Anthony McGill (born 5 February 1991) is a Scottish professional snooker player. He is a practice partner of retired snooker player Alan McManus.[2]
McGill turned professional in 2010, after finishing fourth in the 2009/2010 PIOS rankings.[3] He won the 2016 Indian Open, after having previously never been beyond the quarter-final stage of a ranking event.
McGill did not manage to qualify for the main stage of any ranking event tournaments during the season, reaching the final qualifying on one occasion in an attempt to reach the German Masters.[6] He reached the semi-finals of Event 3 in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship series, which included wins over experienced campaigners Matthew Stevens and Stephen Lee, before losing 0–4 to Ben Woollaston.[7] McGill's season concluded with an 8–10 defeat to Anthony Hamilton in the penultimate qualifying round for the World Championship, finishing the season ranked world number 50.[6][8]
2012/2013
McGill could only qualify for the China Open during the 2012/2013 season. He beat David Grace, Yu Delu and Martin Gould to reach the venue in Beijing, where he defeated Heydari Nezhad Ehsan 5–3 in the wild-card round.[9] He faced Mark Allen in the last 32 and lost 1–5.[10] McGill had a very good season in the Players Tour Championship events by reaching his first ever minor-ranking final in the European Tour Event 5, played in his homeland of Scotland. He saw off the likes of Mark Davis and Robert Milkins to make it through to the quarter-finals where he was 0–3 and 51 points down against Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon to triumph 4–3.[9][11] He was also 1–3 down in the semis to Andrew Higginson, but recovered to win on a respotted black. McGill played Ding Junhui in the final and came up short of winning the title as he lost 2–4.[11] The run helped him to 16th on the PTC Order of Merit to qualify for the Finals,[12] where he beat Milkins 4–2 before once again losing to Ding, this time by a 3–4 scoreline.[9] In the third round of World Championship Qualifying McGill fought back from 3–8 down against Rod Lawler to force a decider which Lawler won.[13] McGill ended the season at number 48 in the rankings, at that point his highest position.[14]
2013/2014
Anthony McGill at the 2014 German Masters
McGill lost in qualifying for the first three events of the season, but at the Indian Open he reached the quarter-finals of a ranking tournament for the first time.[15] He faced Robbie Williams and was whitewashed 4–0.[16] At the minor-ranking Zhengzhou Open, he let a 2–0 lead slip in the semi-finals against Liang Wenbo to lose 4–3.[17] McGill was beaten in the last 32 of ranking events on three further occasions during the season.[15]
2014/2015
McGill began the season with a 5–3 loss to John Higgins in the first round of the Wuxi Classic. He reached the semi-finals of the Riga Open after beating Judd Trump 4–3, but lost in another final frame decider against Mark Allen.[18] McGill eliminated both Michael Georgiou and Igor Figueiredo by 6–4 scorelines at the UK Championship and then came back from 4–1 down against Nigel Bond to triumph 6–5.[19] He reached his first UK quarter-final by holding on to beat John Higgins 6–5 after being 4–1 up, but attributed the win to Higgins' bad form rather than his own good play.[citation needed] McGill then lost 6–4 to Ronnie O'Sullivan after being 2–0 ahead and admitted he had blown his opportunity to knock out the four-time UK champion after failing to capitalise on the many chances that came his way during the game. However, he did break into the top 32 in the rankings for the first time after the event.[20] McGill finished 21st on the European Order of Merit to play in the Grand Final and overcame Peter Ebdon 4–1 in the first round, before losing 4–3 to Joe Perry.[21]
Anthony McGill at the 2015 German Masters
McGill finished the year by qualifying for the televised stages of the World Championship for the first time, after coming through three matches, ending with a 10–9 victory over Mark King which he closed with a 127 break.[18] Compatriot Stephen Maguire levelled their first round match at 9–9 after having been 9–5 behind, but McGill once again made a century break in the deciding frame, this time a 122.[22] McGill then knocked out defending champion Mark Selby 13–9 in the second round, with Selby stating that he believed McGill could win the title if he could maintain his form.[23] In the third ranking event quarter-final of his career, McGill lost 13–8 to Shaun Murphy.[24] The crowd warmed to McGill during his run in the tournament due to him smiling frequently between shots and displaying a relaxed attitude.[25][26] He was the world number 24 afterwards, resulting in a climb of 21 places in 12 months.[27]
McGill advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2016 Riga Masters, but was thrashed 5–0 by Michael Holt.[31] Another quarter-final followed at the Indian Open by whitewashing Stuart Bingham 4–0 and he followed that up by eliminating Stephen Maguire 4–1 and Shaun Murphy 4–2, after trailing 2–0.[32] McGill played Kyren Wilson in the final, the first to feature two players under 25 in five years, and they went into the interval at 2–2. After the break, McGill took three successive frames to seal his first ranking event title with a 5–2 victory.[33] Three comfortable wins saw him advance to the quarter-finals of the World Open, where he lost 5–2 to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. McGill's fourth quarter-final of the season arrived at the European Masters and he was ousted 4–2 by Neil Robertson.[31]
This was the first season where the Shoot-Out, the tournament where every match is settled by a 10-minute frame played under a shot clock, had its status upgraded to a ranking event. McGill progressed through to the final and beat Xiao Guodong by 67–19 points to claim his second ranking event title. Afterwards McGill stated that there was "no way on God's earth" that the tournament should be a ranking event due to the conditions it's played under.[34] He was a seeded player in the World Championship for the first time, but from 2–2 with Stephen Maguire in the first round he conceded 447 points without reply and McGill went on to be defeated 10–2.[35] He just fell short of ending a season inside the top 16 for the first time as he was 17th.[36]
2017/2018
McGill reached the final of the Indian Open again but was unable to defend his title, losing 5–1 to John Higgins.[37] McGill was beaten in the first round of the 2018 Dafabet Masters, losing 6–4 to John Higgins. This marked his first appearance at the tournament. McGill lost to Mark Davis in the first round of the Snooker Shootout 2018. Davis scored a century break (102) to knock McGill, defending champion out of the tournament.
2018/2019
McGill's form slipped this season and saw his world ranking dropped from 14th to 23rd by the end of the season. He was unable to advance past the third round in all the tournaments.
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