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Alan McManus
Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player, and a current commentator and pundit for ITV, BBC and TNT on snooker coverage. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Dubai Classic and the 1996 Thailand Open, and competed in the World Championship semi-finals in 1992, 1993 and 2016. He also won the 1994 Masters, ending Stephen Hendry's five-year, 23-match unbeaten streak at the tournament with a 9–8 victory in the final. McManus announced his retirement on 9 April 2021 after losing 6–3 to Bai Langning in the second qualifying round of the 2021 World Snooker Championship.
McManus was a consistent performer on the snooker tour, having a record of fourteen consecutive seasons in the Top 16. He was ranked in the Top 16 from 1992 to 2006, dropping out after an unsuccessful 2005/2006 season. His highest ranking was sixth (in 1993/94 and 1996/97). McManus reached twenty-one professional semi-finals, and won four events. He reached the semi-finals of the World Championship three times, but never appeared in a final. Until 2005, he had gone eleven years without reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament.
McManus's resilience in snooker matchplay can be demonstrated in that the first whitewash of his professional career came in his 0–5 defeat by Peter Ebdon at the 1998 Grand Prix, his 312th match as a professional player.
At the 1994 Masters, McManus defeated Nigel Bond 5–2 in the first round, Ken Doherty 5–1 in the quarter-finals, and then Neal Foulds 6–4 in the semi-final to set up his first triple crown tournament final against defending champion and fellow Scot Stephen Hendry. In what became the highlight of his career, he claimed the Masters title at Wembley, defeating Hendry 9–8 in the final and thus ending Hendry's unbeaten run in the tournament, which dated back to 1989. He also won the tournament's highest-break prize, £10,000 for a 132 total clearance in the sixth frame of his first-round match against Bond.
His last major final was at the 2002 LG Cup, at the Preston Guild Hall, in which he lost 5–9 to fellow-countryman Chris Small. He dropped out of the top 16 in the 2005/2006 season, the first time he had done so since 1991. He reached the semi-finals of the 2006 Snooker Grand Prix, losing to Neil Robertson.
He lost a World Championship qualifier 9–10 to Joe Delaney in 2007. This loss began an extremely quiet six-to-seven-year period for McManus, who then failed to qualify for any UK or World Championships between 2007 and 2013, and also struggled to qualify for the other ranking events (during the period between the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2013 Welsh Open, he failed to qualify for the main stages of 42 ranking events). This loss of form saw him quickly drop out of the top 16, then out of the top 32. His poor form reached a trough in the 2009/2010 season, where he failed to qualify for any of the main stages of the tournaments he took part in.[citation needed]
McManus was unable to qualify for any of the major venues during the 2011–12 season and he finished it ranked as number 52 in the world.[citation needed]
He made a good start to the 2012–13 season, beating Tony Drago and Robert Milkins to qualify for the final stages of the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo; there he beat local wildcard James Mifsud 5–0, before exiting the tournament by the same scoreline against Ding Junhui. At the 2013 Welsh Open, McManus reached his first quarter-final since the 2006 Grand Prix, with a 4–2 win over the number 16 seed Barry Hawkins, followed by a dramatic comeback to beat Joe Perry 4–3, after having trailed 0–3. He was beaten in the quarter-final 3–5 by compatriot Stephen Maguire. The following tournament, the Haikou World Open, saw McManus win three matches in qualifying to reach the latter stages of the tournament; he then beat local wildcard Lin Shuai 5–3, before facing compatriot John Higgins. McManus put in a good performance; he ultimately lost 3–5, but picked up valuable ranking points in the process.[citation needed]
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Alan McManus
Alan McManus (born 21 January 1971) is a Scottish retired professional snooker player, and a current commentator and pundit for ITV, BBC and TNT on snooker coverage. A mainstay of the world's top sixteen during the 1990s and 2000s, he has won two ranking events, the 1994 Dubai Classic and the 1996 Thailand Open, and competed in the World Championship semi-finals in 1992, 1993 and 2016. He also won the 1994 Masters, ending Stephen Hendry's five-year, 23-match unbeaten streak at the tournament with a 9–8 victory in the final. McManus announced his retirement on 9 April 2021 after losing 6–3 to Bai Langning in the second qualifying round of the 2021 World Snooker Championship.
McManus was a consistent performer on the snooker tour, having a record of fourteen consecutive seasons in the Top 16. He was ranked in the Top 16 from 1992 to 2006, dropping out after an unsuccessful 2005/2006 season. His highest ranking was sixth (in 1993/94 and 1996/97). McManus reached twenty-one professional semi-finals, and won four events. He reached the semi-finals of the World Championship three times, but never appeared in a final. Until 2005, he had gone eleven years without reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament.
McManus's resilience in snooker matchplay can be demonstrated in that the first whitewash of his professional career came in his 0–5 defeat by Peter Ebdon at the 1998 Grand Prix, his 312th match as a professional player.
At the 1994 Masters, McManus defeated Nigel Bond 5–2 in the first round, Ken Doherty 5–1 in the quarter-finals, and then Neal Foulds 6–4 in the semi-final to set up his first triple crown tournament final against defending champion and fellow Scot Stephen Hendry. In what became the highlight of his career, he claimed the Masters title at Wembley, defeating Hendry 9–8 in the final and thus ending Hendry's unbeaten run in the tournament, which dated back to 1989. He also won the tournament's highest-break prize, £10,000 for a 132 total clearance in the sixth frame of his first-round match against Bond.
His last major final was at the 2002 LG Cup, at the Preston Guild Hall, in which he lost 5–9 to fellow-countryman Chris Small. He dropped out of the top 16 in the 2005/2006 season, the first time he had done so since 1991. He reached the semi-finals of the 2006 Snooker Grand Prix, losing to Neil Robertson.
He lost a World Championship qualifier 9–10 to Joe Delaney in 2007. This loss began an extremely quiet six-to-seven-year period for McManus, who then failed to qualify for any UK or World Championships between 2007 and 2013, and also struggled to qualify for the other ranking events (during the period between the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2013 Welsh Open, he failed to qualify for the main stages of 42 ranking events). This loss of form saw him quickly drop out of the top 16, then out of the top 32. His poor form reached a trough in the 2009/2010 season, where he failed to qualify for any of the main stages of the tournaments he took part in.[citation needed]
McManus was unable to qualify for any of the major venues during the 2011–12 season and he finished it ranked as number 52 in the world.[citation needed]
He made a good start to the 2012–13 season, beating Tony Drago and Robert Milkins to qualify for the final stages of the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo; there he beat local wildcard James Mifsud 5–0, before exiting the tournament by the same scoreline against Ding Junhui. At the 2013 Welsh Open, McManus reached his first quarter-final since the 2006 Grand Prix, with a 4–2 win over the number 16 seed Barry Hawkins, followed by a dramatic comeback to beat Joe Perry 4–3, after having trailed 0–3. He was beaten in the quarter-final 3–5 by compatriot Stephen Maguire. The following tournament, the Haikou World Open, saw McManus win three matches in qualifying to reach the latter stages of the tournament; he then beat local wildcard Lin Shuai 5–3, before facing compatriot John Higgins. McManus put in a good performance; he ultimately lost 3–5, but picked up valuable ranking points in the process.[citation needed]