and top 16 player Mark Davis. He led 2–1 in the last 32 against

Andrew Higginson Andrew Higginson (born 13 December 1977) is an English professional snooker player from Widnes, Cheshire. He is best known for being the surprise finalist of the 2007 Welsh Open (snooker), 2007 Welsh Open. Career Early years After some succ ...

, but lost three frames to bow out of the event 2–4. Wasley saw off Sean O'Sullivan in the first round of World Championship Qualifying, but his season was ended in the next round as

James Wattana James Wattana (; born January 17, 1970, as วัฒนา ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Wattana Pu-Ob-Orm'', then renamed รัชพล ภู่โอบอ้อม ''Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm'' in 2003) is a Thai former professional snooker pl ...

beat him 10–7. Wasley finished his first year on tour ranked world number 80.

2013/2014 season

Wasley reached the

Wuxi Classic The Wuxi Classic was a professional snooker tournament held from 2008 to 2014 in the city of Wuxi, China. It was a ranking event from 2012 through 2014. For the 2015/16 season, World Snooker reduced the number of ranking events held in China, wh ...

, the first ranking event of the 2013–14 season, thanks to

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in snooker history, he has won the World Snooker Championship seven times, a m ...

's withdrawal for medical reasons and lost 5–1 against Gerard Greene in the first round. He played at the main venue in four more ranking events but lost in the first round in all of them. His best run in

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

events was at the Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup where he saw off

Zhang Anda Zhang Anda (; born 25 December 1991) is a Chinese professional snooker player, who made his debut on the Main Tour for the 2009–10 season. He qualified by winning the ACBS Asian Under-21 Championship. In November 2023 he won his first world ...

and

, before being beaten 4–3 by Jamie Jones. Two other last 32 exits helped Wasley finish 47th on the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

. In qualifying for the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, Wasley squeezed past

Sydney Wilson Sydney Wilson (born 6 April 1990 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex) is an English former professional snooker player. Career Wilson began playing snooker at the age of three with his father teaching him the basics of the game. He later took lessons ...

10–9 and then beat Rory McLeod and

Mark Joyce Mark Joyce (born 11 August 1983) is an English former professional snooker player who lives in Walsall. He began his professional career by playing on the Challenge Tour in 2003. Joyce enjoyed an outstanding amateur career, winning the Europea ...

both 10–6 to stand just one victory away from playing in the sport's biggest event for the first time. He played world number 16

Robert Milkins Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player known for quick play. Milkins has been a member of snooker's main tour since regaining a tour card in 1998. Milkins reached a career high rank of 12 in 2014 and 2023, ...

in a dramatic match that went to a respotted black in the deciding frame which Wasley potted to reach the

Crucible A crucible is a container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. Although crucibles have historically tended to be made out of clay, they can be made from any material that withstands temperat ...

. In the first round, Wasley caused one of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history by eliminating world number two

Ding Junhui Ding Junhui (; born 1 April 1987) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He is the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. Throughout his career, he has won 15 major ranking titles, including three UK Championships (2005 ...

10–9 after having trailed 6–3 at the end of the opening session. In the second round he fell 7–1 down to

Dominic Dale Dominic Dale (born Christopher Dale; 29 December 1971) is a Welsh retired professional snooker player, as well as a current snooker commentator, pundit and presenter for BBC Cymru Wales and TNT Sports (United Kingdom), TNT Sports (formerly Eur ...

and could never recover as he was beaten 13–4. Despite this run, Wasley could not quite reach the top 64 in the rankings as he was placed number 72, which would have seen him relegated from the tour. However, he received the fourth of eight spots available on the European Tour for non-qualified players to earn a new two-year tour card for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons.

2014/2015 season

Wasley won three matches to reach the final qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters, where he was narrowly beaten 5–4 by

. At the European Tour event the Victoria Bulgarian Open, Wasley faced

Judd Trump Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player who is a former List of World Snooker Championship winners, world champion and the current List of world number one snooker players, world number one. He is currently in ...

in the last 16 and made a 133 break to send the match into a deciding frame in which he made a 75 break from 73–0 down to play

in the quarter-finals and lost 4–1. He would go on to finish 29th on the

, just outside the top 24 who qualified for the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

. His best runs in full ranking events this season were a pair of last 32 exits at the

(5–1 to

Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murp ...

) and the Welsh Open (4–2 to Trump). He failed to repeat last year's

performances as he lost 10–5 to

Alan McManus Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player, and a current commentator and pundit for ITV and Eurosport on snooker coverage. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has wo ...

in the first qualifying round.

2015/2016 season

Wasley could only win two matches out of 17 during the whole of the 2015–16 season. He dropped off the tour at the end of the season as he was placed 87th in the world rankings and he did not enter the 2016 Q School.

Performance and rankings timeline

References

External links

* *
Michael Wasley at Snooker Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wasley, Michael 1990 births Living people English snooker players Sportspeople from Gloucester