Career
Woollaston began his professional career by playing Challenge Tour in 2003, at the time the second-level professional tour. He first entered Main Tour for the 2004/2005 season, but was unable to retain his place for the following season's tour. He regained his place for 2006/2007 by winning the European Under-19 Championship. He was awarded a concessionary place for the 2007/08 tour. Woollaston has twice reached the final group stages of the Grand Prix in 2006 and 2007, enjoying a marginally better tournament in 2006 by winning two matches compared to none in 2007. He also reached the final stages of the 2007 Welsh Open beating David Gray to reach the second round where he lost 2–5 to seven times World Champion Stephen Hendry.
Woollaston's first professional title was Event 3 of the Players Tour Championship in the 2011/2012 season. He defeated former World Champion Graeme Dott 4–2 in the final. His performances in the other 11 PTC's, including a quarter-final run in Event 8, saw him claim ninth place in the Order of Merit and therefore qualify for the 2012 Finals. It was the first time he made it to the main stages of a ranking event since 2007. He played Ding Junhui in the opening round and lost 2–4. Woollaston also qualified for the 2012 China Open by winning three qualifying matches, concluding with a 5–4 victory over Ryan Day. He played Ding again in the first round of the event and looked to be on course for a shock result as he led 4–0 at the interval in the best-of-nine frame match. However, Ding found his form and won 5 successive frames to take the match 5–4. His season concluded with a 3–10 loss to Dominic Dale in the final qualifying round for the World Championship and he finished ranked world number 43, meaning he had risen 26 places from the start of the season, the most of anyone on the tour.
Read more about this topic: Ben Woollaston
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