Alexander Ursenbacher

Alexander Ursenbacher (born 26 April 1996) is a Swiss professional snooker player from Rheinfelden. He is the first snooker player from Switzerland to have competed professionally (former professional Darren Paris represented England, in the mid-1990s, before moving to Switzerland).

Having qualified for the main tour through the 2013 Q School, where he defeated Paul Wykes in his quarter-final match, Ursenbacher lost his professional status upon the expiry of his two-year tour card in 2015, but regained it two years later after defeating Jackson Page 6–4 in the final of the 2017 EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championship. He lost his tour card again when he ended the 2022–23 season at 86th place in the snooker world rankings. However, he managed to immediately regain his professional status by prevailing in the first Q School Event of 2023.

Career

Ursenbacher started playing snooker in 2008. He has won a host of junior titles in his native Switzerland and has won the national championship twice, due in large part to his stays at Snooker Academies in Sheffield and Gloucester and individual training by former World Championship semi-finalist Ian McCulloch.

He turned professional by coming through the 2013 Q School. After an early defeat in Event One, he played superbly throughout Event Two, losing just one frame in four matches and scoring a top break of 140. He beat nine-time Ladies' World Champion Reanne Evans 4–1, then in the final round he saw off experienced former pro Paul Wykes 4–0.

Ursenbacher experienced a tough start to his debut season as a professional, losing his first seven matches. His first win came in November at the minor-ranking Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup against former world champion Ken Doherty, and he was close to following it with another defeat of a world champion in the form of Peter Ebdon in the next round, ultimately losing 4–3. He failed to win another match until the season-ending World Championship, where he came back from 6–2 down to win 10–7 against David Morris. He lost in the next round 10–5 to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Ursenbacher won five games in the first event of the 2015 Q School to reach the final round where he lost 4–1 to Daniel Wells. In the second event he was eliminated in the last 32 by Joe Roberts.

In March 2017 he won the EBSA European Under-21 Snooker Championship in Nicosia and with it re-qualified for the Main Tour. The victory also allowed Ursenbacher to get an invitation to the World Championship qualifying rounds; he defeated Robert Milkins 10–6 and Scott Donaldson 10–9 to reach the final round (he was the only amateur present at this stage), where he lost 10–4 to Yan Bingtao.

Ursenbacher recorded his best result to date by reaching the semi-finals of the 2017 English Open, defeating former world champion Shaun Murphy along the way; he lost 3–6 to Kyren Wilson. Ursenbacher's form declined after that, however, and he failed to win a single match for the rest of the season, aside from non-ranking event Shoot Out. The next season was hardly an improvement, although Ursenbacher caused a major upset at the 2019 Welsh Open by knocking out tournament favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan in the third round; he lost his next match to Zhao Xintong. After losing his first round qualifying match for the World Championship 4–10 to Jordan Brown, Ursenbacher was left 69th in the season-end rankings, confirming his relegation.

Ursenbacher came through the third event of the 2019 Q School by winning six matches to earn another two-year card on the World Snooker Tour for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons.

In July 2020, he became the first Swiss player to qualify for the main draw World Championships. Ursenbacher was beaten in the first round 10–2 by 15th seed Barry Hawkins.

Performance and rankings timeline Performance Table LegendLQ lost in the qualifying draw#R lost in the early rounds of the tournament(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)QF lost in the quarter-finalsSF lost in the semi–finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD withdrew from the tournament NH / Not Held means an event was not held.NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.

Career finals

Pro-am finals: 7 (4 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2017 3 Kings Open Bjorn Haneveer 5–1Runner-up 1. 2017 Italian Snooker Open Martin O'Donnell 2–3Winner 2. 2019 Italian Snooker Open Rob James 3–0 Runner-up 2. 2020 3 Kings Open Luca Brecel 2–5 Winner 3. 2024 3 Kings Open (2) Luca Kaufmann 3–0 Winner 4. 2024 Vienna Snooker Open Craig Steadman 5–4Runner-up 3. 2025 3 Kings Open (2) Richard Wienold 1–3

Amateur finals: 4 (3 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2012 Swiss Amateur Championship Murat Ayas 5–1Winner 2. 2013 Swiss Amateur Championship (2) Tom Zimmermann 5–2Runner-up 1. 2016 5–6Winner 3. 2017 6–4

Personal life Ursenbacher is the son of a Portuguese mother from Madeira Island, living in Switzerland.