David Gilbert (born 12 June 1981) is an English professional snooker player who has won one ranking title. Never having previously been beyond the last 16 of a ranking event, Gilbert reached the final of the 2015 International Championship where he lost 5âÂÂ10 to John Higgins. On 22 January 2019 he hit the milestone of the 147th maximum break, in the Championship League. On 4 May 2019 he narrowly missed out on his first World Snooker Championship final, losing 16âÂÂ17 to John Higgins in the semi-final. On 13 August 2021 Gilbert won his first world ranking title, the 2021 Championship League, beating Mark Allen 3âÂÂ1 in the final.
Gilbert began his professional career by playing UK Tour in 1999, at the time the second-level professional tour. In the 2007âÂÂ08 season Gilbert reached the last 32 of three tournaments without progressing further. Most notably he qualified for the 2007 World Championship where he led Stephen Hendry 5âÂÂ1, before succumbing to a 7âÂÂ10 defeat. To qualify he beat Alfie Burden, Gerard Greene and Mark King.
The other two were the 2007 Welsh Open â where he won his two qualifying matches then beat James Wattana in the last 48 in Newport, before losing 0âÂÂ5 to Steve Davis â and the 2008 Grand Prix, where he again faced Hendry and again challenged him before succumbing 4âÂÂ5.
Gilbert went one better at the 2009 Welsh Open, beating Mark Williams and Joe Perry before losing to Mark Selby in the last 16.
The 2011âÂÂ12 season was somewhat of a breakthrough year for Gilbert as he reached the last 16 in two ranking event tournaments for the first time. He went from qualifying round one to the venue stage of the first tournament of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open, beating Passakorn Suwannawat 5âÂÂ4, Alfie Burden 5âÂÂ2, Dave Harold 5âÂÂ4 and Mark King 5âÂÂ0 to set up a wildcard round match at the venue against James Mifsud, which was later changed to a last 32 encounter due to the withdrawal of Graeme Dott. Gilbert won 5âÂÂ1 to meet Mark Williams in the last 16, and was beaten 2âÂÂ5.
Gilbert struggled to replicate the form he showed in Australia until the final and biggest tournament on the snooker calendar, the World Championship. He qualified with victories over Stuart Carrington, Jimmy Robertson (with a final frame decider), Mike Dunn and Fergal O'Brien and drew 11th seed Martin Gould in the first round. There he won his first-ever match at the Crucible 10âÂÂ8, although he had to withstand two comebacks after leading 6âÂÂ2 and 9âÂÂ5. In the second round he was defeated by 2010 World Champion, Neil Robertson 9âÂÂ13. Gilbert had led 3âÂÂ1 after the first four frames, but then trailed 3âÂÂ5 and 6âÂÂ10 after the first and second session respectively. He finished the season ranked world number 57, inside the top 64 who automatically retained their places for the 2012âÂÂ13 season.
Following on from Gilbert's successful 2011âÂÂ12 season, he struggled for form this season as he could only qualify for the World Open in Haikou, China. There, he beat Lu Ning 5âÂÂ0 in the wildcard round, before losing 4âÂÂ5 to Matthew Stevens in the first round. Gilbert played in eight of the ten minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events, but could only win three matches all year, to finish a lowly 86th on the Order of Merit. He couldn't repeat last season's run to The Crucible as he was defeated 6âÂÂ10 by Marco Fu in the final round of World Championship Qualifying. He ended the campaign ranked world number 41.
Gilbert's 2013âÂÂ14 season was his most consistent year to date as he qualified for all but two of the ranking events. In his opening match, he defeated Jak Jones 5âÂÂ3 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China where he beat Andrew Pagett 5âÂÂ2 in the first round. He went on to beat Alan McManus 5âÂÂ2 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the fourth time but lost 2âÂÂ5 to Joe Perry. A month later at the minor-ranking Rotterdam Open, he defeated Ryan Day 4âÂÂ3 in the last 16 and Stephen Maguire 4âÂÂ1 in the quarter-finals. Gilbert led Mark Selby 2âÂÂ0 in his semi-final match, but was beaten 4âÂÂ3. The tournament was one of the eight European Tour events on the calendar and Gilbert performed well in the others with two further last 16 runs to finish 16th on the Order of Merit and qualify for the Finals for the first time in his career. There, Gilbert gained revenge over Selby by whitewashing him 4âÂÂ0, but lost 1âÂÂ4 to Perry in the second round.
Gilbert played in his third World Championship this year after seeing off Jimmy Robertson in the final round of qualifying. He faced the previous year's runner-up Barry Hawkins in the first round but from 4âÂÂ2 up he lost eight frames in a row to succumb to a 10âÂÂ4 defeat in a performance he branded as useless.
Gilbert lost 3âÂÂ5 to Stephen Maguire in the first round of the 2014 Wuxi Classic and then failed to qualify for the next two ranking events. At the International Championship he defeated Zak Surety 6âÂÂ4, before withstanding three century breaks from Marco Fu to take the match into a deciding frame which Gilbert lost. He won his first matches at the UK Championship 6âÂÂ4 against Elliot Slessor and 6âÂÂ2 against Mark Joyce, but lost in the third round 2âÂÂ6 to David Morris. Gilbert was eliminated at the first round stage of the German Masters, Welsh Open and Indian Open. He faced the winner of the previous ranking event Joe Perry at the China Open and won the last three frames to defeat him 5âÂÂ3 and then saw off Zhou Yuelong 5âÂÂ2 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the sixth time. Gilbert's tournament ended with a 2âÂÂ5 loss to reigning world champion Mark Selby. Gilbert was ranked 35th after the World Championship, the highest he had finished a season at that time.
Gilbert was eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the opening two ranking events of the season. At the minor-ranking Ruhr Open he won four matches to play in the quarter-finals where he beat Barry Hawkins 4âÂÂ2, before losing 3âÂÂ4 to Tian Pengfei in the semi-finals. Gilbert's form continued later in to the month at the International Championship as he knocked out Xiao Guodong 6âÂÂ5, Oliver Lines 6âÂÂ4 and Ryan Day 6âÂÂ4 to play in the first ranking event quarter-final of his career. He came back from 2âÂÂ4 down against Marco Fu to edge it 6âÂÂ5 which included a 130 break and then saw off Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 9âÂÂ5. In the final, Gilbert was level with John Higgins at 4âÂÂ4, but lost 5âÂÂ9. The ã65,000 runner-up's cheque was the biggest of his career and he moved up to 21st in the world rankings afterwards. Gilbert stated that his newfound form was down to a new cue he acquired from fellow professional Matthew Selt six weeks previously. Gilbert was knocked out in the third round of both the UK Championship and China Open 3âÂÂ6 to Marco Fu and 3âÂÂ5 to Higgins respectively. Gilbert won three matches to qualify for the World Championship and faced Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round. He was defeated 7âÂÂ10, but said it was the best he had ever played without winning a match. He moved up to world number 22 at the end of the season.
Gilbert saw off Rod Lawler 5âÂÂ0, Zhou Yuelong 5âÂÂ2 and Zhang Anda 5âÂÂ0 to play in the quarter-finals of the World Open, where he was beaten 5âÂÂ2 by Neil Robertson. He had a pair of 6âÂÂ2 victories over Adam Duffy and Mark Joyce at the UK Championship and made two centuries from 0âÂÂ3 down against Ali Carter to edge through 6âÂÂ5. Gilbert lost 2âÂÂ6 to Jamie Jones in the fourth round. He won two matches to qualify for the German Masters and eliminated Marco Fu 5âÂÂ3 in the first round, but was then defeated 5âÂÂ4 by Stuart Bingham despite holding a 4âÂÂ2 advantage at one stage. After being 6âÂÂ1 up on Fergal O'Brien in the final qualifying round for the World Championship the scores were locked at 9âÂÂ9. The decider took 123 minutes and 41 seconds, breaking the record for the longest frame in snooker history, with O'Brien taking it on the final brown. He finished the season 19th in the world rankings, his highest to that date.
David Gilbert won his first ranking title at the 2021 Championship League. He defeated Mark Allen in the final 3âÂÂ1. He made strong breaks of 59 in the second frame and 57 in the fourth. Gilbert's strong start to the season continued at the following tournament, the 2021 British Open, where he reached the quarter-finals, losing 3âÂÂ4 to eventual runner-up Gary Wilson, despite leading 2âÂÂ0 and 3âÂÂ2. Gilbert also performed well in the qualifying held across August and September for the 2021 Northern Ireland, English, and Scottish opens, defeating Ian Burns, David Grace, and Simon Lichtenberg, 4âÂÂ0, 4âÂÂ2, and 4âÂÂ1 respectively. At the 2022 World Championship, Gilbert lost in the first round to Ronnie O'Sullivan 510.
At the 2023 World Championship, Gilbert was defeated 410 by Stuart Bingham in the first round.
At the 2024 World Championship, Gilbert defeated defending champion Luca Brecel in the first round 109. After winning two more matches, Gilbert reached the semi-final where he was beaten 1117 by Kyren Wilson.
Gilbert is married, and he and his wife Abigail have a daughter. He often helps out on his father's potato and general farm in Staffordshire and had planned to do so during the 2007 World Championships, had he not qualified for the event.
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