By Elliott West
Introduction
Stefan Mazrocis has to definitely be the best player that has ever come out of Holland, a country that he only resided in for a while, having actually been born in England with his father being Latvian. A player who spent time under the mentoring wing of the late Malcolm Thorne at the Willie Thorne Snooker Club in Leicester with the likes of Brian Cakebread, Eddie Manning and later Tom Ford and Mark Selby and in the Leicester League too. A place where you could find Gary Lineker playing cards. Stefan is widely regarded as a fountain of talent, both in his amateur career and the early part of his professional career. A sportsman who was a slow burner but was a pleasure to watch and a name that still regularly comes up in snooker conversations.
Thrills and Spills
Born in 1967, Stefan first rose to prominence as an amateur snooker player. The icing on the cake is when he won the 1988 European Championship, defeating Paul Mifsud 11-7 in the final in Scheveningen, Netherlands. This was the first year of this event as future winners included Robin Hull, Alex Borg, Luca Brecel, Jak Jones and Andrew Pagett. He also reached the semi-finals of the 1986 British Under-19 Championship, losing to James Wattana 3-1 and the same year defeated Barry Pinches 7-2 in the final of the Pontins Spring Open.
Turning professional in 1991, Mazrocis initially struggled, finding it difficult and even harder to find good results and form. As we know, a great snooker player has to attain that fine balance and that took a while for this Dutch player. Entering the tour in 112th place, Stefan slowly moved up the rankings, reaching the final of the 1992 Strachan Challenge – Event 1, losing to Joe Swail 9-4 and at the 1995 World Championship, losing to Stephen Hendry 3-10 in the first round of the tournament, rising to number 73 in the rankings.
A Surprise Offering
With hard work and plenty of hours of practice, Stefan reached his first and only quarter-final of his professional career, the 1996 Asian Classic, losing a tight match to Ken Doherty 4-5, a tournament where he had beaten Darren Morgan 5-4 and Karl Burrows 5-1. This was a prelude to his finest hour, an appearance in the 1997 World Championship. Having qualified, he was drawn against Peter Ebdon in the first round. This was probably one of the biggest upsets in Crucible history with Ebdon receiving a 10-3 hiding from his Dutch opponent. Although he lost 13-9 to the Canadian Alain Robidoux in the next round, his upset against Peter Ebdon is often mentioned in the list of snooker surprises.
Mazrocis never again returned to these heady heights in the sport but did enough to climb to 65th in the world rankings and held on to this positioning for another two years. However, he lost his place on the tour at the end of the 2001/2 season.
Amateur Again
Returning to the amateur fold, Stefan had some success, winning the 2004, 2005 and 2009 Dutch Championships and the 2009 Dutch Seniors Championship, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the European Championships in 2004. He also was lucky enough to represent Holland, leading the Dutch team to victory in the 2004 International Challenge. He also played several matches on the World Seniors Tour in 2018, entering three qualifiers, losing the last 16 of all three, after winning two matches in each event.
Briefly Professional
After several spells as a professional, Mazrocis regained his place on the main tour thanks to victory in the 2008 European Play-Off against Lennon Starkey. The highlight of this season was his run in the Bahrain Open, reaching the third qualifying round, beating Chris McBreen and David Roe before losing 5-1 to Barry Pinches. Sadly things didn’t get better and he was eventually dispatched off the tour at the hands of Tony Knowles and drew the curtains on his last stint on the main tour. A Dutchman who was actually born in Blaby, Leicestershire and attained a 147 break in the 1995 WPBSA Tour, Event 3. A player who made 30 career centuries and had career winnings of £116,885. Stefan later became a snooker coach in Singapore. A man who once scored two 147 breaks in a best of three against Mark Selby, before Mark turned professional, amazing!
