Xiao Guodong

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Xiao.
Xiao Guodong

Xiao Guodung at the 2015 German Masters
Born (1989-02-10) February 10, 1989
Sport country  China
Professional 2007/08, 2009–
Highest ranking 19 (February–March 2015)[1][2][3]
Current ranking 51 (as of 2 May 2016)
Career winnings £285,094[4]
Highest break 143 (2009 PIOS Event 6)[5]
Century breaks 85[6]
Best ranking finish Runner-up (2013 Shanghai Masters)
Xiao Guodong
Medal record
Men's Snooker
Asian Indoor Games
2007 Macau Singles
2007 Macau Team
Men's Six-red snooker
Asian Indoor Games
2009 Ho Chi Minh City Singles
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games
2013 Incheon Singles

Xiao Guodong (Chinese: 肖国栋; pinyin: Xiāo Guódòng, born 10 February 1989, Chongqing) is a Chinese professional snooker player and ranked as China's number 3 player, after Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo. Guodong turned professional in 2007 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championships.

Career

2007–2010

He appeared as a wildcard in the 2007 China Open, and beat the then world number 50 Tom Ford 5-3, before losing 0-5 to Matthew Stevens.

In his first ranking tournament, the 2007 Grand Prix he finished 4th in his qualifying group by winning 3 out his 7 matches. In the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy he beat Leo Fernandez 5-1 and Jimmy White 5-0, before he lost to David Gilbert 2-5.

He lost his first match in the 2007 UK Championship to Kurt Maflin and to the same player in the 2008 China Open qualfiers too. In the Welsh Open he lost to fellow Chinese player Liu Song 2-5.

A victory over Munraj Pal in the 2008 World Championship qualifiers set up a match with David Roe, which he lost 5-10.

He won the Paul Hunter English Open in 2008.

In the 2009 China Open he beat Michael Holt 5–3 in the wild-card round, progressing to the first round proper where he beat fellow Chinese player Ding Junhui 5–3. He gave three-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan a tough game in the next round as O'Sullivan began the match with two successive centuries before Xiao rallied to trail just 4–3, but lost the next frame to bow out of the tournament.[7]

On 10 July 2009, on the World Snooker website, he was voted in the top 5 players to watch out for in the 2009/2010 season.

2011/2012 season

Xiao had a good season in the Players Tour Championship series of tournaments in the 2011/2012 season. He reached the quarter-finals of Event 1 and Event 6 and went one better in Event 2, where he was knocked out in the last 4 against compatriot Ding Junhui. The results ensured he reached the 2012 Finals by finishing eighteenth in the Order of Merit.[8] He played in the Finals against the advice of doctors as he had broke a bone in his hand three weeks earlier whilst sleeping on it awkwardly, but despite this beat Dominic Dale 4–2 in the first round of the event.[9][10] Xiao then pulled off the result of his career to date by defeating recent UK champion, Judd Trump 4–2 to advance to his first ever ranking event quarter-final, where he was beaten by Andrew Higginson 1–4.[9][11]

Xiao could not qualify for any of the other ranking events during the season, coming closest in the UK Championship, where he lost to Tom Ford in the final qualifying round.[11] He finished the season ranked world number 41, meaning he had risen 23 places during the year.[12]

2012/2013 season

Xiao at the 2013 German Masters

Xiao qualified for the Australian Goldfields Open and the German Masters during the 2012/2013 season, losing in the first round in both to Barry Hawkins and Kurt Maflin respectively.[13] He took advantage of the new Asian Players Tour Championship events by taking part in all three of them. He had his best result in the second event by defeating the likes of Marco Fu and Barry Hawkins to reach the semi-finals, where he lost 2–4 to Stephen Lee.[13] His performances helped him to eighth on the Asian PTC Order of Merit, high enough to qualify for the Finals.[14] There, Xiao reached the quarter-finals for the second successive year with wins over Graeme Dott and Alfie Burden, before losing 1–4 to Neil Robertson.[15] Xiao's season came to an end when he lost 4–10 to Jimmy White in the third round of World Championship Qualifying, but he finished the year ranked world number 37, at the time his highest position.[16][17]

2013/2014 season

In his opening match of the season, Xiao defeated Andrew Norman 5–3 to qualify for the 2013 Wuxi Classic in China where he beat Peter Ebdon 5–3 in the first round and Li Hang 5–4 in the second.[18] He then faced John Higgins in the last 16 and was whitewashed 0–5.[19] Xiao could also not pick up a frame in the first round of the Australian Goldfields Open, as he lost 0–5 to Joe Perry.[18] He won three matches to qualify for the Shanghai Masters and once there defeated Yuan Siyun 5–0 in the wildcard round.[18] Xiao took advantage of a poor performance by Stephen Maguire in the first round to beat him 5–2 and then saw off Peter Lines 5–3.[20] He continued his run to make the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time as he came back from 4–2 down to beat Mark Davis 5–4 citing afterwards his work with Terry Griffiths as being a key factor in his success.[21] In the semis he played Michael Holt who was also making his ranking event semi-final debut and from 3–3 Xiao made a break of 111, added the next frame and then closed the match out 6–3 with a 127 break.[22] He played Ding Junhui in a first all-Chinese ranking final and was beaten 10–6, but the runner-up's cheque of £35,500 is the highest of his career to date and he also broke into the world's top 32 for the first time.[23]

Xiao at the 2014 German Masters

His second quarter-final appearance of the season came at the German Masters but he lost 5–2 to Ryan Day.[24] Xiao's rise up the world rankings meant he only needed to win one match to reach the World Championship and he did so in emphatic fashion by thrashing Li Yan 10–1.[25] In Xiao's debut in the event he rallied from 4–1 down against Ali Carter to end the first session 5–4 behind, but went on to lose 10–8.[26] Xiao's rise up the rankings continued as he ended the campaign as the world number 23, an increase of 14 spots from the start of the season.[27]

2014/2015 season

Xiao at the 2015 German Masters

At the Australian Goldfields Open, Xiao recorded wins over Liam Highfield, Peter Ebdon and Matthew Stevens to reach the semi-finals of a ranking event for the second time, where Judd Trump defeated him 6–3.[28][29] He beat Eden Sharav and Noppon Saengkham at the International Championship, but lost 6–4 to Robert Milkins in the third round and was knocked out by the same scoreline in the second round of the UK Championship against Matthew Selt.[30] After edging Highfield 5–4 in the first round of the German Masters, Xiao was thrashed 5–0 by Neil Robertson.[31] Xiao won five matches at the Shoot-Out, the tournament where every match is decided by one ten-minute frame, to reach the final. Xiao lost the lead with just six seconds remaining against Michael White.[32] He progressed through to the final qualifying round of the World Championship and his match against Jimmy Robertson went into a deciding frame which Robertson won on the final pink.[33]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournaments 2004/
05		 2006/
07		 2007/
08		 2008/
09		 2009/
10		 2010/
11		 2011/
12		 2012/
13		 2013/
14		 2014/
15		 2015/
16
Rankings[34][nb 1] UR UR UR[nb 2] 84[nb 3] UR[nb 2] 74 64 41 37 23 21
Ranking tournaments
Australian Goldfields Open Not Held LQ 1R 1R SF 1R
Shanghai Masters Not Held 1R WR LQ LQ LQ LQ F LQ LQ
International Championship Not Held LQ 2R 3R 1R
UK Championship A A LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ 3R 2R 2R
German Masters Not Held LQ LQ 1R QF 2R LQ
Welsh Open A A LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ 3R 2R 1R
World Grand Prix[nb 4] A A LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R NR DNQ
Players Championship Grand Final[nb 5] Not Held DNQ QF QF DNQ DNQ DNQ
China Open WR 1R LQ 2R LQ LQ LQ LQ 2R LQ LQ
World Championship A A LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ 1R LQ LQ
Non-ranking tournaments
The Masters A A LQ A A A A A A A A
Championship League Not Held A A A A A A A 2R A
Variant format tournaments
Shoot-Out Not Held A 1R 1R 2R F 2R
Former ranking tournaments
Northern Ireland Trophy NR A LQ A Not Held
Wuxi Classic[nb 6] Not Held Non-Ranking LQ 3R 1R NH
Indian Open Not Held LQ A NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic[nb 6] Not Held A A 1R A Ranking
World Grand Prix Not Held 1R R
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.
  1. ↑ From the 2010/2011 season it shows the ranking at the beginning of the season.
  2. 1 2 New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking.
  3. ↑ He was an amateur.
  4. ↑ The event was called the Grand Prix (2004/2005–2009/2010), the World Open (2010/2011) and the Haikou World Open (2011/2012–2013/2014)
  5. ↑ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2010/2011–2012/2013)
  6. 1 2 The event ran under the name Jiangsu Classic (2008/2009–2009/2010)

Career finals

Ranking event finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Legend
World Championship (0–0)
UK Championship (0–0)
Other (0–1)
Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Ref.
Runner-up 1. 2013 Shanghai Masters China Junhui, DingDing Junhui 6–10 [23]

Variant event finals: 1 (1 runner-up)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Ref.
Runner-up 1. 2015 Snooker Shoot-Out Wales White, MichaelMichael White 0–1 [35]

Amateur wins

References

  1. ↑ "World Rankings after the German Masters 2015" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "World Rankings after the BetVictor Welsh Open 2015" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "World Rankings after the Kreativ Dental Gdynia Open 2015 (ET6)" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  4. ↑ "Career-total Statistics for Xiao Guodong - Professional". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "2009 PIOS - Event 6 - Centuries". CueTracker Snooker Results & Statistics Database. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  6. ↑ "Centuries". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  7. ↑ "O'Sullivan sets up Higgins clash in Snooker China Open". China.org.cn. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "PTC Order of Merit after PTC12" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  9. 1 2 "Xiao Knocks Out Trump". AOL. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "Betfair Players Tour Championship Grand Finals (2012)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  11. 1 2 "Xiao Guodong 2011/2012". Snooker.org. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  12. ↑ "Official World Ranking List for the 2012/2013 Season" (PDF). Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  13. 1 2 "Xiao Guodong 2012/2013". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  14. ↑ "Asian Order of Merit after APTC3" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  15. ↑ "Dafabet Players Tour Championship Finals". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  16. ↑ "Betfair World Championship Qualifiers". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  17. ↑ "Official World Snooker Ranking List For The 2013/2014 Season" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  18. 1 2 3 "Xiao Guodong 2013/2014". Snooker.org. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  19. ↑ "Snooker - Robertson and Higgins roar into last eight at Wuxi Classic". Eurosport. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  20. ↑ "Trump and Maguire slump to shock defeats". Eurosport. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  21. ↑ "Holt And Xiao Make Semi Breakthough". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  22. ↑ "Xiao Powers Into Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  23. 1 2 "Ding Beats Xiao In All-Chinese Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  24. ↑ "Snooker - Trump charges into German Masters semis". Eurosport. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  25. ↑ "Snooker - Ebdon fails to reach World Championship". Eurosport. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  26. ↑ "World Snooker Championship: Ali Carter beats Xiao Guodong". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  27. ↑ "World Snooker Rankings After the 2014 World Championship" (PDF). World Snooker. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  28. ↑ "Trump And Xiao Into Semis". World Snooker. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  29. ↑ "Trump To Face Robertson In Bendigo Final". World Snooker. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  30. ↑ "Xiao Guodong 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  31. ↑ "Neil Robertson eases into quarter-finals of German Masters". Cambridge News. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  32. ↑ "The White Stuff". World Snooker. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  33. ↑ "Sweet 16 Through to Sheffield". World Snooker. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  34. ↑ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  35. ↑ "Betway Snooker Shoot-Out (2015)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 7 March 2015.

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