Ben Mertens

Ben Mertens
Born (2004-10-13) 13 October 2004 (age 20)
Wetteren, Belgium
Sport country Belgium
NicknameThe Boy Wonder[1]
Professional2022–present
Highest ranking70 (July 2023)
Current ranking 96 (as of 16 December 2024)
Best ranking finishLast 16 (2023 Welsh Open)

Ben Mertens (born 13 October 2004) is a Belgian professional snooker player. He won the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championships in 2018.

Career

Ben Mertens is from Wetteren. When he was 12 years old, he reached the 2nd round of the 2017 EBSA European Under-18 Snooker Championship. At the 2018 event he got to the quarter-finals, where he lost to the later champion Jackson Page.

He won the Belgian U18 championship in 2018.[2] In August 2018 he played in a professional ranking tournament for the first time, and beat Adam Stefanow in the first round of the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic.[3]

In October 2018, when he was thirteen years old, he won the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championships, becoming the first male Belgian snooker world champion (Wendy Jans is a multiple winner of the senior women's world championship).[3]

In January 2019, he defeated Michael White, then ranked #36 in the world, at a snooker tournament in Bruges.[4]

At the 2019 Snooker Shoot-Out, a ranking tournament for which he got a wild card, he beat James Wattana in the first round.[5]

In March 2020 he lost in the semi-finals of the EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships to later champion Aaron Hill.[6]

In July 2020 he defeated James Cahill in the first round of the World Championship qualifiers, becoming the youngest player ever to win a match in the World Championships. This record was broken by Liam Davies, who was two days younger than Mertens when he won his first match at the 2022 World Snooker Championship qualifiers.[7]

In June 2022 turned professional after winning the EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships and gained a two-year tour card for the 2022–23 and 2023–24 snooker seasons.[8]

Performance and rankings timeline

Tournament 2017/
18 		2018/
19 		2019/
20 		2020/
21 		2021/
22 		2022/
23 		2023/
24 		2024/
25
Ranking[9][nb 1] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 2] [nb 3] 72 [nb 4]
Ranking tournaments
Championship League Non-Ranking Event A A RR RR RR
Xi'an Grand Prix Tournament Not Held 1R
Saudi Arabia Masters Tournament Not Held 3R
English Open A A A A A LQ LQ LQ
British Open Tournament Not Held A 1R 1R 2R
Wuhan Open Tournament Not Held 2R LQ
Northern Ireland Open A A A A A LQ LQ LQ
International Championship A A A Tournament Not Held LQ 1R
UK Championship A A A A A LQ LQ LQ
Shoot Out A 2R A 2R A 2R 1R 1R
Scottish Open A A A A A LQ 1R LQ
German Masters A LQ A A A LQ 1R LQ
Welsh Open A A A A A 3R 1R
World Open A A A Tournament Not Held LQ LQ
World Grand Prix DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Players Championship DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
Tour Championship NH DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ
World Championship A A LQ LQ LQ LQ LQ
Former ranking tournaments
Paul Hunter Classic LQ 2R NR Tournament Not Held
WST Classic Tournament Not Held 2R Not Held
European Masters A A A 1R A LQ 2R NH
Former non-ranking tournaments
Paul Hunter Classic Ranking 1R Tournament Not Held
Six-red World Championship 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. ^ New players on the Main Tour don't have a ranking
  4. ^ Players qualified One Year Ranking List started the season without ranking points

Career finals

Amateur finals: 4 (3 titles)

Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score
Winner 1. 2018 World Open Under-16 Snooker Championships Republic of Ireland Aaron Hill 4–3
Winner 2. 2021 EBSA European Under-18 Snooker Championships Belgium Julien Leclercq 4–3
Winner 3. 2022 EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championships Austria Florian Nüßle 5–1
Runner-up 1. 2022 EBSA European Snooker Championships Estonia Andres Petrov 3–5

References

  1. ^ "Ben Mertens". World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  2. ^ "België heeft een wereldkampioen snooker: Ben Mertens (13) wint WK U16". Sporza.be. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b Luysterborg, Peter (6 October 2018). "België heeft voor het eerst een wereldkampioen snooker: Ben Mertens, amper 13 (!), wint bloedstollende finale". Het Laatste Nieuws. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  4. ^ "Veertienjarig snookertalent Ben Mertens zet Michael White een hak op Pro-Am snooker". Het Nieuwsblad. Belga. 12 January 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Teenager Ben Mertens stuns James Wattana at Snooker Shoot Out in Watford". Sky Sports. 22 February 2019.
  6. ^ "European Snooker Championships U21 - Albufeira / Portugal 2020". EBSA. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  7. ^ "Davies, 15, sets World Championship record". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  8. ^ "Mertens set for Pro Tour". WST. 12 June 2022. Archived from the original on June 12, 2022.
  9. ^ "Ranking History". Snooker.org. Retrieved 6 February 2011.