Barry Hawkins
Barry Hawkins is an English professional snooker player from Ditton, Kent. He turned professional in 1996, but only rose to prominence in the 2004–05 snooker season when he reached the last 16 of the 2004 UK Championship, the quarter-finals of the 2004 British Open and the semi-finals of the 2005 Welsh Open. He has spent twenty successive seasons ranked inside the top 32. Hawkins reached his first ranking final and won his first ranking title at the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open. Hawkins has won four ranking titles.
Hawkins played in the televised stages of every World Championship between his Crucible Theatre debut in 2006 and his failure to qualify in 2023. He lost in the first round on his first five appearances but reached the second round in 2011 and 2012. Rated an 80–1 outsider for the 2013 World Snooker Championship, he reached the final. Hawkins has since reached the semi-finals of the World Championship in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. He was runner-up in the Masters in 2016 and 2022 and in the UK Championship of 2024.
Career
Early career
Hawkins was born in Ditton, Kent. Before taking up snooker professionally, he was an office clerk.He reached the Top 32 in the rankings in 2004/2005, having reached the semi-finals of the 2005 Welsh Open, as well as the last sixteen of three other tournaments.
2005/2006
, he reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix and the Welsh Open again, and also beat Ding Junhui to qualify for the World Championship for the first time. This cemented Hawkins' place in the Top 16 of the rankings for the 2006/2007 season.At the World Championship in Sheffield, however, Hawkins faced former champion Ken Doherty in the first round but lost 1–10. He told the BBC that "I just couldn't perform and I don't know why... I'm gutted after such a good season to have performed like that."
2006–2009
The 200607 season was less successful for Hawkins. Although he reached the final of the non-ranking Kilkenny Irish Masters, his only run past the last 16 in a ranking event was at the China Open, when he reached the semi-finals. In their last four match, Jamie Cope was able to obtain the snookers he needed to stay in the match and went on to win 5–6, denying Hawkins a place in the final. A first-round defeat by Fergal O'Brien at the World Championship cost him his Top 16 place and left him outside the Top 32 on the single-year rankings.Early in the 200708 season, Hawkins won the qualifying tournament for the 2008 Masters, beating Kurt Maflin. He also reached the last 16 at the Grand Prix, UK Championship and China Open.
He started the 2008–09 season with a quarter-final appearance at the 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy, by beating Jimmy White, Marco Fu and Ryan Day where he played O'Sullivan, losing 4–5 after levelling from 1–4 down. He then won at least his opening match in the next four ranking events, reaching the provisional top 16. He did not qualify for the events in Wales and China, but made it to the World Championship by beating Daniel Wells 10–9, but lost in the first round, finishing one place short of a return to the top 16.
From 2006 to 2010, Hawkins's record at the World Championship was unsuccessful, with a win–loss record of 0–5. As well as the aforementioned one-sided defeat by Doherty, Hawkins narrowly lost in the first round the following two years as well, to Fergal O'Brien and Ali Carter respectively in final frame deciders. In 2009 Hawkins missed out on a chance to take his match with former champion Graeme Dott to a deciding frame and lost 8–10. The following year, Hawkins led defending champion John Higgins 3–5 before Higgins won seven of the next eight frames to progress.
2010/2011
Hawkins played well at the World Open in defeating Mark Selby as well as former World Champion Ken Doherty before losing 2–4 to Mark Williams.Hawkins qualified for the World Championship for the sixth year running, where he was drawn against Stephen Maguire in the first round. Having never won a match at the Crucible before, Hawkins led Maguire 4–0, 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. In the second round, Hawkins was defeated 12–13 by Mark Allen.
2011/2012
Hawkins reached the PTC Finals in the 2011–12 season largely thanks to semi-final runs in Event 3 and Event 5. He finished 22nd on the Order of Merit, inside the top 24 who qualified. In the Finals he lost in the first round 3–4 to Jack Lisowski. Hawkins won the non-ranking Snooker Shoot-Out, a tournament where the winner of each round is determined by a single 10-minute frame. He beat Graeme Dott in the final and picked up a cheque for £32,000, the biggest of his career to date.Hawkins' best run in a 201112 season ranking event came at the 2012 World Snooker Championship. He qualified by beating David Morris and was drawn to play world number one Selby. whom Hawkins beat 10–3 to face Matthew Stevens in the second round. Hawkins led 8–6 after two sessions in a bid to reach his first quarter-final at the Crucible, but had no answer to his opponent in the latter stages, as Stevens won seven of the last 10 frames to take the match 11–13. Hawkins finished the season ranked world number 22.
2012/2013
Hawkins began the 2012–13 season at the Wuxi Classic, where he faced Selby in the first round once more, this time losing 2–5.First ranking title
His next ranking event was the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo, where he defeated Xiao Guodong, Matthew Stevens, Matthew Selt and Mark Davis to reach the first ranking event final of his 16-year professional career. He faced Peter Ebdon and finished the first session of the match leading 5–3, which included a spell of four successive frames that meant Ebdon had not potted a ball for over an hour. In the evening session Hawkins won all four frames played to take the title with a 9–3 victory. He made three centuries in the final and climbed to world number 20 thanks to the win, as well as earning praise from Ebdon himself.Other tournaments
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 2007. Neil Robertson beat him 2–6 in the UK Championship and in the Masters he was 5–4 up against Judd Trump but missed two pots when well placed to win the match and instead went on to lose 5–6, a result which left Hawkins "devastated". He bounced back at the next ranking event, the German Masters, by beating Selby to reach the semi-finals. He then lost 4–6 to Marco Fu in a long match which finished after midnight local time and included a bout of safety which lasted almost an hour. Hawkins failed to get past the second round in the World Open, China Open or the Welsh Open.World Championship final
In his opening match at the World Championship, he triumphed over Jack Lisowski 10–3 win to set up a second round meeting with Selby. Hawkins trailed 7–9 to the world number one after the second session but came back to triumph 13–10 in a win he described as the best of his career. In his first World Championship quarter-final he defeated Ding Junhui 13–7 to progress to the semi-finals, where he played Ricky Walden. Hawkins fell 8–12 behind before winning eight successive frames with two centuries in the process. Despite a brief fightback from Walden, Hawkins won the match 17–14 to set up a clash in the final with defending champion O'Sullivan. Hawkins fought hard during the final making breaks of 127 and 133, his highest ever at the Crucible, but O'Sullivan defeated Hawkins 12–18. For reaching the final he received prize money of £125,000.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 1979 champion Terry Griffiths who helped to give him the self-belief to make the most of his game. His successful season saw him climb 13 spots in the rankings to a career high world number nine, the first time he finished a season inside the top 16 since 2006.
2013/2014
After a pair of second-round exits in the opening two rankings events of the 2013–14 season, Hawkins beat Selby at the Shanghai Masters to reach the semi-finals. In the last four he was outplayed by Ding Junhui, exiting 2–6. In a deciding frame against Shaun Murphy at the 2013 UK Championship, Hawkins potted seven reds and seven blacks but had to make do with a break of 70 to take the match and reach the quarter-finals for the first in his career. Hawkins led Selby 5–3 in their semi-final, but went on to be beaten 5–6.Second ranking title
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 a spot for the Finals. At the finals, he whitewashed Stephen Maguire in the first round and then defeated Ryan Day. Victories over Yu Delu and Judd Trump followed as he reached the final. He faced practice partner Gerard Greene and completed a 4–0 win to take the £100,000 first prize.At the World Championship, Hawkins played Ricky Walden in the second round and fought back from a 5–9 deficit to win 13–11. He built an 11–5 lead over Dominic Dale in their quarter-final, but Dale then won seven frames in a row to stand one away from equalling the biggest comeback in a quarter-final at the Crucible. However, Hawkins then made breaks of 66 and 65 to win the last two frames and move into the semi-finals, where he faced 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 was the world number five at the end of the campaign, the highest position at which he had ever finished a season.