Liang Wenbo came agonisingly close to becoming the first player to make a brace of maximum breaks in the same match during his 10-2 defeat of Rod Lawler in the Betfred World Snooker Championship qualifiers on Thursday.
The Chinese number two, who compiled his second career 147 earlier this season in the English Open, was in sterling form as he romped to a one-sided victory against the veteran Liverpudlian.
At 8-1 in front, the win was already in the bag by the time of Liang’s first onslaught on the reds and blacks and he duly mopped up the table in clinical fashion to construct the 139th perfect frame in competitive play.
The feat has the former English Open champion in line to pocket the £10,000 jackpot on offer for making a 147 in the qualifiers but Liang will surely feel a little sick, despite his comprehensive triumph, after failing to etch his name into the history books.
Two frames later, the 31 year-old embarked on another attempt at the maximum and it was all going swimmingly until he slightly overran his position from the pink to the final black, with the cueball just off the side cushion.
It obviously made the defining pot that little bit tougher and the pressure duly told as Liang trickled a weak effort over the jaws of the corner pocket for a painful miss.
In trademark style, Liang could immediately see the funny side of his narrow failure and at least he can be assured that his form is solid heading into the remaining qualifying round fixtures, with fellow Chinese player Zhao Xintong his challenger in the penultimate round.
World Snooker announced earlier this week that the prize for making a 147 at the venue stages of World Snooker Championship in the Crucible Theatre would increase this year to £40,000 – a sum that won’t be influenced by Liang’s achievement in the preliminaries.
You can watch both breaks below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS0p_CQOTCM&app=desktop
Live coverage of the World Championship qualifiers continues on the Eurosport Player.
Click here to view the draw. (Times: CET)
