Zak Surety

Zak Surety
Paul Hunter Classic 2014
Born (1991-10-04) 4 October 1991 (age 33)
Basildon, Essex
Sport country England
Professional2014–2016, 2020–present
Highest ranking70 (April 2024)
Current ranking 89 (as of 2 December 2024)
Maximum breaks1
Best ranking finishLast 16 (2024 German Masters)

Zak Surety (born 4 October 1991) is an English professional snooker player. He practises frequently with Stuart Bingham and Allan Taylor.[1]

Career

As an amateur, Surety based in Basildon[2] entered in Players Tour Championship events from their establishment in 2010, with his best result as an amateur being a run to the last 32 stages of the 2012 UKPTC 3, with wins over Jack Lisowski and Oliver Lines in the main stages.[3] Surety also entered Q School in 2011, 2012 and 2013 in the hope of winning a place on the main tour; however, he was unsuccessful, but came close in the second event in 2013, losing 4–1 to Ryan Clark in the final stage.[4] His Q School performances however won him a top up place in four professional ranking events in 2013–14, but he failed to qualify for all four,[5] winning only one match,[5] 5–4 over Patrick Einsle in the 2013 Australian Goldfields Open.[5][6][7]

In April 2014, Surety won a place on the professional World Snooker Tour for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons after coming through the EBSA Amateur Cup play-offs with wins over Michael Tomlinson and Michael Georgiou, both 4–1.[8][9]

Debut season

Surety lost his first five matches as a professional, before beating Mark King 6–3 to qualify for the International Championship where David Gilbert defeated him 6–4 in the first round.[10] He was knocked out in the first round of the UK Championship and Welsh Open by Michael Holt and Graeme Dott respectively but qualified for the China Open by seeing off Li Hang 5–4. Surety won three frames in a row to beat Joe Swail 5–4 to reach the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time and quickly raced into a 4–1 lead over Robert Milkins.[11] Milkins cut the gap to 4–3, before Surety saw his best chance to win come in the next frame when he opened it with a 65 break, but he went on to lose it and the match in a deciding frame. Milkins apologised to Surety for his behaviour during the match afterwards.[12] Surety's debut campaign ended with a 10–8 defeat to Zhou Yuelong in the first round of World Championship qualifying, which saw him placed 97th in the world rankings.[10][13]

2015/2016 season

All players on the snooker tour receive entry to the first round of the UK Championship and Welsh Open, these were the only events Surety could reach in the 2015–16 season. He lost 6–4 to Jack Lisowski in the first round of the UK and 4–1 to Joe Swail in the first round of the Welsh.[14] Surety dropped off the tour after being unable to break into the top 64 in the world rankings during his two-year stay and he entered Q School in an attempt to win his place back.[15] In the second event he lost 4–1 in the final round to David John, but he would gain entry in to some events next season as a top-up player due to his high Q School Order of Merit ranking.[14]

2016/2017 season

4–2 and 4–1 victories over Kyren Wilson and Antony Parsons saw Surety qualify for the European Masters and he was knocked out 4–1 by Liang Wenbo in the first round. He reached the second round of the Northern Ireland Open by beating Darryl Hill 4–3, but lost 4–2 to Hossein Vafaei. Surety dropped off the tour at the end of the year after failing to progress through Q School.[16]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2010/
11
2011/
12
2012/
13
2013/
14
2014/
15
2015/
16
2016/
17
2020/
21
2021/
22
2022/
23
2023/
24
2024/
25
Ranking[17][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 97 [nb 2] [nb 3] 85 [nb 4] 78 [nb 5]
Ranking Tournaments
Championship League Non-Ranking Event RR RR RR RR RR
Xi'an Grand Prix Tournament Not Held 1R
Saudi Arabia Masters Tournament Not Held 2R
English Open Tournament Not Held 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ 2R
British Open Tournament Not Held 1R LQ 1R LQ
Wuhan Open Tournament Not Held LQ 2R
Northern Ireland Open Tournament Not Held 1R 2R LQ 1R 1R LQ
International Championship Not Held A A 1R LQ A Not Held LQ WD
UK Championship A A A A 1R 1R A 1R 1R LQ LQ LQ
Shoot Out Non-Ranking Event 1R 1R 2R 1R 3R
Scottish Open Not Held MR Not Held A 3R LQ 1R 1R LQ
German Masters A A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ 3R
Welsh Open A A A A 1R 1R A 1R 1R LQ 1R
World Open A A A A Not Held A Not Held LQ
World Grand Prix Tournament Not Held NR DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Players Championship[nb 6] DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Tour Championship Tournament Not Held DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Championship A A A A LQ LQ A LQ LQ LQ LQ
Former ranking tournaments
Wuxi Classic Non-Ranking A LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Australian Goldfields Open A A A LQ LQ LQ Tournament Not Held
Riga Masters[nb 7] Tournament Not Held Minor-Rank LQ Tournament Not Held
Indian Open Not Held LQ LQ NH A Tournament Not Held
China Open A A A A 2R LQ A Tournament Not Held
Paul Hunter Classic Minor-Ranking Event LQ Tournament Not Held
Shanghai Masters A A A A LQ LQ LQ Not Held Non-Ranking
WST Pro Series Tournament Not Held RR Tournament Not Held
Turkish Masters Tournament Not Held WD Not Held
Gibraltar Open Tournament Not Held MR 1R 1R A Not Held
WST Classic Tournament Not Held 1R Not Held
European Masters Tournament Not Held 1R 1R LQ LQ 2R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Six-red World Championship A NH A A A A A Not Held LQ Not Held
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. ^ It shows the ranking at the beginning of the season
  2. ^ a b c d e He was an amateur
  3. ^ a b New players don't have a ranking
  4. ^ Players qualified through Q School started the season without ranking points
  5. ^ Players qualified One Year Ranking List started the season without ranking points
  6. ^ The event was called the Players Tour Championship Grand Final (2010/2011–2015/2016)
  7. ^ The event was called the Riga Open (2014/2015–2015/2016)

References

  1. ^ "Zak Surety Q&A". World Snooker. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Zak Surety". World Snooker. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  3. ^ "UK Players Tour Championship 3 (2012)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  4. ^ "Zak Surety". Pro Snooker Blog. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  5. ^ a b c "Zak Surety – Season 2013/2014". CueTracker – Snooker Database. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Australian Goldfields Open 2013 qualifiers results" (PDF). World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  7. ^ "Australian Goldfields Open Qualifiers (2013)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  8. ^ "EBSA Qualifying Tour Play-offs (2014)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Glover, Hallworth And Surety Earn Cards". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  10. ^ a b "Zak Surety 2014/2015". Snooker.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  11. ^ "Joe Swail beaten by Zak Surety in China Open". BBC Sport. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Ding Finding Form in Beijing". World Snooker. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  13. ^ "World Rankings After 2015 World Championship". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  14. ^ a b "Zak Surety 2015/2016". Snooker.org. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  15. ^ "Q School Order of Merit". World Snooker. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  16. ^ "Zak Surety 2016/2017". Snooker.org. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  17. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.