COUNTDOWN: First-Round Surprises of the UK Championship (2013-19)

The UK Championship, the first of the Triple Crown is upon us. It is regarded as one of the most important tournaments on the snooker calendar. But since major changes were implemented in 2013, the UK Championship went down in some fans’s estimations.

What changes were made in 2013? Well, a 128-player flat draw was used, with all players starting in the first round and all rounds played at the Barbican venue. This was part of the major format overhaul where the qualification tiered system was scrapped from nearly every event. The Top 16 lost their protection and everyone performs in a level-playing field. This, rather understandably, received a lot of initial ire from the Top 16 players.

Shocks Galore

One of the advantages of these changes is that it yields a number of surprising results. Also, a player earns £6,500 for a first-round win in the UK Championship. That does a low-ranked player’s ranking and financial stability a world of good. This would perk their confidence up after a string of losses during their initial season. Not only that, their name gets shafted in the press, which is no bad thing.

The greatest number of first-round shocks happened in 2013, where 19 players beat their higher-ranked opponents in the first round. This is compared to the lowest of 9 (2014). The average since 2013 is rounded up to 14 matches. These low-ranked victors include Sydney Wilson, Chris Norbury, Chen Feilong, Wang Yuchen and Vinnie Calabrese.

But which are the biggest shocks and most surprising first-round results since the 2013 UK Championship? Here are five of them below!

5. Peter Lines vs. Neil Robertson (6-3, 2016)

It was weird to see Peter Lines being an amateur in 2016. Especially since he had a long career with plenty of highlights, including reaching the 2009 UK Championship quarter-finals. But Lines Senior used his 25 years of experience to beat 2015 UK Champion Neil Robertson in the first round.

Robertson was full of praise towards his opponent, saying: “I got old-schooled today. His safety was absolutely incredible, probably some of the best safety I’ve come across for quite some time in terms of him denying you an opening. He didn’t make a whole lot of big breaks but he didn’t have to.”

Lines had famous wins against John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Jack Lisowski and Mark Williams before. But Lines claimed that his win against Robertson was the most pleasing result. He beat Chris Wakelin in the Last 64 before losing to Liam Highfield in the next round.

4. Adam Duffy vs. Ding Junhui (6-2, 2015)

It isn’t often Ding Junhui shows any sort of emotion when playing snooker. But after he lost to amateur Adam Duffy in the 2015 UK Championship, Ding ranted, swore and complained about the table set-up and conditions. It was reported that Ding was lucky to escape a fine.

It was a low-quality game, with just four +50 breaks between them. Sheffield’s Duffy, who was a professional in the years 2011–2014 and 2016–2018, said: “I was confident going into the match because I have been working harder than I ever have before, but it’s crazy. I am buzzing.”

3. James Cahill vs. Mark Selby (6-3, 2018)

If you believe that James Cahill got his ‘Giant Killer’ nickname because he defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2019 World Championship, think again. Cahill took some impressive scalps as both a professional and an amateur before that famous victory.

Cahill had experience of beating top players in the UK Championship before. He won in the decider 6-5 against Ding Junhui in the Last 32 of the 2014 UK Championship. Shortly after that victory, Cahill found himself off the tour and contemplated giving up snooker altogether. As an amateur, he beat the defending champion of the 2017 UK Championship 6-3. While Selby described himself as rubbish, Cahill said that victory showed he can compete with the best.

Interestingly, Cahill managed to beat No. 11 seed David Gilbert in the 2019 UK Championship as well. He’s clearly got some form!

2. Mitchell Travis vs. Marco Fu (6-5, 2013)

Very little is known about the 21 year-old amateur. But this didn’t stop Mitchell Travis from beating No. 7 seed Marco Fu in the first round 6-5. Fu described this as one of the worst defeats of his career. But for Travis, this is just the beginning. The 1000-1 man went one better and reached the Last 32 by beating Norwegian Kurt Maflin 6-4. Who expected such an unknown to beat two world-class players? Travis was looking to get revenge on David Morris after losing to him in a previous Q School event, but lost again 6-1.

What happened to Mitchell Travis afterwards? He took the scalps of professionals Aditya Mehta and Sean O’Sullivan in future events. But since his feat, he’s failed to qualify via Q School every season. He last failed to qualify via Q School in 2017 according to CueTracker and nothing has been heard of as of yet. He hasn’t featured in future UK Championships.

1. Leo Fernandez vs. Ding Junhui (6-5, 2017)

Leo Fernandez had an appalling comeback to his professional career. Shortly after receiving a two-year card in 2016, Fernandez was banned from the sport for 15 months for match-fixing during a World Championship qualifier the same year. After his ban was lifted in August 2017, he lost all four of his matches, including two whitewashes. Fernandez ended up being the second lowest seed when drawn against Ding Junhui.

Even during the match it felt like an early conclusion. Ding roared to a 5-1 lead by scoring six +50 breaks (91, 87, 80, 66, 60, 55). But Fernandez won five frames in a row with the highest break of 80 to beat Ding in arguably the shock of the 2017/2018 season. Amazingly, the Irishman claimed he was struggling with a slipped disc in his back. Fernandez said this was “the biggest win of his career“. The fairytale didn’t last long. Noppon Saengkham whitewashed Fernandez 6-0 in the next round of the 2017 UK Championship.