COUNTDOWN: Greatest Surprise Victories in Ranking Finals

With the 2021 World Snooker Championships coming up, let’s look at the greatest surprise victories in ranking finals!

This debate was reignited after No. 81 Jordan Brown caused a major shock by beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-8 in the Welsh Open final earlier this year. This winner is the same man who three years ago was working in a petrol station and last season was one match away from losing his place on the main tour. But it wasn’t just about Brown winning the tournament, it was how he won it too. Brown won five deciders throughout the Welsh Open including the final. He beat Mark Selby, outclassed Stephen Maguire and finally finished off the defending World Champion. There was an outpouring of congratulatory messages from everyone, including fans, pundits and professional players.

These are the sort of other surprises that will be in this countdown. There aren’t too many seismic waves in ranking finals that did shake snooker. But they are all brilliant to witness, especially when the underdog wins their first ranking title. But they are beautiful to witness if you are a neutral fan or supporting the underdog. Other examples include Dominic Dale (1997 Grand Prix), Ricky Walden (2008 Shanghai Masters) and Jimmy Robertson (2018 European Masters)

So here is a small selection!

6. Ding Junhui vs. Stephen Hendry (9-5; 2005 China Open)

Ding was a player who was destined for great things. He won the Asian U21 Championship, Asian Championship and IBSF World U21 Championship by the age of just 15. It took only two years for Ding to win his first ranking title. During the 2005 China Open, he accepted a wildcard entry instead of playing 4 matches to qualify. Ding defeated a host of big names, including whitewashing Peter Ebdon and Ken Doherty. Ding had just turned 18 when he reached the final, where he beat Stephen Hendry, arguably the greatest player of all time, in the final 9-5.

The fact that an 18-year-old Asian player became victorious in a game dominated by Britains sent shockwaves across the world. If you think about everything that followed, one could argue that this is one of the most significant results in snooker history. Not only did Ding Junhui end up becoming the greatest Asian professional to play snooker, but it sparked a cataclysmic snooker boom in China. Look at the number of tournaments, fans, amateur players, monies, relationships and growing professionals China produced!

5. Kyren Wilson vs. Judd Trump (10-9; 2015 Shanghai Masters)

This was back in the day when the tiered system of qualifying was alive and kicking. In some ways, that was probably more of an achievement because he had to play more matches than most of the main field. The then-No. 54 in the world won three qualifying matches and a wildcard round before winning five matches at the Shanghai Grand Stage. Things could’ve been different if he lost the decider in the final qualifying round to Anthony McGill…

No-one expected Kyren to win a ranking title so soon. He wasn’t destined to be one of the greats at a young age and actually dropped off the tour in 2011 before rejoining two years later. But with the cards he was dealt with at the Shanghai Masters, he deserved to win that title. He stormed past Joe Perry, Michael Holt, Ding Junhui and Mark Allen before meeting Judd Trump in the final. Despite being 7-3 ahead in the final, Judd forced a decider before Kyren clinched the final frame with a 75 break.

Kyren has been going from strength to strength since then, winning three more ranking titles, climbing as high as No. 4 in the rankings and reached two Triple Crown finals. He and Trump later developed a fierce rivalry, which later turned civil and will continue to be competitive for years to come.

4. Anthony Hamilton vs. Ali Carter (9-6; 2017 German Masters)

Anthony Hamilton’s career started back in 1991. He reached as high as No. 10 in the world, made two ranking finals and the semi-final of the 1999 Masters. For a good while he was in many lists and compilations as one of the best snooker players to never win a ranking event, if not the best. It seemed that this will always be the case when he was relegated from the tour in 2016. Thankfully for Hamilton, he immediately received a fresh two-year tour card for being one of the better performers outside of the Top 64 on the PTC circuit. It is fair to say he never looked back.

Like everyone else, Hamilton had to win two qualifying matches to reach the Tempodrom in Berlin. He had a hellish draw, as every opponent on the main stage won a ranking event, been in the Top 16 and reached at least one World Championship final. Hamilton dispatched Mark Williams, Mark Selby, Barry Hawkins and then Stuart Bingham in the semi-finals. This was his first ranking final in 15 years. After beating Ali Carter 9-6 in the finals, the 45-year-old became the oldest ranking event winner since Doug Mountjoy in 1989. Don’t forget that he was ranked 66th in the world. It is fair to say that the entire snooker world rejoiced when he was declared the winner.

3. Shaun Murphy vs. Matthew Stevens (18-16; 2005 World Snooker Championship)

It would be a pleasant surprise if a qualifier who was ranked No. 48 in the world won a ranking tournament. But it is a major shock that such a player who had never won a single match at the Crucible before and went on to win the World Snooker Championship. In fact, he was the first person to win the World Championship as his first ranking win since Joe Johnson achieved the same feat in 1986. He became the second-youngest player and the third qualifier to win the worlds. Lastly, he was at 150-1 to win the tournament. That is very impressive indeed.

After defeating John Higgins, Steve Davis and Peter Ebdon, he found himself 10-6 down in the final against Matthew Stevens. Murphy had a phenomenal attacking game during that time and he managed to start a brilliant comeback to be victorious at 18-16. Murphy’s resurgence came completely out of nowhere. Afterwards, he went on to win nine ranking titles in total, as well as becoming one of the elite club to win the Triple Crown.

2. Dave Harold vs. Darren Morgan (9-3; 1993 Asian Open)

Dave Harold achievements during his snooker career were relatively modest. He reached the Top 16 and made two Triple Crown semi-finals in the 1998 UK Championship and the 2001 Masters. But it is his first and only ranking event I wish to talk about here because he holds an important record. Dave Harold is the lowest ranked player to ever win the ranking event at No. 93 in the world.

His route to the 1993 Asian Open final is kinder than one would expect, but he still had to beat them. He didn’t defeat too many big names. But then again, Harold did beat No. 1 and defending World Champion Stephen Hendry 5-2 in the Last 16. He met Darren Morgan in the final, who was making his second ranking final appearance and yet to win a title. Morgan became the winner after he pushed aside the Welshman 9-3. Not too shabby for a player who had only been professional for two years!

1. Joe Johnson vs. Steve Davis (18-12; 1986 World Snooker Championship)

This was regarded as one of the most remarkable shocks in Crucible history. Joe Johnson may have been seeded 16th in the world at the time, but that doesn’t tell us the whole story.

The former gas board labourer and wannabe pop singer had never won a match at the Crucible before, let alone a ranking event. He had never won a televised match until the previous year. He was rated a 150/1 chance by bookmakers to win the 1986 tournament. Meanwhile, on the other side of the draw, Steve Davis was having the time of his life dominating the circuit. By that stage, Davis won 10 ranking titles, including three World Championships and held the No. 1 spot for many consecutive seasons. It was a David vs. Goliath final, which made Johnson’s victory over Davis so shocking. Johnson was almost remarkably unremarkable. Even Davis admitted he got buried in the final and that Joe was a worthy champion after he was beaten by Johnson 18-12.

But Davis got his revenge. The pair met again in the 1987 World final and Davis took the trophy from Johnson by winning 18-14.