2024 World Championship Finalist
17
£339,500
£32,000
Jak Jones made headlines with an unexpected run to the 2024 World Championship final at the Crucible Theatre as a qualifier.
Jones, whose previous best run in a ranking event was a semi-final at the 2022 Gibraltar Open, had reached the quarter-finals on his Crucible debut the previous year and followed this up with a remarkable run to a maiden World Championship final in 2024 to secure top 16 status for the first time in his career.
Jones first gained attention at the 2023 World Championship as he reached the quarter-finals on debut.
Having qualified for the first time with victories against Adam Duffy, Robbie Williams and Barry Hawkins, he added the scalps of Ali Carter and former world champion Neil Robertson to reach the last eight, before losing to Mark Allen.
Following an uneventful 2023/24 campaign, Jones secured a Crucible return with qualifying round victories over Jamie Clarke and Zhou Yuelong.
Arriving in Sheffield as the second-lowest ranked player at the event, Jones went on a remarkable run that saw him defeat Zhang Anda, Si Jiahui and former world champion Trump to reach the one-table setup for the first time.
A 17-12 victory over fellow qualifier Bingham then saw the Welshman reach a maiden ranking event final.
Unfortunately for Jones, he got off to a nightmare start in the final by losing the first seven frames and was unable to recover – ultimately succumbing to an 18-14 defeat at the hands of Wilson.
The run did, however, see Jones secure a career-best prize of £200,000 and moved him up to 14th in the world rankings at the conclusion of the season.
From Cwmbran, the Welshman first turned professional as a 16-year-old following his victory at the 2010 EBSA European Under-19 Championship.
In 2013 he regained his card through the EBSA Qualifying Tour play-offs and again in 2016 after defeating Jamie Clarke 7-4 to win the European Championship in Poland.
Most recently in 2018 he retained his tour place by successfully coming through Q School Event One.