Duane Jones

Bio

Welshman Duane Jones reached his first ranking event semi-final at the 2019 German Masters in Berlin.

Hailing from Mountain Ash, Jones was first inspired by the great Jimmy White and took up snooker at the age of 12, notably captaining the Welsh Under-16s team and becoming the youngest player to have won the Invitation Singles title in the Aberdare Valley Snooker League.

He first came close to turning professional in both 2013 and 2014, losing out in the final round of Q School on both occasions. In 2015 however it was third time lucky as he defeated Zhao Xintong 4-3 to earn a two-year tour card.

In 2016 he reached the last 32 of a ranking event for the first time at the Indian Open and a year extended his spell on tour by again prevailing at Q School.

The highlight of his career to date came at the 2019 German Masters as he defeated Jack Lisowski, Yuan Sijun and most notably former world number one Ding Junhui to reach the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time. Although he was to lose out 6-1 to David Gilbert, his performance and prize money of £20,000 was enough to help secure him a further two years on the main tour through his position on the one-year ranking list.