China’s Cao Yupeng compiled a maiden 147 break as Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ding Junhui were among the winners in the Scottish Open on Tuesday.
Cao, who reached the semi-finals of the European Masters in Belgium earlier this season, recorded the feat in the third frame of his 4-0 first-round triumph over Andrew Higginson.
If it isn’t matched this week, the 27 year-old stands to earn £20,000 from the rolling maximum break prize as well as a further £2,000 for tallying the highest break.
It marks the 134th maximum achieved in professional competition and the fourth since the start of this season.
O’Sullivan, meanwhile, constructed a 136 and two further half-centuries as he ousted Michael Georgiou for the second successive tournament.
The “Rocket” is bidding for a fourth ranking crown in just two months after his latest victory in the UK Championship on Sunday.
Shaun Murphy, the player O’Sullivan pipped to glory in York a couple of days ago, crashed out, though, in a 4-3 loss to Daniel Wells.
Ding put the misery of his dramatic first-round collapse at the Barbican Centre behind him with a 4-2 success against Jak Jones.
Other high-profile winners as the last 128 wrapped up on the second day of action were Neil Robertson, Ali Carter, and Anthony McGill.
The trio all managed whitewash victories, the latter over the in-form Ryan Day, while Kyren Wilson and Liang Wenbo – two players bound for the prestigious Masters next month – were made to work a little harder for their respective 4-2 wins.
Elsewhere, Yan Bingtao began his bid at the Emirates Arena confidently thanks to a 4-0 drubbing of struggling Australian Matthew Bolton.
While Yan represents one of the youngest players on the Main Tour, the oldest competitor was just as dominant with Jimmy White managing a 4-1 defeat of Sunny Akani – one of the stars from last week.
The “Whirlwind” lost the opening frame but runs of 72, 70, and 53 helped the 55 year-old into the second round.
It was another disappointing day for the Irish contingent, with Ken Doherty and Leo Fernandez on the wrong end of 4-1 scorelines to Craig Steadman and Hamza Akbar respectively.
However, Belfast’s Joe Swail ousted German rookie Lukas Kleckers for only his fifth victory of the campaign.
Among the other names to progress to the last 64 were Peter Ebdon, Joe Perry, Robert Milkins, Michael Holt, and home hope Alan McManus.
Eden Sharav also gave the local support something to shout about with his 4-3 triumph against Mark Davis but fellow Scots Ross Muir, Rhys Clark, and Ross Valance suffered early exits.
Live coverage continues on Eurosport and Quest TV.
Click here to view the draw. (Times: CET)