Barry Hawkins made a UK Championship 147 break during his first round 6-2 victory over Gerard Greene on Wednesday in York.
The feat occurred in the fourth frame of a comfortable triumph as the former World Championship runner-up eased into the second round at the Barbican Centre.
It represented a third career maximum break for Hawkins and his first in a full ranking event.
The 40 year-old is in line to receive the high break prize of £15,000 but must wait until the end of the season to see if he’s among a group of lucky players who might unlock the £1 million bonus on offer for making a combined total of 20 maximums throughout the campaign.
Only four have been constructed so far so the prospect of it actually materialising seems a stretch, with practically half of the season already gone.
Still, a UK Championship 147 is one for the memory banks and he becomes the 12th player to compile the perfect break in the sport’s second biggest ranking event.
We all love a maxi! ❶❹❼
Take it away, @TheHawk147 👏 #baizeofglory @betway pic.twitter.com/DhyKiYWRWk
— World Snooker (@WorldSnooker) November 27, 2019
Hawkins will be considered as one of the outside tips for glory in this year’s edition and the majority of marquee names progressed on day two alongside him.
Two-time champion Mark Selby knocked in a brace of tons as he wasted little time in hammering Andy Hicks 6-0.
Fellow former winners Mark Williams, Ding Junhui, and Stephen Maguire all managed to avoid an early banana skin too.
For Maguire, the six red world champion‘s 6-4 triumph over Billy Joe Castle was important because it keeps alive his hopes of gaining an invitation to the prestigious Masters invitational in January.
Elsewhere, Kyren Wilson thrashed Riley Parsons and the Englishman was joined by other experienced competitors in Ryan Day and Marco Fu.
Former world champions Graeme Dott and Peter Ebdon, who also lifted the UK crown in 2006, enjoyed contrasting passages through to the last 64.
Ebdon was pulled off before his session was over and had to complete his 6-5 success over John Astley close to midnight, while Dott easily outclassed veteran Barry Pinches.
There weren’t too many shock results but arguably the upset of the day saw Louis Heathcote deny Hossein Vafaei in a decider – having at one stage trailed the Iranian 5-2.
Among some of the others to advance were Martin Gould, Mark Davis, and World Championship semi-finalist Gary Wilson.
Chinese youngsters Lyu Haotian and Yuan Sijun moved forward as well with respective victories over Andy Lee and Hammad Miah.
The first round will reach its climax on Thursday with the likes of defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan and world number one Judd Trump entering the fray.
