_2015-02-05_01.jpg) Michael Wasley at the2015 German Masters | |
| Born | (1990-02-23)23 February 1990 (age 35) Gloucester,England |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  England |
| Professional | 2012–2016 |
| Highestranking | 72 (May–June 2014)[1] |
| Best ranking finish | Last 16 (2014 World Championship) |
Michael Wasley (born 23 February 1990) is anEnglish former professionalsnooker player.
Wasley turned professional after qualifying via Event 3 of2012 Q School and gained a two-year tour card for the2012–13 and2013–14 snooker seasons. He won five matches in the event, concluding with a 4–3 victory overFraser Patrick.[2] His biggest achievement to date is reaching the last 16 of the2014 World Championship.
Wasley's first match as a professional was a 5–4 win againstLiam Highfield in qualifying for the2012 Wuxi Classic. He lost 1–5 toPassakorn Suwannawat in the following round.[3] In November, Wasley qualified for the main draw of a ranking event for the first time. He beatJack Lisowski 5–1 and former world championPeter Ebdon 5–3 to reach the last 32 of theGerman Masters, whereNeil Robertson comfortably beat him 5–1.[3] Wasley also qualified for theWelsh Open thanks to wins overAnthony McGill and top 16 playerMark Davis.[4] He led 2–1 in the last 32 againstAndrew Higginson, but lost three frames to bow out of the event 2–4.[5] Wasley saw offSean O'Sullivan in the first round ofWorld Championship Qualifying, but his season was ended in the next round asJames Wattana beat him 10–7.[6] Wasley finished his first year on tour ranked world number 80.[7]
Wasley reached theWuxi Classic, the first ranking event of the2013–14 season, thanks toRonnie O'Sullivan's withdrawal for medical reasons and lost 5–1 againstGerard Greene in the first round.[8] He played at the main venue in four more ranking events but lost in the first round in all of them.[8] His best run inEuropean Tour events was at theKay Suzanne Memorial Cup where he saw offJames Wattana,Zhang Anda andPeter Ebdon, before being beaten 4–3 byJamie Jones.[8] Two other last 32 exits helped Wasley finish 47th on theOrder of Merit.[9]
_2015-02-05_02.jpg)
In qualifying for theWorld Championship, Wasley squeezed pastSydney Wilson 10–9 and then beatRory McLeod andMark Joyce both 10–6 to stand just one victory away from playing in the sport's biggest event for the first time.[8] He played world number 16Robert Milkins in a dramatic match that went to a respotted black in the deciding frame which Wasley potted to reach theCrucible.[10] In the first round, Wasley caused one of the biggest upsets in the tournament's history by eliminating world number twoDing Junhui 10–9 after having trailed 6–3 at the end of the opening session.[11] In the second round he fell 7–1 down toDominic Dale and could never recover as he was beaten 13–4.[12] Despite this run, Wasley could not quite reach the top 64 in the rankings as he was placed number 72, which would have seen him relegated from the tour.[13] However, he received the fourth of eight spots available on the European Tour for non-qualified players to earn a new two-year tour card for the2014–15 and2015–16 seasons.[9]
Wasley won three matches to reach the final qualifying round of theShanghai Masters, where he was narrowly beaten 5–4 byDominic Dale.[14] At the European Tour event theVictoria Bulgarian Open, Wasley facedJudd Trump in the last 16 and made a 133 break to send the match into a deciding frame in which he made a 75 break from 73–0 down to playPeter Ebdon in the quarter-finals and lost 4–1.[15] He would go on to finish 29th on theOrder of Merit, just outside the top 24 who qualified for theGrand Final.[16] His best runs in full ranking events this season were a pair of last 32 exits at theGerman Masters (5–1 toShaun Murphy) and theWelsh Open (4–2 to Trump).[14] He failed to repeat last year'sWorld Championship performances as he lost 10–5 toAlan McManus in the first qualifying round.[17]
Wasley could only win two matches out of 17 during the whole of the2015–16 season.[18] He dropped off the tour at the end of the season as he was placed 87th in the world rankings and he did not enter the2016 Q School.[19]
| Tournament | 2010/ 11 | 2011/ 12 | 2012/ 13 | 2013/ 14 | 2014/ 15 | 2015/ 16 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking[20][nb 1] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | 80 | [nb 4] | 92 | |||||||||||||
| Ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Goldfields Open | NH | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||
| Shanghai Masters | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||
| International Championship | Not Held | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | ||||||||||||||
| UK Championship | A | A | LQ | 1R | 1R | 1R | |||||||||||||
| German Masters | A | A | 1R | LQ | 1R | LQ | |||||||||||||
| Welsh Open | A | A | 1R | 1R | 3R | 1R | |||||||||||||
| World Grand Prix | Tournament Not Held | NR | DNQ | ||||||||||||||||
| Players Tour Championship Grand Final | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||||||||||||
| China Open | A | A | LQ | 1R | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||
| World Championship | A | A | LQ | 2R | LQ | LQ | |||||||||||||
| Former ranking tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Open | LQ | A | LQ | 1R | Not Held | ||||||||||||||
| Wuxi Classic | Non-Ranking | LQ | 1R | LQ | NH | ||||||||||||||
| Indian Open | Tournament Not Held | LQ | LQ | 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 Held | means an event was not held | |||
| NR / Non-Ranking Event | means an event is/was no longer a ranking event | |||
| R / Ranking Event | means an event is/was a ranking event | |||
| MR / Minor-Ranking Event | means an event is/was a minor-ranking event | |||
