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Jamie Cope

Cope continued to show flashes of his massive potential during the 2008/09 season, though he is still waiting to achieve his dual aims of winning a major tournament and breaking into the top 16 of the world rankings.
The player nicknamed the Shotgun for his explosive, attacking style, made a strong start to the season, winning his opening match in the first three ranking events. At the Roewe Shanghai Masters, he beat Jamie Burnett to qualify for the venue, then got a bye to the last 16 as Graeme Dott pulled out through injury. Up against Mark Williams, Cope lost 5-2, but had the consolation of a £22,000 bonus after making the second official maximum 147 break of his career and the first ever in a ranking event in Shanghai. Nevertheless, Cope revealed his frustration at the result after the match. "I’d rather have won the match than made a 147 because I came here to win the tournament.,” he said. “It’s getting on my nerves that I haven’t won one yet.”
He went one step further at the Royal London Watches Grand Prix in Glasgow, scoring a superb 5-1 victory over Stephen Maguire in the first round then edging out Peter Ebdon 5-4 before losing 5-1 to Ryan Day in the quarter-finals.
A lull in the middle of the season left Cope needing a deep run at the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship to give himself a chance of getting into the top 16. He won a vital qualifying match against Paul Davies 10-5, then was drawn to face Joe Perry at the Crucible.
Cope became one of only two qualifiers to progress to the second round at Sheffield as he came from 4-1 down to score an impressive 10-6 victory. “It feels brilliant,” said Cope after winning a match at the Crucible for the first time. “I was a little bit nervous in the first few frames but I expected that and it was good to overcome it. I do feel as if I’m in the tournament now.”
The Stoke potter went on to face John Higgins in the second round, and very nearly registered the shock of the tournament in what was the most exciting match of the event. Cope played brilliantly to pull away from 9-9 to lead 12-10, but barely got a chance in the last three frames. The drama was intensified as a fan fainted in the audience on two separate occasions, each time the players having to go back to their dressing rooms and wait for play to resume. It was Higgins who withstood the pressure with a superb break of 80 in the deciding frame, and the three-times champion was full of praise for his opponent. “Jamie’s going to be feeling devasted but I have no doubt in my mind that he’ll come back one day and win it,” said the Scot. “Players like him are the future of this game.”
Cope himself, who finished the season in 18th place in the rankings, said: “We both played well, I think John played close to his best which is good, for me to be 12-10 up. I’m pleased with the way I played at times.”
In 2006/07, Cope reached two major televised finals to establish himself as a name to watch for years to come.
The first was at the Royal London Watches Grand Prix in Aberdeen. He fired out a warning during the group stages with a maximum break in a match against Michael Holt. It was the first competitive 147 and was worth a £20,000 bonus.
"This has got to be the best moment of my career so far, it felt so good to see that black go in," said Cope, who has made hundreds of maximums in practice and is the only player ever known to make a 155 in practice, the highest possible break.
After progressing from the round robin phase, he went on to beat Robert Milkins, Joe Perry and Mark King before losing 9-5 to Neil Robertson in the final.
He didn’t have to wait too long to taste that final atmosphere again. After qualifying for the China Open in Beijing, he beat Yang Qintain, Mark Williams and Stuart Bingham to reach the quarter-finals then whitewashed Shaun Murphy 5-0 and edged out Barry Hawkins 6-5 in a black ball finish.
But again Cope had to settle for the runner-up cheque as he lost 9-5 to Graeme Dott in the final. "I think it’s just a question of getting that winning belief," he said. "Once I get my first title it will set me off and by the law of averages I must win one eventually."
Cope had an outstanding record as a junior, winning nearly 50 tournaments.

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