Jack Lisowski

At the end of his first professional season he climbed to 52nd in the world rankings, the highest of any of the debutants.

Lisowski was awarded the Rookie of the Year Award at the World Snooker Annual Award Ceremony.

Jack Lisowski (born 25 June 1991) is an English professional snooker player from Churchdown, Gloucestershire.

He was runner-up to Mitchell Mann in the 2007 Junior Pot Black.

In the 2008/2009 season he was runner-up in the sixth event of the International Open Series to Xiao Guodong, and finished 23rd in the rankings.

In 2009 Lisowski was awarded the Paul Hunter Scholarship, which would allow him to practise with professional players.

At the time he was suffering from cancer and was in remission from Hodgkin lymphoma.

Overcoming his illness, Lisowski competed in the PIOS for the 2009/2010 season.

He turned professional in 2010 by finishing first in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings.

A left-handed player, he is known for his attacking style of play.

Lisowski has reached six ranking finals, but has been runner-up each time, losing three finals to Judd Trump, two to Neil Robertson, and one to Mark Selby.

He has made one maximum break in professional competition.

Lisowski began playing "snooker" at the age of 7, using ping-pong balls on a carpet.

As a young player, he was trained by Gloucester professional Nick Pearce.

He made his first century break at the age of 10.

He won the first and eighth event of the International Open Series, and finished first in the rankings, so he received a place on the 2010/2011 professional Main Tour.

After a series of early exits from main tour events, he reached the final of Event 3 of the Players Tour Championship, winning six matches, including a 4–3 win over Mark Selby in the semi-final, where he came back from 1–3 down.

In the final he lost 0–4 to Tom Ford.

Lisowski qualified for the 2011 German Masters, the 2011 Welsh Open and the 2011 Players Tour Championship Grand Finals.

Lisowski had a very good season in the Players Tour Championship series of tournaments in the 2011/2012 season.

He reached the quarter-finals of Event 6 and Event 9, and the semi-finals in Event 5, where he was knocked out by his compatriot and eventual winner, Andrew Higginson.

The results ensured he finished 24th in the Order of Merit and therefore claimed the final spot for the 2012 Finals.

He beat Barry Hawkins 4–3 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time in the Finals, before losing 1–4 to Neil Robertson.

Lisowski also qualified for the Shanghai Masters with wins over David Grace, Mike Dunn and Marco Fu, before defeating amateur Rouzi Maimaiti in the wildcard round.

He played Jamie Cope in the round and was beaten 3–5.

He only won one more match in his attempts to qualify for the remaining six ranking events, and finished the season ranked world number 40.

The 2012/2013 season was a breakthrough year for Lisowski, as he qualified for five ranking tournaments, including the World Championship, and reached his second final as a professional.

The first tournament he got to play in was the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo, by beating Dave Harold; he then lost 2–5 to Mark Davis in the first round.

He could not qualify for the next two events, but then defeated Chen Zhe and Joe Perry to feature in the UK Championship for the first time.

In his match against Chen, Lisowski made his first 147 in competitive play, but in the first round of the event, he lost 2–6 to Stuart Bingham.

Lisowski beat Ian Burns and Jamie Burnett to qualify for the China Open, then saw off Zhou Yuelong to advance to the last 32.

He played his good friend Judd Trump, and made a 131 break in a 5–3 win, then came back from 2–4 down to triumph 5–4 against Mark Davis, reaching his first ranking event quarter-final.

However, in that match it was Lisowski who let a 4–2 lead slip, and lost 4–5 to Shaun Murphy, with Murphy stating that snooker had seen the future with Lisowski's performances during the week.

Lisowski played in nine minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events during the season, and reached the final in the first one by seeing off Trump in the quarter-finals, and Mark Williams in the semis.

The final against Stephen Maguire went to a deciding frame with Lisowski missing a yellow off the spot, when requiring two further pots to leave his opponent needing snookers.

After a brief safety exchange, Maguire potted the remaining colours to win the title.

In the other PTC events, Lisowski's best results were three last 16 matches, which helped to cement his place in the Finals by finishing 13th on the Order of Merit.

There he beat world number two Mark Selby 4–3 in the first round, before losing to Tom Ford in another deciding frame in the second round.

In the World Championship Qualifying, he had comfortable 10–4 wins over James Wattana and Fergal O'Brien to reach the Crucible for the first time, where he played Barry Hawkins.

The experience and composure of Hawkins told as he took the match 10–3, with Lisowski citing the intimate nature of playing at the Crucible, which affected his concentration, as a factor in the one-sided scoreline.