Stan Moody pulled off the biggest win of his young snooker career on Wednesday as he thrashed Barry Hawkins 5-0 to reach the Wuhan Open quarter-finals.
The 18-year-old scored 431 points without reply against the world number eight, with breaks of 108, 87 and 54 along the way.
The Yorkshire teenager also downed Chinese legend Ding Junhui in he second round and is into his first ranking quarter-final thanks to his brilliant performances in Wuhan.
‘It’s the best win of my career,’ Moody said of his whitewash of the Hawk. ‘I played very, very well, I was in the zone.
‘I don’t know what happened, to be honest, I just potted everything, so hopefully it’s the same next game.’
Moody has been making steady progress up the rankings since turning professional two years ago at just 16.
He was at number 61 in the world before his run in Wuhan this week but will have progressed still further having guaranteed at least £16,000 in prize money.
Thanks to a couple of good wins over Liam Highfield and Ryan Day in the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, he is well inside the top 32 on the one-year ranking list as well.
‘I thought I’d have a run like this last season, but it just didn’t happen, I wasn’t experienced enough,’ he said. ‘But this season I’m more relaxed, I’m enjoying playing, competing, I love the pressure now. I’m happy.’
Moody is the youngest British professional on tour currently and the fifth youngest of any nationality.
O’Sullivan is a fan of Moody
Speaking at this year’s World Championship, Ronnie O’Sullivan said: ‘I like Stan Moody, I think he’s got a really great strong technique, he’s got a good, snooker brain.’
Only Michal Szubarczyk of Poland (14), Chinese pair Lan Yuhao (17) and Gong Chenzhi (18) and Hungary’s Bulcsu Revesz (18) are younger than the Englishman, so to be reaching a big quarter-final is extremely encouraging.
Waiting for Moody in the last eight is defending champion Xiao Guodong, and asked if the pressure is off given how far he has come, he was not so sure.
‘Now, sat here now, I’d say yeah,’ he said. ‘But when you’re out there you’re desperate to win, no matter what match it is. If I play like that I’ll be hard to stop.’
At the opposite end of the age range on tour is Mark Williams, who turned 50 in March, but is also into the quarter-finals in Wuhan after beating Mark Selby 5-3.
‘I was just out there looking at the massive arena, thinking, “50 years of age, last 16 of a massive tournament, playing probably the third greatest player there’s ever been”,’ Williams told WST.
‘My stage of my career, I’ve just got to enjoy these occasions. It’s incredible what I’m still doing, really, so I’m just trying to enjoy it more.’
Williams takes on Zhang Anda in the quarter-finals, with the winner playing either Moody or Xiao in the semis.
