Jack Lisowski matched Andy Hicks’ feat on Wednesday by knocking in a 147 break in his UK Championship qualifying round victory over Chen Zhe.
The standard on the Main Tour is so good at the moment that the players are continuing to make a mockery of what used to be such a rare achievement.
Of course, Lisowski’s effort is still only the 94th maximum made in professional play, which may seem like a lot but in reality isn’t when you consider the thousands upon thousands of frames being played each season.
Unlike Hicks, who is at the wrong end of his career, 21 year-old Lisowski is widely considered to be one of the most promising up-and-coming youngsters, as well as one of the most popular.
With good looks and a boyish charm about him, and with the prospect of a friendly rivalry at the top of the game with housemate Judd Trump in the future, Lisowski could well become one of the poster boys of the sport – much to the same ilk as, say, Paul Hunter.
Like Hunter, who sadly passed away from the disease at the tender age of 27, Lisowski has already had to endure a painful battle with cancer – from which he has thankfully made a full recovery.
Having reached two PTC finals, one feels that it is only a matter of time for him to join the winner’s circle and, in doing so, perhaps become a member of the Top 16 in the world rankings.
Standing in his way of a maiden trip to York is Joe Perry, who himself is currently battling to force his way back in to the elite bracket.
Like Lisowski, two young players that many are expecting great things from in the future are Luca Brecel and Cao Yupeng.
Brecel made it three wins on the trot with a 6-3 win over Liu Chuang while Cao overcame the dogged Dave Harold 6-4.
Both could make it a delightful double to remember in 2012 if they can add qualification for York to their debuts at the Crucible earlier in the year.
Elsewhere, the always unbelievable Steve Davis came from 4-0 down to edge India’s Pankaj Advani 6-5 in a match that lasted almost six hours and included a fabulous 136 century from the six-time world champion.
Davis, 55, continues to pull out remarkable results like these and, despite them not being as regular as in seasons past, they are still proving more than enough to keep him inside the world’s top 50.
Superlatives run out when speaking of the great man and it has to be said that his draw in the final round has been relatively kind with Scotland’s Jamie Burnett between him and a return to the UK – a trophy he managed to get his hands on six times.
Fellow Englishmen Mark Joyce, David Gilbert, Ben Woollaston, Rory McLeod, Matthew Selt and Ian Burns all joined Davis in the last 48 – with rookie Burns in particular impressing this week having emerged from the first round on Tuesday.
Chinese duo Yu Delu and Liang Wenbo enjoyed nail-biting late-night 6-5 victories over Nigel Bond and Anthony McGill respectively after Xiao Guodong had beaten Adam Duffy 6-4 earlier in the day.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh beat the struggling Jamie Jones 6-3 while Welshman Michael White recorded a similar scoreline in his win over Craig Steadman – White goes on to play Ken Doherty tomorrow.
At the time of writing (00:42), Rod ‘late to finish’ Lawler was leading Gerard Greene 5-4. EDIT: Lawler won 6-4.
The full draw and list of results can be viewed by clicking here.
