John Astley (snooker player)

John J. Astley (born 13 January 1989) is an English professional snooker player from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

John Astley
Paul Hunter Classic 2016
Born (1989-01-13) 13 January 1989
Gateshead, England
Sport country England
Professional2013–2015, 2016–
Highest ranking65 (November 2017)[1]
Current ranking 78 (as of 16 March 2020)
Career winnings£88,704
Highest break138:
2012 Antwerp Open
Century breaks24
Best ranking finishQuarter-final (2016 Riga Masters)

Career

Early career

Astley first came into prominence in 2007 by winning the national Under-19 title (defeating Michael Georgiou in the final),[2] however wins in the amateur PIOS tournaments proved hard to come by. His attempts to qualify for the main tour via Q School in 2011 and 2012 were unsuccessful as well. Nevertheless, Astley gained enough sponsorship to be able to enter all the PTC events in the 2012–13 season as an amateur. He reached the last 32 stage three times and finished fourth highest ranked amateur on the Order of Merit, winning a tour card for 2013–14 and 2014–15 seasons.

2013/2014

Astley won his opening match of the season 5–2 against Mike Dunn to reach the main draw of the Wuxi Classic. In his first appearance in a ranking event Astley was whitewashed 5–0 by Robert Milkins.[3] He won a match in a ranking event for the first time by edging out Ken Doherty 6–5 in the UK Championship, a performance he described afterwards as the best of his career.[4] He lost 6–1 against Stuart Carrington in the next round.[5] Astley also qualified for the China Open with a 5–2 success over Robbie Williams and then came through a wildcard round match once in China, before losing 5–1 to Ding Junhui.[6] Astley beat Sam Baird 10–9 in the first round of World Championship qualifying, but his season ended in his next match with a heavy 10–2 loss to Jamie Cope.[3] He finished his debut season on the tour ranked world number 98.[7] Astley was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award at the World Snooker Annual Award Ceremony.[8]

2014/2015

Astley's 2014–15 season proved to be disappointing as he could not qualify for any ranking event, other than the UK Championship and Welsh Open for which he gained automatic entry. He lost in the first round of the UK 6–2 to Jamie Cope and beat David Gilbert 4–1 at the Welsh, before Gary Wilson knocked him out 4–3 in the second round.[9] Astley played in all six of the minor-ranking European Tour events but could not win a match in any of them.[10] After losing his first qualifying match for the World Championship to Dominic Dale, Astley was relegated from the tour as he was ranked 86th in the world.[11]

2015/2016

Astley only entered Q School in the 2015–16 season and in the Second Event he beat Peter Lines 4–0 to secure a two-year tour card.[12]

2016/2017

At the 2016 Riga Masters, Astley beat Joe Perry 4–1, Andy Hicks 4–2 and Jimmy Robertson 4–1 to play in the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his career, where he lost 4–1 to Mark Williams.[13] He also reached the third round of the Indian Open and Paul Hunter Classic and was defeated 4–2 by Nigel Bond and 4–1 by Zack Richardson. Astley qualified for the International Championship by overcoming Peter Ebdon 6–3 and then saw off Mark King 6–4 once in China, before losing 6–2 to Mark Selby. He recovered to win 5–4 from 4–0 down against Kyren Wilson to qualify for the German Masters, where he was edged out 5–4 by Ricky Walden in the opening round. Astley progressed through to the fourth round of the Gibraltar Open by 4–1 victories over Andreas Ploner, George Pragnall and Ben Woollaston and was eliminated 4–2 by Ryan Day.[13] He finished his first year back on the tour ranked world number 76.[14]

Outside snooker

In March 2016, Astley appeared on-stage at the Sheffield Crucible in Richard Bean's play, The Nap, as the opponent of lead Jack O'Connell's character.[15]

Performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16		 2016/
17		 2017/
18		 2018/
19		 2019/
20
Ranking[16][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 3] 98 [nb 2] [nb 3] 66 [nb 4] 73
Ranking tournaments
Riga Masters Not Held Minor-Rank. QF 2R LQ LQ
International Championship A LQ LQ A 2R 1R 1R LQ
China Championship Tournament Not Held NR LQ 1R LQ
English Open Tournament Not Held 2R 2R 1R 2R
World Open A LQ Not Held LQ 2R LQ LQ
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 2R 1R 1R 1R
UK Championship A 2R 1R A 1R 1R 1R 1R
Scottish Open MR Not Held 1R 1R 1R 2R
European Masters Tournament Not Held LQ 1R LQ LQ
German Masters A LQ LQ A 1R LQ LQ LQ
World Grand Prix Not Held NR DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Welsh Open A 1R 2R A 2R 4R 1R 2R
Shoot-Out Variant Format Event 2R 2R 2R 1R
Players Championship[nb 5] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Gibraltar Open Not Held MR 4R 2R 2R 1R
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
World Championship A LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic A 1R LQ Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open A LQ LQ A Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters A LQ LQ A LQ 1R NR
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event 3R 2R 1R NR
Indian Open NH LQ LQ NH 3R 1R 2R NH
China Open A 1R LQ A LQ LQ 1R NH
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 Heldmeans an event was not held.
NR / Non-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was no longer a ranking event.
R / Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a ranking event.
MR / Minor-Ranking Eventmeans an event is/was a minor-ranking event.
VF / Variant Format Eventmeans an event is/was a variant format event.
  1. It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. He was an amateur.
  3. New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  4. Players qualified One Year Ranking List started the season without ranking points.
  5. The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2012/2013) and the Players Championship Finals (2013/2014–2015/2016)

Tournament wins

Amateur
  • English Under-19 Championship, 2007
  • EBSA Qualifying Tour – Bulgaria, 2012

References
  1. "WORLD RANKINGS After 2017 Dafabet Northern Ireland Open". World Snooker. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  2. "Snooker: Young star plays for pro future". The Journal. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  3. "John Astley 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  4. "UK Snooker Championship 2013: John Astley joy at Ken Doherty win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  5. "Stuart Carrington through to UK Champs third round". Grimsby Telegraph. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  6. "Top seeds safely through at China Open Read". ESPN (UK). Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  7. "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  8. "O'Sullivan Named Player of the Year". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  9. "John Astley 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  10. "European Order of Merit 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  11. "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  12. "Q School Event 2 Qualifiers". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  13. "John Astley 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  14. "Rankings 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  15. "The Nap: Snooker gets theatrical on Crucible stage". BBC. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  16. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
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