Matthew Stevens was born on 11 September 1977 and is a Welsh professional snooker player.
28 Facts About Matthew Stevens
2.
Matthew Stevens has won two of the game's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 2000 and the UK Championship in 2003.
3.
Matthew Stevens has been a two-time runner-up in the other triple crown event, the World Snooker Championship, in 2000 and 2005.
4.
Matthew Stevens has compiled more than 300 century breaks during his career.
5.
Matthew Stevens reached the quarter-finals on his debut at the Crucible in the World Championship, beating Alain Robidoux and Mark King before losing to Ken Doherty.
6.
Matthew Stevens became only the second player in the history of the world championship to lose in the final from holding a four frame overnight lead.
7.
Matthew Stevens has been beaten in a world championship semi-final on four occasions: in 2001,2002,2004, and 2012.
8.
Matthew Stevens won the 2003 UK Championship, after beating Stephen Hendry in the final.
9.
Matthew Stevens again relinquished a four frame overnight lead to lose in the final, only the third time this had ever happened in world championship history.
10.
Matthew Stevens only reached the last 16 of one other event, and failed to qualify for the World Championship after a defeat to Martin Gould.
11.
Matthew Stevens finished the season with a drop of nine places to world number 26.
12.
Matthew Stevens finished runner-up to O'Sullivan in Event 7 of the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship series and with last 16 finishes coming in Event 9 and Event 11, he was ranked 17th in the Order of Merit, inside the top 24 who qualified for the Finals.
13.
Matthew Stevens was defeated in the second round of the Welsh Open and had successive first round losses in the World Open and China Open to go into the World Championship in less than auspicious form.
14.
However, Matthew Stevens had an excellent run as he reached his sixth semi-final in the event, and first since 2005.
15.
Matthew Stevens reached the last four with wins over Marco Fu, Barry Hawkins and Ryan Day.
16.
Matthew Stevens finished the season ranked world number 10, the highest he has ended the year since 2005.
17.
Matthew Stevens withdrew from the season's opening ranking event, the Wuxi Classic due to a bad back and could not advance beyond the second round in any of the next three events.
18.
Matthew Stevens travelled to Haikou, China, for the World Open, but his cue failed to arrive on time for his first round match against David Gilbert.
19.
Matthew Stevens was beaten in the last 32 of both the UK Championship and the German Masters.
20.
Matthew Stevens lost deciding frames in the last 32 of the Welsh Open and World Open to Joe Perry and Judd Trump respectively.
21.
Matthew Stevens dropped out of the top 16 and ended the year as world number 19.
22.
Matthew Stevens attended an all-Welsh-speaking school, Bro Myrddin Welsh Comprehensive School, and is fluent in the Welsh language.
23.
Matthew Stevens's career took off after beating Martyn Holloway in the Regal Welsh under 16s regional tournament in Morriston.
24.
Matthew Stevens was a close friend of Paul Hunter and was a pallbearer at his funeral.
25.
Matthew Stevens is a celebrity Texas hold 'em poker player and in 2004 won the UK's richest poker tournament at just 27 years old, beating 16-time World Darts champion Phil Taylor to first place.
26.
Matthew Stevens had only been playing poker for 18 months before his victory.
27.
In 2015, Matthew Stevens was declared bankrupt and got divorced around the same time.
28.
Matthew Stevens and his ex-wife Claire Holloway have two sons, Freddie and Ollie, who were born in 2004 and 2008 respectively.