Zak Surety (born 4 October 1991) is an
English 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. He practises frequently with
Stuart Bingham
Stuart Bingham (born 21 May 1976) is an English professional snooker player who is a former World Champion and Masters winner.
Bingham won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his pro ...
and
Allan Taylor.
Career
As an amateur, Surety based in
Basildon
Basildon ( ) is a town in Borough of Basildon, the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159.
...
entered in
Players Tour Championship
The Players Tour Championship was a series of snooker tournaments comprising some minor-ranking events played in Europe, and an Asian leg comprising some minor-ranking events in Asia. The series concluded with a Players Championship Grand Final, ...
events from their establishment in 2010, with his best result as an amateur being a run to the last 32 stages of the
2012 UKPTC 3, with wins over
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 ...
and
Oliver Lines in the main stages. Surety also entered
Q School in 2011, 2012 and 2013 in the hope of winning a place on the main tour; however, he was unsuccessful, but came close in the second event in 2013, losing 4–1 to
Ryan Clark in the final stage.
His Q School performances however won him a top up place in four professional ranking events in
2013–14, but he failed to qualify for all four,
winning only one match,
5–4 over
Patrick Einsle in the
2013 Australian Goldfields Open.
In April 2014, Surety won a place on the professional
World Snooker Tour
The World Snooker Tour (WST) is the main professional snooker tour, consisting of about 128 players competing on a circuit of up to 28 tournaments each season. It is administered by World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm of professional snooker, ...
for the
2014–15 and
2015–16 seasons after coming through the EBSA Amateur Cup play-offs with wins over Michael Tomlinson and
Michael Georgiou
Michael Georgiou (born 18 January 1988) is a British-Greek Cypriots, Cypriot former professional snooker player from Forest Hill, London, Forest Hill. He is a practice partner of Igor Figueiredo and Hammad Miah, who practises at Whetstone Snooke ...
, both 4–1.
Debut season
Surety lost his first five matches as a professional, before beating
Mark King 6–3 to qualify for the
International Championship
The International Championship is a professional Snooker world rankings, ranking snooker tournament. The reigning champion is Ding Junhui.
History
The event was introduced in the 2012–13 snooker season, 2012/2013 season. It was named as the ...
where
David Gilbert defeated him 6–4 in the first round.
He was knocked out in the first round of the
UK Championship
The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican in York, England. Ronnie O'Sull ...
and
Welsh Open by
Michael Holt and
Graeme Dott
Graeme Dott (born 12 May 1977) is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001. He has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship ...
respectively but qualified for the
China Open by seeing off
Li Hang 5–4. Surety won three frames in a row to beat
Joe Swail
Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World Cham ...
5–4 to reach the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time and quickly raced into a 4–1 lead over
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, ...
. Milkins cut the gap to 4–3, before Surety saw his best chance to win come in the next frame when he opened it with a 65 break, but he went on to lose it and the match in a deciding frame. Milkins apologised to Surety for his behaviour during the match afterwards. Surety's debut campaign ended with a 10–8 defeat to
Zhou Yuelong
Zhou Yuelong (; born 24 January 1998) is a Chinese professional snooker player. He has been runner-up at three ranking events, the January 2020 European Masters, the 2020 Snooker Shoot Out, and the 2022 Northern Ireland Open.
Career
Between 2 ...
in the first round of
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 ...
qualifying, which saw him placed 97th in the world rankings.
2015/2016 season
All players on the snooker tour receive entry to the first round of the
UK Championship
The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican in York, England. Ronnie O'Sull ...
and
Welsh Open, these were the only events Surety could reach in the
2015–16 season. He lost 6–4 to
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 ...
in the first round of the UK and 4–1 to
Joe Swail
Joe Swail (born 29 August 1969) is a Northern Irish former professional snooker player from Belfast. He retired in May 2019 after being relegated from the tour. He has reached ten major ranking semi-finals, including the 2000 and 2001 World Cham ...
in the first round of the Welsh.
Surety dropped off the tour after being unable to break into the top 64 in the world rankings during his two-year stay and he entered
Q School in an attempt to win his place back. In the second event he lost 4–1 in the final round to David John, but he would gain entry in to some events next season as a top-up player due to his high Q School Order of Merit ranking.
2016/2017 season
4–2 and 4–1 victories over
Kyren Wilson
Kyren James Wilson (; born 23 December 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Kettering. He has won 10 ranking titles.
Wilson made his professional tour debut in the 2010–11 snooker season, 2010–11 season after finishing fif ...
and Antony Parsons saw Surety qualify for the
European Masters and he was knocked out 4–1 by
Liang Wenbo
Liang Wenbo ( zh, s=梁文博; born 5 March 1987) is a Chinese former professional snooker player. During his playing career, he won one ranking title at the 2016 English Open, twice won the World Cup for China in 2011 and 2017 with teammate ...
in the first round. He reached the second round of the
Northern Ireland Open by beating
Darryl Hill 4–3, but lost 4–2 to
Hossein Vafaei. Surety dropped off the tour at the end of the year after failing to progress through Q School.
2023/2024 season
In March 2024 Surety made a
maximum break
A maximum break (also known as a maximum, a 147, or orally, a onefourseven) is the highest possible in snooker in normal circumstances and is a special type of . A player compiles a maximum break by potting all 15 with 15 for 120 points, fo ...
during his match with
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 ...
at the
World Open, the first 147 of his career in any competition.
Performance and rankings timeline
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Surety, Zak
English snooker players
Sportspeople from Basildon
1991 births
Living people