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Ricky Walden

The 2008 Roewe Shanghai Masters will live forever in the memory of Ricky Walden as it gave him his first ranking title.
And the talented Flintshire potter did it the hard way, dispatching snooker legends and rising stars alike on his way to the trophy.
After beating Lee Spick and Ian McCulloch to earn his place on the flight east, Walden beat Chinese wild card Zhang Anda 5-0 to reach the first round proper. He then edged out Stephen Hendry 5-4, making a break of 85 in the deciding frame, before coming from 4-2 down to beat Neil Robertson 5-4 then seeing off Steve Davis 5-2 to reach his first ranking semi-final. Again he showed his powers of recovery as he fought back from 4-1 behind to beat Mark Selby 6-4, setting up a final clash with world No 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The Rocket was on a run of 14 consecutive wins in ranking event matches and rated a strong odds-on favourite for the first prize, but Walden played brilliantly to register one of the shocks of the season with a 10-8 victory, sealing the result with a superb break of 105.
"I’m thrilled to bits to win my first tournament," said Walden. "I hope I can go on and achieve more now. I want to get into the top 16 and win more tournaments."
Though he failed to reach the same heights in the remainder of the season, Walden’s results were consistent as he lost just one first round match in the eight ranking events. And he finished the campaign in style by qualifying for the televised stages of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship for the first time in his career.
After reaching the Crucible with a 10-5 defeat of Anthony Hamilton, he said: "It’s brilliant, I’m delighted to make it for the first time. It was a nervous match. I’ve lost a couple of times at this stage but I’ve always had tough draws. It’s been a patient waiting game and today I took my chance. After such a long wait, it’s very special.”
Walden could not get beyond the first round at Sheffield, going down 10-6 to Mark Selby, but he was pleased with his season’s work having climbed to 20th place in the official rankings and 12th in the provisional list going into 2009/10. “It’s been a good season,” he said. “Yes, I would have liked more, but overall it’s been very good.”
Walden, who considers himself English but lives in north Wales just a few miles from World Snooker’s centre at Prestatyn, reached the quarter-finals of the 2005 China Open in Beijing, beating the likes of Matthew Stevens and Steve Davis before losing to Stephen Hendry. He has also scored two professional wins over John Higgins.
Former World Snooker Young Player of Distinction Walden is a keen Liverpool fan and often visits Anfield to watch the 2005 European champions. He enjoys travelling and frequently flies to Las Vegas with his friends.

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