Jamie Cope

Jamie Cope (born 12 September 1985) is an English former professional snooker player.

However, he finished top in the Challenge Tour for emerging players in the 2004–05 season, winning two of its four tournaments.

This enabled him to return to the Main Tour.

His stated intention in pre-season was to finish the year in the Top 48, a tough target which he technically achieved by default after Paul Hunter's illness.

He reached the last 16 of the season-opening Grand Prix tournament.

Later in the 2005–06 season he reached the same stage of the Welsh Open and China Open.

Those three last-16 defeats were all 5–4.

During the season he claimed wins over Joe Perry, Steve Davis, John Parrott and Alan McManus.

Cope has the distinction of being the first player in snooker history to post a verified 155 break achieved in a practice frame in 2005.

A finalist in two ranking tournaments, the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2007 China Open, Cope also reached the semi-finals of the 2011 Masters.

On 23 October 2006, Cope made a 147 break in a match against Michael Holt during the Grand Prix in Aberdeen, Scotland.

He was only the third player to achieve a 147 in the tournament's history, after Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins.

(Tom Ford has since become the fourth man to make a 147 at the Grand Prix, on 15 October 2007.) After progressing from the group stages, Cope defeated Robert Milkins in the last-16 to reach his first quarter-final in ranking events.

He beat Joe Perry again in a closely fought match which required a deciding ninth.

Eventually, Cope won after a slip-up by Perry on.

In the semi-finals Cope defeated Mark King 6–3, but he lost 5–9 to Australian competitor Neil Robertson in the final.

Cope had struggled early in the match and fell 2–8 behind.

He briefly rallied to claim the next three frames, but Robertson won the fourteenth frame to clinch the title.

On 31 March 2007, Cope progressed into the final of the China Open against Graeme Dott, after beating Barry Hawkins on the last of the final frame in the semi-finals, after requiring a snooker.

However, he lost the final, again by 5 frames to 9.

In the 2007–08 season, he reached the last 32 of the Shanghai Masters losing 2–5 to John Higgins.

He failed to progress beyond the group stages in the Grand Prix 2007, finishing sixth in his group, not winning a match.

In the UK Championship Cope produced a very good performance in beating the then world number one John Higgins 9–3 in the last 32.

He then beat Barry Hawkins 9–8 in the last 16, before losing to eventual champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals.

Cope made his World Championship debut in 2008, losing 10–9 to Peter Ebdon in the first round.

At the 2008 Shanghai Masters, Cope scored the second competitive 147 of his career against Mark Williams, but lost their last-16 match 2–5.

In the 2009 World Championship, Cope beat Joe Perry in the first round 10–6 and was close to upsetting twice world champion John Higgins in the second round.

He was 12–10 up and was looking good to win the match, but ultimately Higgins surged back to win 13–12.

This meant that he finished the season ranked at No. 18, still unable to break into the elite top 16.

In the 2009–10 season he never progressed beyond the second round of a ranking tournament.

Although he qualified for the World Championship, he lost 10–4 in the first round to Ali Carter.

He reached his highest ranking, 13th, in September 2010, but thereafter developed a tremor which has been attributed to being either an essential tremor or the yips, which makes his cue arm shake.

This condition caused Cope to slip markedly down the rankings in the 2010s, culminating in his relegation from the main tour at the end of the 2016–17 season.

He was known for his fast, entertaining style, being nicknamed "Shotgun" due to his speed around the table and aggressive playing style.

Cope had an impressive record as a junior, but dropped off the Main Tour after two largely unsuccessful seasons.

In the 2010/2011 season, the two-year ranking system was replaced with a rolling ranking, meaning that Cope was finally able to reach the top 16 in October 2010.

Cope made his debut at the Masters, where he reached the semi-final stage with wins over Shaun Murphy and Mark King.

He played Ding Junhui in the semi-final, but lost 3–6.

He was knocked out of the World Championship in the last 16 following a 4–13 loss to Mark Williams, but despite this he finished the season ranked 15.

On top of this, an unexpected run to the final by Graeme Dott meant that Dott overtook Cope in the rankings and left Cope outside the world's top 16 for another season, albeit at a career high ranking of 17th.