Chris Melling (pool player)

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Chris Melling
Pool player Chris Melling.jpg
Melling in 2012
Born (1979-01-27) 27 January 1979 (age 46) [1]
Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire. [1]
Sport countryFlag of England.svg  England
NicknameThe Magician [2]
Professional1998
Best ranking finishQuarter finals 2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship
Tournament wins
World Champion English eight-ball (2001, 2003)

Christopher Melling (born 27 January 1979) is an English professional pool and snooker player from Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire. [1] He is a former world number 1 at World Rules British Eight-Ball. He won the WEPF World Eightball Championship twice, in 2001 and 2003. He was ranked #1 in 2003 by the World Eightball Pool Federation. [3] Melling has also twice won the International Pool Masters (2001 and 2002) and the European Professional title (2002). He was the first player to win two International Tour events back to back.

Contents

Career

In 2001, Melling reached the last 16 of the 2001 WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, beating Steve Davis along the way. [4]

In October 2010 he won his first European 9-ball event, the Portugal Open. On 12 June 2011 Melling was crowned China Open champion and received $40,000. This was his first major 9-ball pool tournament victory.

In December 2011, Melling participated in the 18th annual Mosconi Cup, and won four of his six matches. [5] A year later he won the Most Valuable Player Award in the 2012 Mosconi Cup. [6]

In January 2013, he reached the final of the Chinese 8-Ball Masters, losing to Gareth Potts. He also lost to Potts in the final of the 2005 World Rules 8-Ball Championship. Also in 2013 he reached the quarter finals of the 2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, the World Masters, World Cup of Pool and finished 5th in the US Open 9-Ball Championship.

In May 2014, Melling entered the snooker 2014 Q School in an attempt to regain his professional status and defeated the likes of former professionals Daniel Wells and Chen Zhe 4–3 and 4–1 respectively, before winning his quarter-final match against Duane Jones 4–3 to earn a two-year tour card for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons. [7]

His first match as a professional saw him beat 2003 UK Championship winner Matthew Stevens 5–4 to qualify for the 2014 Wuxi Classic, but he lost 5–1 to Zhao Xintong in the first round. [8] Melling also played in the first round of the International Championship by defeating Luca Brecel 6–5 and was knocked out 6–1 by Zhou Yuelong. His first victory at the venue stage of a ranking event came at the Welsh Open after he edged out Nigel Bond 4–3, before being whitewashed 4–0 by home favourite Michael White in the second round. [8]

The 2015–16 season proved harder for Melling as he could only win four matches all year. [9] He dropped off the tour at the end of the season and could not win enough matches at the 2016 Q School to win his place back. [10]

In July 2024 Melling won the Ultimate Pool Masters. [11]

Snooker performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2000/
01 		2001/
02 		2002/
03 		2003/
04 		2004/
05 		2006/
07 		2014/
15 		2015/
16
Ranking [12] [nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 3] 79
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open Tournament Not HeldLQA
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not HeldLQLQ
International Championship Tournament Not Held 1R LQ
UK Championship ALQALQALQ 1R 1R
German Masters Tournament Not HeldLQLQ
Welsh Open ALQALQALQ 2R 1R
World Grand Prix Tournament Not HeldNRDNQ
Players Tour Championship Finals Tournament Not HeldDNQDNQ
China Open ALQNot HeldALQLQLQ
World Championship LQLQLQLQLQLQLQLQ
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters AAALQAAAA
Former ranking tournaments
Thailand Masters ALQNRNot HeldNRNot Held
Scottish Open [nb 4] ALQALQTournament Not Held
British Open ALQALQANot Held
Irish Masters NRALQANRNot Held
Malta Cup [nb 5] NRLQALQALQNot Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not HeldLQNot Held
Grand Prix [nb 6] ALQALQALQNot Held
Wuxi Classic [nb 7] Tournament Not Held 1R NH
Indian Open Tournament Not HeldLQNH
Performance table legend
LQlost in the qualifying draw#Rlost in the early rounds of the tournament
(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)		QFlost in the quarter-finals
SFlost in the semi-finalsFlost in the finalWwon the tournament
DNQdid not qualify for the tournamentAdid not participate in the tournamentWDwithdrew 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.
PA / Pro-am Eventmeans an event is/was a pro-am event.
  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. 1 2 3 He was an amateur.
  3. 1 2 3 4 New players on the Main Tour do not have a ranking
  4. ↑ The event was called the Players Championship (2003/2004)
  5. ↑ The event was also called the European Open (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  6. ↑ The event was also called the LG Cup (2001/2002–2003/2004)
  7. ↑ The event was called the Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)

Pool titles

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Chris Melling". azbilliards.com. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Chris "The Magician" Melling joins the Cuetec team". Cuetec. 1 February 2023. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  3. ↑ "Men's Individual Rankings". World Eight-ball Pool Federation. Archived from the original on 3 May 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
  4. ↑ "2001 WPA World Pool Championship" (PDF). csns.ca. Cue Sports Nova. July 18, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  5. ↑ Yates, Phil (January 2012). "Europe regains Mosconi Cup". Snooker Scene. pp. 43–44.
  6. ↑ Yates, Phil (January 2013). "Europe hold off USA to retain Mosconi Cup". Snooker Scene. pp. 38–40.
  7. ↑ "Melling / Steadman / Tian / Zhang Qualify". World Snooker . Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Chris Melling 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Chris Melling 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  10. ↑ "Q School Order of Merit". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Atkinson, Nathan. "Keighley potter Chris Melling wins Ultimate Pool Masters". Keighley News. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  12. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
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