Chris Melling (pool player)

Christopher Melling (born 27 January 1979) is an English professional pool and snooker player and 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. His entrance by walk-on music is from the song “Wannabe” by Spice Girls. Melling is also the only cue sports player to hold professional status in English 8 ball, American pool and snooker.

Chris Melling
Melling in 2012
Born (1979-01-27) 27 January 1979[1]
Sport country England
NicknameThe Magician[2]
Professional1998
Best ranking finishQuarter finals 2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship
Tournament wins
World ChampionEnglish Eight-ball (2001, 2003)

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]

Melling tours worldwide to pursue his 9-ball pool career. 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] This saw him become the first person to have been a professional in 8-Ball Pool, 9-Ball Pool and Snooker at the same time.

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]

Snooker performance and rankings timeline
Tournament 2000/
01		 2001/
02		 2002/
03		 2003/
04		 2004/
05		 2006/
07		 2014/
15		 2015/
16
Ranking[11][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 2] [nb 3] [nb 3] 79
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open Tournament Not Held LQ A
Shanghai Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ
International Championship Tournament Not Held 1R LQ
UK Championship A LQ A LQ A LQ 1R 1R
German Masters Tournament Not Held LQ LQ
Welsh Open A LQ A LQ A LQ 2R 1R
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ
Players Tour Championship Finals Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ
China Open A LQ Not Held A LQ LQ LQ
World Championship LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters A A A LQ A A A A
Former ranking tournaments
Thailand Masters A LQ NR Not Held NR Not Held
Scottish Open[nb 4] A LQ A LQ Tournament Not Held
British Open A LQ A LQ A Not Held
Irish Masters NR A LQ A NR Not Held
Malta Cup[nb 5] NR LQ A LQ A LQ Not Held
Northern Ireland Trophy Tournament Not Held LQ Not Held
Grand Prix[nb 6] A LQ A LQ A LQ Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 7] Tournament Not Held 1R NH
Indian Open Tournament Not Held LQ NH
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 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. He was an amateur.
  3. 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. "Chris Melling". azbilliards.com. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  2. "Chris The Magician Melling". facebook.com. Archived from the original on 20 July 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  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. "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. "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
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