Hawkins Snooker

Having never won a match at the Crucible before, Hawkins led Maguire 4—0, 5—1, 6—2 and 8—4 before seeing Maguire level the match at 8—8 and then 9—9.

However, Hawkins held his nerve in the deciding frame to finally end his losing run at the World Championship.

He finished 22nd on the Order of Merit , inside the top 24 who qualified. Hawkins' best run in the ranking events came in the final and biggest tournament of the season, the World Championship.

He qualified by beating David Morris and was drawn to play world number one Mark Selby , who had come into the event having suffered a neck injury and declaring himself fit to play only one week before.

Hawkins began the —13 season at the Wuxi Classic , where he faced Mark Selby in the first round once more, this time losing 2—5.

His next ranking event was the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo , where he defeated Xiao Guodong 5—1 , Matthew Stevens 5—2 , Matthew Selt 5—3 , and Mark Davis 6—4 to reach the first ranking event final of his year professional career.

In the evening session Hawkins won all four frames played to take the title with a 9—3 victory. Despite then losing in the first round of the Shanghai Masters and in qualifying for the International Championship , Hawkins climbed into the top 16 in November meaning he would be in the main draw in the Masters for the first time since Two further quarter-final defeats saw him finish 15th on the Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals , where he lost 1—4 to Robertson in the second round.

At the World Championship , he put Jack Lisowski under sustained pressure with his superior safety game in a 10—3 win to face Mark Selby in the second round.

Despite a brief fightback from Walden, Hawkins won the match 17—14 to set up a clash in the final with defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan , Hawkins saying he had nothing to lose now.

Hawkins' turnaround from being a solid player to a ranking event winner and World Championship runner-up has been credited, in part, to his work with champion Terry Griffiths who has helped to give him the self-belief to make the most of his game.

After a pair of second round exits in the opening two rankings events of the —14 season , Hawkins levelled his quarter-final match against Mark Selby at the Shanghai Masters with a break and then won the deciding frame to progress.

Hawkins played in all eight European Tour events during the season with his best result being a semi-final defeat at the Bulgarian Open , which helped him finish 25th on the Order of Merit and claim the final spot for the Finals.

At the World Championship , Hawkins played Ricky Walden in the second round, a repeat of last year's semi-final. The match was similar to the one 12 months earlier too, as Hawkins fought back from a 9—5 deficit to win 13— However, Hawkins regrouped and made breaks of 66 and 65 to win the last two frames and move into the semi-finals, where he faced Ronnie O'Sullivan in a rematch of the previous year's final.

Hawkins trailed 2—6 after the first session and 5—11 after the second session, and lost the match 7—17 with a session to spare.

Hawkins first ranking event of the —15 season was the Wuxi Classic and he beat Marco Fu 5—4 to reach the semi-finals, stating later that he was gaining more self belief due to being in the latter stages of big events more regularly.

In the quarter-finals he was ousted 5—3 by world number 56 Gary Wilson. Hawkins looked to be cruising into the second round of the World Championship after he took the opening session of his match with Matthew Selt 7—2 and extended it to 9—4.

However, Selt won five frames on the trot to take the match into a deciding frame which Hawkins won. It was an extremely high quality encounter, during which both players made four centuries each to equal a World Championship record for a best of 25 frame match.

Hawkins took two months off at the beginning of the season and said he would be more selective with the events he enters in order to remain fresh for the entire year.

Hawkins conceded only a total of seven frames in his seven matches during the event. Hawkins took the opening frame, but would lose 10—1 to equal the record of the biggest margin of defeat in a Masters final set by Steve Davis' 9—0 whitewash over Mike Hallett in Hawkins met O'Sullivan in the second round of the World Championship , a player who he had not beat in 10 matches stretching back 14 years since their very first meeting.

Hawkins led 9—7 after the second session and 12—9 to stand one frame away of the win. However, O'Sullivan quickly levelled the match at 12—12, but went in off during the deciding frame to allow Hawkins to be the only player to have reached the quarter-finals of the event for the past three years.

Hawkins said the change from his heavy defeat to O'Sullivan at the Masters in January to beating him was playing the balls instead of his opponent and that he was proud of having handled the most pressure he ever felt during his career.

In the next frame Hawkins was 60—0 ahead, before Fu made a 74 break to close out the match. Afterwards Hawkins said he had not slept at all after his win over O'Sullivan and was unable to focus during the first session of the Fu match.

After not getting past the third round in the early part of the —17 season , Hawkins reached the semi-finals of the English Open , where he lost 6—2 to Judd Trump.

Anthony Hamilton came back from 4—2 and 5—3 down to send the match in to a deciding frame in which he feathered the white when well placed to hand Hawkins a chance for the match which he took.

Hawkins won a re-spotted black to make it 8—8 and then lost the deciding frame. He had a 5—2 advantage in his semi-final match against Joe Perry , before Perry secured the snooker he needed to reduce the lead to 5—3.

Perry went on to win the three remaining frames, clinching the match and narrowly denying Hawkins a rematch against defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan.

He made five century breaks to be 9—3 up on Ryan Day who then closed the gap to 9—7, before Hawkins took the next frame to win his third ranking title.

He lost 5—4 on the final black to Trump in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open. Hawkins is naturally right-handed but plays with his cue left-handed.

However, if he has to use the rest, he switches the cue to his dominant hand right hand for better handling. Additionally, it allows him to aim better because his right eye is his objective eye.

Hawkins has been with his partner Tara since ; in January they had their first child, a son named Harrison, [8] and they were married in June From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

English professional snooker player. Hawkins at the German Masters. This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.

May Hawkins holds a rest in his left hand BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 May Bet Finder. Archived from the original on 25 June Daily Mirror. BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 April Retrieved 21 April Retrieved 20 May Archived from the original on 11 July Evening Standard.

Kent Online. Archived from the original PDF on 22 May Retrieved 15 July World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 18 July Archived from the original PDF on 16 June Retrieved 6 November Retrieved 24 April Archived from the original on 4 February World Snooker.

Archived from the original on 25 April Retrieved 27 April Archived from the original on 3 May Retrieved 1 May Retrieved 4 May Archived from the original on 7 May Archived from the original PDF on 11 June Retrieved 28 May Retrieved 30 April Archived from the original on 8 April Your Canterbury.

Archived from the original on 2 May Archived from the original on 2 April Retrieved 29 April Retrieved 2 May Archived from the original PDF on 8 May Retrieved 9 May Sky Sports.

Archived from the original on 6 January Retrieved 6 January The Guardian. Retrieved 3 May Retrieved 11 August Archived from the original on 7 August Retrieved 16 January The details of the tragedy are heartbreaking, and the former world finalist was open enough to explain them to his fans in March We all thought he was getting back to normal.

Sadly he took his own life. He felt like there was no way out for him. It absolutely destroyed me for about six months.

In the last few months I have been trying to find my form again. The Hawk is in second round action at the English Open on Wednesday evening as he looks to continue this resurgence in form against Michael Georgiou.