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Alan McManus, WPBSA Young Player of the Year in 1991, took just two seasons to reach the top 16 in the world rankings and has remained there ever since. The Glaswegian made it through to the last 16 of the Embassy World Championship in his very first season, losing a gripping encounter 13-12 to 1979 world champion Terry Griffiths. For the next two seasons he made the semi-finals at Sheffield, going down 16-7 to Jimmy White in 1992 and 16-8 to Stephen Hendry in 1993. McManus reached the second round for the next seven years but his proud record of having never failed to win his opening match at the Crucible was ended in 2001 by Northern Ireland's Patrick Wallace, who recorded a shock 10-2 victory. "I was absolutely diabolical; it's hard to believe," said the dumbfounded Scot. "I let myself down a bit. I need to go away and get my head sorted out." It was a disastrous end to a disappointing season for McManus, which resulted in him dropping four places down the world rankings. His only semi-final appearance came in the British Open, although he did reach three other quarter-finals. He claimed his biggest title to date in 1994, beating Hendry 9-8 in the final of the Benson and Hedges Masters at Wembley to end his Scottish rival's sequence of 23 consecutive victories. McManus followed this up by clinching his first world ranking title, defeating Peter Ebdon 9-6 in the final of the 1994 Dubai Classic. His second ranking success also came overseas in the 1996 Thailand Open in Bangkok. McManus held his nerve in a series of tight matches, beating Alain Robidoux and James Wattana 5-4, Ebdon 6-5 and Ken Doherty 9-8 in the final. A member of the Scottish
'Dream Team' who triumphed in the 1996 Castrol-Honda World Cup, McManus
was reunited with Hendy and John Higgins at Reading in January, 2001,
and they went on to win the Coalite Nations Cup, beating the Republic of
Ireland 6-2 in the final. |
World
ranking: 12