By Elliott West
Introduction
Martin Dziewialtowski is probably a name in snooker that you have heard of but a player who first emerged as a professional in the infamous ‘Class of 1992’. Unlike the other graduates such as John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams, Martin had spats of brilliance but wasn’t able to match the splendour of the other entrants that stampeded the main tour that year. However, it is important to remember all of those that have played professional snooker over the years and Dziewialtowski should definitely be praised and celebrated for his skills and craft.
Career
Born in the same year as myself, 1972, Martin from Glasgow joined the main tour in 1992, a time when it was a pretty open affair with over 700 players allowed to compete on it. His first real impression as a professional came in 1995 at the Thailand Classic where he managed to get to the last 48 stages, losing to Brian Morgan 1-5.
In danger of losing his place on the tour, the 1997/8 couldn’t come soon enough for the Scot and it was here that he managed to make a breakthrough, achieving his best career result. It came in the 1997 UK Championship where Martin, then ranked 116, beat Dean Reynolds 9-7 to set up a quarter-final clash with Matthew Stevens for a place in the last four. Dziewialtowski had previously beaten Anthony Davies, Joe Swail and Quinten Hann to get this far but Stevens proved too much of a challenge and he went on to lose the match 1-9. He also reached the last 32 of the 1998 Welsh Open where he lost to fellow Glaswegian, Alan McManus 1-5 after previously defeating Mick Price 5-3.
The winning trail then went cold for the Scot and didn’t fire up until 2000 when Martin reached the last 32 stages of the Welsh Open, eventually defeated by Paul Hunter 3-5 after beating Darren Morgan 5-1 in the last 64. Ironically the same result and placing were to be achieved by the Scot at the 2000 Thailand Masters where Dziewialtowski lost again to the late Paul Hunter.
Reaching his highest ranking of 68th in the 2001-2 season, Martin had a lot to celebrate but sadly this would be his last hurrah on the main tour and was unable to qualify for another ranking tournament, dropping off the tour in 2004, aged 31. By this time, the number of players on the main tour had decreased to 100 and the game had really started to be one of cutthroat snooker.
Martin did resurface several times over the years, attempting to re-qualify at two Challenge Tour events in the 2004/5 season but lost on both occasions. He also tried his hand at the 2005 World Championship qualifiers but lost his first qualifying match to Jeff Cundy 1-5. This was Dziewialtowski’s last stab at the big time but he did inadvertently help Scott Mackenzie’s career when he almost quit snooker and ditched his cue, recalling:
“After one particularly bad performance I threw my cue away. But my dad convinced me to keep trying. I borrowed a cue from Martin Dziewialtowski and that has really changed things for me.”
Scott Mackenzie
