Ben Mertens
Ben Mertens (born 13 October 2004) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championships in 2018.
| Born | 13 October 2004 Wetteren, Belgium |
|---|---|
| Sport country | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Belgium |
| Nickname | The Boy Wonder[1] |
| Professional | 2022–present |
| Highest ranking | 70 (July 2023) |
| Current ranking | 71 (as of 16 October 2023) |
| Best ranking finish | Last 16 (2023 Welsh Open) |
Career
Ben Mertens is from Wetteren. When he was 12 years old, he reached the 2nd round of the 2017 EBSA European Under-18 Snooker Championship. At the 2018 EBSA European Under-18 Snooker Championship he got to the quarter-finals, where he lost to the later champion Jackson Page.
He won the Belgian U18 championship in 2018.[2] In August 2018 he played in a professional ranking tournament for the first time, and beat Adam Stefanow in the first round of the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic.[3]
In October 2018, when he was thirteen years old, he won the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championships, becoming the first male Belgian snooker world champion (Wendy Jans is a multiple winner of the senior women's world championship).[3]
In January 2019, he defeated Michael White, then ranked #36 in the world, at a snooker tournament in Bruges.[4]
At the 2019 Snooker Shoot-Out, a ranking tournament for which he got a wild card, he beat James Wattana in the first round.[5]
In March 2020 he lost in the semi-finals of the EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships to later champion Aaron Hill.[6]
In July 2020 he defeated James Cahill in the first round of the World Championship qualifiers, becoming the youngest player ever to win a match in the World Championships. This record was broken by Liam Davies, who was two days younger than Mertens when he won his first match at the 2022 World Snooker Championship qualifiers.[7]
In June 2022 turned professional after winning the EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships and gained a two-year tour card for the 2022–23 and 2023–24 snooker seasons.[8]
Performance and rankings timeline
| Tournament | 2017/ 18 |
2018/ 19 |
2019/ 20 |
2020/ 21 |
2021/ 22 |
2022/ 23 |
2023/ 24 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking[9][nb 1] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 2] | [nb 3] | 72 | ||
| Ranking tournaments | |||||||||
| Championship League | Non-Ranking Event | A | A | RR | RR | ||||
| European Masters | A | A | A | 1R | A | LQ | 2R | ||
| British Open | Tournament Not Held | A | 1R | 1R | |||||
| English Open | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | ||
| Wuhan Open | Tournament Not Held | 2R | |||||||
| Northern Ireland Open | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | LQ | ||
| International Championship | A | A | A | Not Held | LQ | ||||
| UK Championship | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | |||
| Shoot Out | A | 2R | A | 2R | A | 2R | |||
| Scottish Open | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | |||
| World Grand Prix | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||
| German Masters | A | LQ | A | A | A | LQ | |||
| Welsh Open | A | A | A | A | A | 3R | |||
| Players Championship | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||
| World Open | A | A | A | Not Held | |||||
| Tour Championship | NH | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | DNQ | |||
| World Championship | A | A | LQ | LQ | LQ | LQ | |||
| Non-ranking tournaments | |||||||||
| Six-red World Championship | A | A | A | Not Held | LQ | ||||
| Former ranking tournaments | |||||||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | LQ | 2R | NR | Tournament Not Held | |||||
| WST Classic | Tournament Not Held | 2R | NH | ||||||
| Former non-ranking tournaments | |||||||||
| Paul Hunter Classic | Ranking | 1R | Tournament Not Held | ||||||
| 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. | |||
- It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
- He was an amateur
- New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
Career finals
Amateur finals: 4 (3 titles)
| Outcome | No. | Year | Championship | Opponent in the final | Score |
| Winner | 1. | 2018 | World Open Under-16 Snooker Championships |  Aaron Hill |
4–3 |
| Winner | 2. | 2021 | EBSA European Under-18 Snooker Championships | Julien Leclercq |
4–3 |
| Winner | 3. | 2022 | EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships |  Florian Nüßle |
5–1 |
| Runner-up | 1. | 2022 | EBSA European Snooker Championships |  Andres Petrov |
3–5 |
Notes
- "Ben Mertens". wst.tv. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
- "België heeft een wereldkampioen snooker: Ben Mertens (13) wint WK U16". Sporza.be. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- Luysterborg, Peter (6 October 2018). "België heeft voor het eerst een wereldkampioen snooker: Ben Mertens, amper 13 (!), wint bloedstollende finale". Het Laatste Nieuws. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- "Veertienjarig snookertalent Ben Mertens zet Michael White een hak op Pro-Am snooker". Het Nieuwsblad. Belga. 12 January 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- "Teenager Ben Mertens stuns James Wattana at Snooker Shoot Out in Watford". Sky Sports. 22 February 2019.
- "European Snooker Championships U21 - Albufeira / Portugal 2020". EBSA. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- "Davies, 15, sets World Championship record". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
- "Mertens set for Pro Tour". WST. 12 June 2022.
- "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
External links
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 13 August 2018)
- Ben Mertens at the World Snooker Tour