Matthew John Stevens (born 11 September 1977) is a Welsh professional snooker player. He has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003. He has also been a two-time runner-up in the other triple crown event, the World Snooker Championship, in 2000 and 2005. Stevens reached a career high ranking of No. 4 for the 2005/2006 season. Stevens has compiled more than 350 century breaks during his career.
Stevens became a professional snooker player in 1994; in his second season, he won the Benson & Hedges Championship to qualify for the Masters, where he beat Terry Griffiths 5âÂÂ3 but lost 5âÂÂ6 to Alan McManus. He also showed potential the following season by beating Stephen Hendry 5âÂÂ1 in the Grand Prix. In the 1997âÂÂ98 season, he reached the semi-finals of both the Grand Prix and the UK Championship, achieving the highest break of the tournament at the latter. He also reached the quarter-finals on his debut at the Crucible in the World Championship, beating Alain Robidoux and Mark King before losing to Ken Doherty. In 1998, he reached his first ranking final at the UK Championship, losing 6âÂÂ10 to John Higgins.
In the 1999âÂÂ00 season Stevens got to all three finals of the Triple Crown events. In the final of the 1999 UK Championship he lost to Mark Williams 8âÂÂ10. He won the 2000 Masters title, with a 10âÂÂ8 win over Ken Doherty in the final. At the 2000 World Championship, he reached the first of his two world championship finals to date. After victories over Tony Drago, Alan McManus, Jimmy White, and Joe Swail, he faced Mark Williams in the final, losing 16âÂÂ18, after having led 10âÂÂ6, 13âÂÂ7, and then 14âÂÂ10, with the final session to play. Stevens became only the second player in the history of the world championship to lose in the final from holding a four frame overnight lead. He has also been beaten in a world championship semi-final on four occasions: in 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2012. In 2002, he looked certain to have won a place in the final, leading Peter Ebdon 16âÂÂ14 in their semi-final tie, and just needing a relatively simple red in the 31st frame to leave his opponent requiring snookers. When Stevens missed the pot, Ebdon made an impressive clearance to win the frame and went on to take the next two frames to win the match 17âÂÂ16.
Stevens won the 2003 UK Championship, after beating Stephen Hendry in the final. He trailed Hendry 0âÂÂ4 at the first interval, but remarkably he reeled off the next five frames; Hendry found his form again to lead 7âÂÂ5, but Stevens was not to be denied and clinched a 10âÂÂ8 victory. This remains the only ranking tournament victory of his career. However, he followed this achievement with a run of nine successive first round defeats in best-of-nine matches, only interrupted by a run to the semi-final of the 2004 World Championship.
He was again runner-up at the 2005 World Championship, losing 16âÂÂ18 to Shaun Murphy in the final, having been up 10âÂÂ6, and then 12âÂÂ11 with only the final session to play. He again relinquished a four frame overnight lead to lose in the final, only the third time this had ever happened in world championship history. The turning point was arguably the 22nd frame, in which he had a shot at the final blue to leave Murphy needing snookers; Stevens elected to play the shot left-handed rather than use the rest and, when he missed the shot, Murphy then cleared the table to level the match at 11âÂÂ11. Despite the disappointment of losing the final, Stevens insisted that Murphy had simply been the "better player" and that he would himself eventually win the championship.
The following year, Stevens was beaten by Ken Doherty 8âÂÂ13 in the second round of the 2006 World Championship, having gone into the final session level at 8âÂÂ8.
In 2007, Stevens lost 12âÂÂ13 to Shaun Murphy in the quarter-finals of the World Championship, having led 11âÂÂ5 and 12âÂÂ7 earlier in the match, making him the first person to ever lose a best-of-25 match from a 12âÂÂ7 lead. The defeat left him ranked outside the top 16 for the first time in eight years. In 2008, he was defeated in the first round of the World Championship for the first time in his career, by defending champion John Higgins, and he finished ranked outside the top 16 for the second consecutive season. The only highlight of the 2008âÂÂ09 season was a run to the final of the Bahrain Championship, in which he was given a top 16 seeding due to the unavailability of three leading players. He only reached the last 16 of one other event, and failed to qualify for the World Championship after a defeat to Martin Gould. He finished the season with a drop of nine places to world number 26.
Stevens enjoyed a solid 2009âÂÂ10 season. He qualified for the Welsh Open by beating Barry Pinches 5âÂÂ4. In the first round, he caused an upset by defeating Shaun Murphy 5âÂÂ4. He then faced Northern Ireland's Mark Allen in the second round but, despite making two century breaks, he lost the match 2âÂÂ5. He also lost a close match 9âÂÂ10 to Marcus Campbell in the 2010 World Championship qualifiers, and thus did not make it to the main draw at The Crucible for the second year in succession.
Stevens made a promising start to the 2010âÂÂ11 season by qualifying for the Shanghai Masters with a 5âÂÂ2 victory over Anda Zhang. In the first round, he defeated Liang Wenbo 5âÂÂ3, and he caused another upset in the last 16 by beating Shaun Murphy 5âÂÂ2. He played Ali Carter in the quarter-finals, but lost 4âÂÂ5 on the final black despite an earlier lead of 4âÂÂ1.
He continued his solid form by reaching the quarter-finals at the Welsh Open, where he qualified by defeating Anthony Hamilton 4âÂÂ2. He whitewashed number 5 seed Shaun Murphy 4âÂÂ0 in the last 32, and in the last 16 he beat fellow Welshman and close friend Ryan Day 4âÂÂ3. Stevens was drawn against John Higgins in the quarter-finals, but was edged out 3âÂÂ5. Despite these performances, he was still not ranked in the top 16, so did not automatically qualify for the World Championship; in the fifth round of qualifying, he overcame Fergal O'Brien 10âÂÂ9 on the final black to qualify for the first time since 2008. He was eliminated by Mark Allen in the first round of the main draw, losing four consecutive frames after leading 9âÂÂ6. He then won the 2011 Championship League, beating Mark Williams 3âÂÂ1 in the semi-final, and Shaun Murphy 3âÂÂ1 in the final, to qualify for the Premier League.
His performances during the season were enough to see Stevens return to the elite top 16 in the world rankings for the first time since 2006, meaning he would no longer need to play qualifying matches to reach the main stage of the ranking events.
After losing in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open to Liang Wenbo, Stevens reached the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters by defeating Stephen Lee and Martin Gould. However, his run was ended by compatriot Mark Williams, who whitewashed him 0âÂÂ5. A last 16 exit in the 2011 UK Championship to Ding Junhui followed, before Stevens reached his second ranking event quarter-final of the season in the German Masters courtesy of 5âÂÂ1 victories over both Craig Steadman and Neil Robertson. He then lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan 3âÂÂ5.
Due to being ranked inside the top 16, Stevens played in his first Masters tournament since 2007 during the season and was beaten by John Higgins 2âÂÂ6 in the first round. His first Premier League campaign since 2002 saw Stevens win 3 and lose 3 of the 6 matches he played to finish 7th in the 10-man league and therefore fail to make it to the play-offs. Stevens finished runner-up to O'Sullivan in Event 7 of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship series and with last 16 finishes coming in Event 9 and Event 11, he was ranked 17th in the Order of Merit, inside the top 24 who qualified for the Finals. There he played Ricky Walden in the last 24 and lost 0âÂÂ5 in 50 minutes.
Stevens was defeated in the second round of the Welsh Open and had successive first round losses in the World Open and China Open to go into the World Championship in less than auspicious form. However, Stevens had an excellent run as he reached his sixth semi-final in the event, and first since 2005. He reached the last four with wins over Marco Fu (10âÂÂ3), Barry Hawkins (13âÂÂ11) and Ryan Day (13âÂÂ5, having won 11 consecutive frames). He played Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-final and lost 10âÂÂ17, meaning Stevens has not beaten his opponent in almost a decade. Stevens finished the season ranked world number 10, the highest he has ended the year since 2005.
Stevens withdrew from the season's opening ranking event, the Wuxi Classic due to a bad back and could not advance beyond the second round in any of the next three events. At the 2012 UK Championship he beat Dominic Dale 6âÂÂ1 and Marco Fu 6âÂÂ4 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since lifting the trophy in 2003. In a scrappy game versus Mark Davis, Stevens was beaten 4âÂÂ6. Stevens missed a simple brown at 4âÂÂ1 up against Mark Williams in the first round of the Masters and then made a series of errors during the rest of the match to lose 4âÂÂ6. His second quarter-final of the season came at the German Masters, where he was defeated 3âÂÂ5 by Marco Fu, before losing 2âÂÂ4 to Stephen Maguire in the second round of the Welsh Open.
Stevens travelled to Haikou, China, for the World Open, but his cue failed to arrive on time for his first round match against David Gilbert. However, he beat Gilbert 5âÂÂ4 with a borrowed cue and Shaun Murphy 5âÂÂ3 with Mark Williams' cue before his own finally arrived for his quarter-final against Judd Trump. It was Trump this time who suffered cue troubles as his tip became damp during the match and Stevens took full advantage to triumph 5âÂÂ3. He then came back from 4âÂÂ5 against Neil Robertson in the semi-finals to win 6âÂÂ5 and reach his first ranking event final since the 2008 Bahrain Championship. He faced Mark Allen in the final and, despite making two centuries, he was comfortably beaten 4âÂÂ10. Stevens' season finished in disappointment as he lost in first round of the China Open 2âÂÂ5 to Rory McLeod and 7âÂÂ10 to Marco Fu in the World Championship, which saw him finish the year ranked world number 14.
At the season's opening ranking event, the 2013 Wuxi Classic, Stevens beat Lu Ning 5âÂÂ1, Liang Wenbo and Peter Lines both 5âÂÂ3, and David Morris 5âÂÂ2, to advance to the semi-finals. He threatened a brief comeback against John Higgins from 0âÂÂ5 down, but lost 2âÂÂ6. He gained some revenge over Higgins at the International Championship by beating him 6âÂÂ2, before being eliminated by Ding Junhui 1âÂÂ6 in the third round. He was beaten in the last 32 of both the UK Championship (2âÂÂ6 by Robert Milkins) and the German Masters (4âÂÂ5 by Shaun Murphy, after Stevens had led 4âÂÂ1). He also lost deciding frames in the last 32 of the Welsh Open and World Open to Joe Perry and Judd Trump respectively. He failed to qualify for the World Championship this year as he lost 8âÂÂ10 to Tom Ford in the final qualifying round. Stevens dropped out of the top 16 and ended the year as world number 19.
At the 2014 Australian Goldfields Open, Stevens reached his first quarter-final in a year by knocking out Luca Brecel 5âÂÂ3 and Fergal O'Brien 5âÂÂ3, but lost 2âÂÂ5 to Xiao Guodong. He was eliminated 2âÂÂ6 by John Higgins in the third round of the UK Championship, but reached the last 16 of the Welsh Open by recording his first victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan in twelve years, recovering from 0âÂÂ2 down to win 4âÂÂ3. However, he lost 2âÂÂ4 against Marco Fu in the fourth round. He was beaten in the first round of the next two ranking events, but thrashed Mark Williams 10âÂÂ2 at the World Championship, before suffering a heavy 5âÂÂ13 defeat to O'Sullivan in the second round.
Stevens was eliminated at the first round stage of the International Championship and UK Championship, before achieving his first successes at a ranking event this season when he ousted David Morris and Martin O'Donnell at the Welsh Open, winning both matches 4âÂÂ2. He made three half centuries in the third round against Martin Gould, but lost 3âÂÂ4. He reached the final round of qualifying for the World Championship, but was beaten 6âÂÂ10 by Kyren Wilson.
Stevens lost 1âÂÂ4 to Neil Robertson in the last 16 of the Riga Masters. At the UK Championship, he beat James Cahill 6âÂÂ1, Michael White 6âÂÂ4, and Joe Perry 6âÂÂ2, but his run ended with a 2âÂÂ6 loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan. He was knocked out 2âÂÂ5 by Daniel Wells in the second round of the China Open, and failed to qualify for the World Championship for the second year in a row, after falling 8âÂÂ10 to Lee Walker in the first qualifying round. His end of season ranking of 55 is the lowest he has finished a season since 1996.
Stevens reached the semifinal of the 2018 International Championship, having beaten Ding Junhui in the last sixteen. He lost the semifinal 9-6 to Mark Allen. In the 2019 UK Championship, Stevens beat Mark Selby in the last 16 before losing to Stephen Maguire in the quarterfinals.
Stevens reached the Fourth Round of the 2020 English Open, where he lost 4-3 to Jak Jones. He had a 4-1 win over Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Third Round.
Stevens qualified for the World Snooker Championship in 2018, 2020 and 2022, but lost in qualifying all other years to 2025, including the 2025 World Championship, after a 910 defeat in the final round of qualifying to Wu Yize.
Stevens was born in Carmarthen, Wales. He attended an all-Welsh-speaking school, Bro Myrddin Welsh Comprehensive School, and is fluent in the Welsh language. His career took off after beating Martyn Holloway in the Regal Welsh under 16s regional tournament in Morriston. Stevens took a 2âÂÂ1 victory on the black.
His father Morrell, who was also his manager, died unexpectedly in 2001. He was a close friend of Paul Hunter and was a pallbearer at his funeral. He is also a celebrity Texas hold 'em poker player and in 2004 won the UK's richest poker tournament at just 27 years old, beating 16-time World Darts champion Phil Taylor to first place. Stevens had only been playing poker for 18 months before his victory.
In 2015, Stevens was declared bankrupt and got divorced around the same time.
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