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Graeme Dott has gradually, if generally
unspectacularly, progressed up the rankings, year by year, until
he finally achieved that priceless top 16 spot at the end of the
2000/01 season
Having won the 1992 British Under-19 title
and the Scottish Amateur championship in 1993, he turned
professional at the start of the 1994/5 season in which he
qualified for the latter stages of three ranking events, his
best being the last 32 if the Dubai Classic. A rank of 190 did
not make him immediately well known to the public at large but
during the next season he did make it to the televised stages
when he reached the quarter-finals of the Regal Welsh. Several
other good performances catapulted him up the ranking list to
58.
1996/97, only in the UK Championship did he
fail to qualify although the last 32 was the best he could
manage. He achieved this in two events which included a first
appearance at the Crucible where he took James Wattana all the
way to the deciding frame. A win in that match would have moved
him into the top 32 but he had to settle for 33rd.
Two last sixteen finishes were his best performances in 1997/98
but it was enough to move him up three places to 30th.
In 1998/99 he started steadily enough but in
the first half only got to the last 16 in one event, the Irish
Open. In Aberdeen, for the Regal Scottish however, victories
over John Parrott, Paul Hunter and Ken Doherty took him into his
fist final. That final though, against Stephen Hendry, was, in
Graeme’s own words, ‘a bit of a nightmare’ and he lost 9-1. A
month later in the fist round of the British Open at Plymouth he
compiled his first 147 which earned him the keys to a £20,000
car. He lost his next match however, against Hendry again. He
failed to qualify for the world championships but did move up to
25th in the ranking list. A solid season followed
when he again did well in the Regal Scottish, reaching the
semi-finals and made it to the Crucible for the second time
knowing that a win against Steve Davis could put him in the top
16. That was not to be and he could only finish 19th.
Graeme’s provisional ranking was such that he
knew that a good consistent season in 2000/01could finally see
him achieve that elusive top 16 place. Although he got to the
Grand Prix semi-final he could not get past the last 32 in any
other event but when he arrived in Sheffield for the Embassy he
knew that one win would still be enough. He failed to achieve
that but his main rivals also slipped up and that place in the
games elite was his finishing season 14th.
He began the 2001/02 season in great style
reaching the final of the British Open where he came up against
John Higgins in superb form. Although he was a semi-finalist at
the Regal Welsh, he also failed to win his opening match in four
other ranking events but he got into the second round at the
Crucible for the first time and consolidated his ranking
position to 12th. His first season in the top 16 had
bought its rewards and, in terms of prize money, this was his
best ever with over £150,000 to put in the bank.
Even though he has now found his way to
that place amongst the very top players, he has still only
reached the quarter-final stage four times in his professional
career and one feels that he will need to significantly improve
on that level of consistency if he is to hold on to his position
let alone climb even higher although he has the ability to do
so.
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