Alexander Ursenbacher

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Alexander Ursenbacher
Alexander Ursenbacher
birthday 26th April 1996 (age 24)
place of birth Rheinfelden AG
nationality SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland
professional 2013-2015; 2017–
Prize money £ 123,633 (as of August 30, 2020)
Highest break 141 ( Snooker World Championship 2020 )
Century Breaks 19 (as of August 30, 2020)
Main tour successes
World championships -
Ranking tournament victories -
Minor tournament victories -
World rankings
Highest WRL place 69 ( July – September, October – November 2018 )
Current WRL location 79 (as of August 17, 2020)
Best results
Ranked tournaments Semi-finals ( English Open 2017 )

Alexander Ursenbacher (born April 26, 1996 ) is a Swiss snooker player .

Career

Beginnings and first professional time

Alexander Ursenbacher comes from Rheinfelden and grew up there and in Riehen in the canton of Basel-Stadt . In his childhood he was also active in tennis and martial arts, but when he discovered the variant snooker while playing billiards at the age of 12, he decided to concentrate on it and he immediately joined the Basel Snooker Club. Just one year later he became Swiss champion in the U 19 age group. Only one year later he took part in a Pro-Am tournament for the first time: At the Paul Hunter Classic 2010 he won his first match against the German Ralf Günzel and then lost to Gareth Everyone . On September 26, 2010, Ursenbacher scored his first century break in a tournament with 101 points . This makes him the youngest Swiss man to do this. The following year, another player from the British Isles, Sam Harvey, prevented his entry into the main round at the Paul Hunter Classic .

After several stays in England, including at the Snooker Academys in Sheffield and Gloucester, as well as individual training with snooker professional Ian McCulloch , he won his first Swiss championship title in the men's category in the 2011/12 season. Since then he has dominated the Swiss snooker scene. In August he made it to the professional round for the first time at the Paul Hunter Classic , where he met and lost to Craig Steadman . Since autumn 2012, after compulsory schooling, he has been concentrating entirely on snooker. Ursenbacher successfully defended his national title at the 2013 Swiss Championship.

When he took part in the Q School for the first time, he qualified for the Professional Main Tour in May 2013 . After he was eliminated in the first tournament in the round of 16, he won his group in the second tournament , where he lost only a single frame against Reanne Evans in the semifinals; in the first frame of the third knockout round, he played a break of 140 points against Adam Wicheard. He received a two-year ticket for the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons and was the first native Swiss on the Main Tour.

In his first year, however, there were almost only initial defeats. It was not until November 2013 that he won his first win against Ken Doherty at the Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup . He won 4-1 and then only just lost 3-4 to Peter Ebdon . The season ended on a positive note with a 10: 7 first round win over David Morris at the 2014 World Snooker Championship . At the beginning of the 2014/15 season, he was able to qualify for the main round of a world ranking tournament for the first time at the Wuxi Classic . He defeated Kyren Wilson 5: 4, but could not compete in China. He then managed a narrow 5-4 win against Martin O'Donnell in the first of four qualifying rounds at the Australian Goldfields Open . In the current world rankings he improved to 102nd place. After that, up to and including the world championship, there were only defeats in the beginning, he fell back and had no chance of remaining on the main tour.

Second attempt as a professional

Ursenbacher immediately tried to re-qualify through the Q School and reached his group final again in the first tournament , but then lost to Welshman Daniel Wells with 1: 4. He was also unsuccessful in the second tournament, so that he only had to participate in the Players Tour Championship in the 2015/2016 season . He competed in three tournaments, and at the Ruhr Open 2015 he achieved his best result by moving into the main tournament. At the U21 World Cup in Romania there was a duel between the ex-professionals and Kacper Filipiak in the round of 16 , which the Pole won just 5: 4. The two met again at the European Championship , and Filipiak won again. And at the Junior European Championship , the last sixteen was the final stop for the Swiss for the third time, this time against Josh Boileau . Ursenbacher ended the season with another attempt to return to the Main Tour via the Q School. Again he reached a group final, this time in the second tournament , and again he missed the qualification with a 2: 4 against Alex Borg .

In the 2016/17 season he again took part in the U21 World Cup. This time he reached the final and only just lost 5-6 against the Chinese Xu Si . In his first appearance at the amateur world championship , he reached the round of 16. At the beginning of 2017 he played his first maximum break in the first round of the Three Kings Open in Austria . In the end, he also won this tournament. Since this tournament was not a professional tournament, this maximum break was not included in the official list. In March 2017 he reached the final of the European Junior Championships . He won 6: 4 against the Welsh Jackson Page and was U21 European champion. He qualified for two more years on the Main Tour from June 2017. Before that, he received a wildcard for the 2017 Snooker World Championship . There he defeated Robert Milkins with 10: 6 and then Scott Donaldson with 10: 9 and for the first time ever reached the third round of a world ranking tournament.

In the 2017/18 season Ursenbacher started with a 4-0 win over Billy Joe Castle in qualifying for the Riga Masters 2017 . In the further course of the tournament he came through a 4-0 victory over Elliot Slessor in the first main round to the second main round, where he was defeated 2: 4 Robbie Williams . At the China Championship , Ursenbacher lost his qualifying game 2: 5 against Mark Davis , but in qualifying for the Indian Open 2017 he was able to defeat Jamie Jones 4: 1 , making him the first main round. There he won 4-1 against Andrew Higginson , but then lost 2-4 against Mark Allen .

At the World Open 2017 Ursenbacher defeated Liam Highfield 3-5 in qualifying , but then lost in the first main round with 0: 5 against John Higgins . Also at the European Masters he was eliminated after a 4-1 victory in qualifying over Li Hang with 0: 4 against John Higgins.

At the English Open 2017 , Ursenbacher caused a surprise. In the first round he defeated Anthony Hamilton 4: 2, in the second round Gerard Greene in the decider (final score 4: 3), and he also won 4: 2 in the third round duel against Stuart Carrington . His path continued with a 4-1 win in the round of 16 against Shaun Murphy and a 5-0 victory in the quarter-finals against Michael White . Ursenbacher only lost in the semifinals against the later runner-up Kyren Wilson 3: 6. During the tournament, Ursenbacher managed a 123 break. In qualifying for the International Championship he lost 5: 6 to Matthew Selt , and in qualifying for the Shanghai Masters he also lost, this time 2: 5 to John Higgins.

Ursenbacher made headlines again at the Welsh Open 2019 in Cardiff; he beat the five-time world champion and the multiple world number 1, Ronnie O'Sullivan , with 4: 2 and qualified for the round of 16. At the time he was world number 71. In July 2020 Ursenbacher became the first Swiss and also the first German-speaking player to qualify for the main draw of the World Snooker Championship .

Player statistics

National successes

  • Swiss Champion Juniors - 2009
  • Biel Open - 2010
  • Basel Open - 2011
  • Salsiccia Open, Zofingen - 2011
  • Pot Belly's Open - 2011, 2013
  • Swiss Masters Men - 2012, 2013
  • Döttinger Snooker Open - 2012
  • KABA-Safes.com Zurich Open - 2012
  • Aargau Christmas Open - 2012

International amateur success

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Profile of Alexander Ursenbacher at CueTracker (as of October 11, 2018).
  2. ↑ Jeremias Schulthess: This Basler is the reason why you suddenly want to watch snooker. In: TagesWoche . 29th March 2017.
  3. ↑ Alexander is the only professional player in Switzerland. In: 20 minutes . April 15, 2017.
  4. ↑ Michael Schenk: Alexander Ursenbacher defends his Swiss championship title ( Memento from May 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: Basellandschaftliche Zeitung . April 22, 2013.
  5. ↑ a b Pascal Nydegger: Ursenbacher successfully defends his SM title with 139 total clearance! In: SwissSnooker.ch. April 22, 2013, accessed May 15, 2013.
  6. ↑ Thomas Hein: 3 Kings Snooker Open wins the Maximiser Alexander Ursenbacher ( Memento from January 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). In: Snookermania.de. January 9, 2017.
  7. ↑ Pascal Nydegger: WM Quali 2017: Ursenbacher fails on the Chinese Yang Bingtao. In: SwissSnooker.ch. April 12, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  8. ↑ Coup at the Welsh Open - Ursenbacher beats snooker legend O'Sullivan. February 14, 2019, accessed February 15, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Alex Harris: Ronnie O'Sullivan breaks silence after Shock Alexander Ursenbacher Welsh Open defeat. February 15, 2019, accessed February 15, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Fricktaler snooker player ensures Swiss premiere: Alexander Ursenbacher makes World Cup entry. Aargauer Zeitung , July 28, 2020, accessed on July 28, 2020 .
  11. ↑ U21 EM - Excellent 5th place for Ursenbacher. In: SwissSnooker.ch. March 22, 2013, accessed May 15, 2013.

Web links

Commons : Alexander Ursenbacher  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Ursenbacher, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss snooker player
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1996