Neil Robertson became the fourth player to compile 900 career century breaks with victory in the Wuhan Open qualifiers on Friday.
The Australian thrashed countryman Ryan Thomerson 5-0 to guarantee his trip to China in October.
Robertson constructed runs of 95 and 68 before a 137 in the last frame took his tally of tons to the 900 mark.
Only Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, and Judd Trump have recorded more professional century breaks than Neil Robertson.
Century Breaks – Top 10
*updated September 1st, 2023*
1. Ronnie O’Sullivan – 1,202
2. John Higgins – 947
3. Judd Trump – 915
4. Neil Robertson – 900
5. Mark Selby – 778
6. Stephen Hendry – 777
7. Shaun Murphy – 632
8. Ding Junhui – 618
9. Mark Williams – 597
10. Mark Allen – 572
It has been a slow start to the 2023/24 season for the Melbourne man, who skipped the Championship League before suffering a first-round exit in the European Masters.
But the 41 year-old will definitely feature at the venue stages of the new Wuhan Open next month thanks to a dominant first triumph of the campaign.
Mark Selby progressed in similar fashion as the World Championship runner-up bagelled Andy Lee with a high break of 106.
It was a little less straightforward for Mark Allen – the Northern Irishman needing to win the last two frames to secure a 5-3 defeat of John Astley.
That was the same scoreline in which Ryan Day and the improving Noppon Saengkham overcame Long Zehuang and Andrew Higginson respectively.
The biggest upset of the opening day at the Morningside Arena, meanwhile, came in the form of Kyren Wilson’s 5-4 reverse to He Guoqiang.
When Wilson compiled a century break to force a ninth frame and then established a 66-0 lead in the decider, it looked as though he had avoided a scare.
But a fortunate safety shot from his opponent in which the cue ball knuckled the middle pocket and rested behind the blue resulted in a mistake from Wilson.
With the balls nicely spread, rookie He duly cleared the table to snatch a thrilling victory on the black.
- CLICK HERE: What snooker is taking place in September?
Among the others to make it through unscathed were Ashley Carty, a quarter-finalist in last week’s European Masters, and Wu Yize.
Alfie Burden, Joe O’Connor, Ben Woollaston, and Jackson Page were also successful in Leicester.
On Saturday, the Wuhan Open qualifiers continue with Stuart Bingham, Robert Milkins, and Joe Perry among those in action.
Live coverage is available on discovery+ in Europe and Matchroom.Live in other territories (other than China).
Wuhan Open qualifying draw and schedule
(Times in BST)
Friday, September 1
Results
Ryan Day 5-3 Long Zehuang
Wu Yize 5-3 Allan Taylor
Kyren Wilson 4-5 He Guoqiang
Mark Allen 5-3 John Astley
Neil Robertson 5-0 Ryan Thomerson
Noppon Saengkham 5-3 Andrew Higginson
Robbie Williams 0-5 Alfie Burden
Gary Wilson 3-5 Ashley Carty
Joe O’Connor 5-0 Dean Young
Jackson Page 5-3 Liu Hongyu
Ben Woollaston 5-2 Oliver Brown
Mark Selby 5-0 Andy Lee
Saturday, September 2
Results
Xu Si 5-3 Anton Kazakov
Cao Yupeng 5-0 Jiang Jun
Tian Pengfei 3-5 Sanderson Lam
Zhang Anda 5-3 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Joe Perry 0-5 Aaron Hill
Andy Hicks 3-5 Hammad Miah
Yuan Sijun 5-1 Ross Muir
Fan Zhengyi 1-5 Stuart Carrington
David Grace 2-5 Martin O’Donnell
Elliot Slessor 5-0 David Lilley
Robert Milkins 5-2 Zak Surety
Stuart Bingham 5-3 James Cahill
Sunday, September 3
Results
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-2 Thor Chuan Leong
Scott Donaldson 5-1 Ma Hailong
Anthony McGill 4-5 Ishpreet Singh
Chris Wakelin 5-2 Mink Nutcharut
Tom Ford 5-2 Adam Duffy
Jamie Jones 5-4 Liam Pullen
Jack Lisowski 5-0 Jenson Kendrick
Pang Junxu 5-1 Stan Moody
Barry Hawkins 5-1 Louis Heathcote
Matthew Selt 5-3 Sean O’Sullivan
Oliver Lines 5-0 Reanne Evans
Mark Williams 5-2 Andres Petrov
Monday, September 4
Results
Mark Joyce 5-1 Victor Sarkis
Matthew Stevens 1-5 Daniel Wells
Jamie Clarke 5-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Muhammad Asif
Jimmy Robertson 4-5 Rod Lawler
Judd Trump 5-1 Lukas Kleckers
Jak Jones 5-2 Mostafa Dorgham
Graeme Dott 5-3 Julien Leclercq
Stephen Maguire 5-2 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Xiao Guodong 5-0 Alexander Ursenbacher
Shaun Murphy 2-5 Ben Mertens
Dominic Dale 5-0 Rebecca Kenna
Tuesday, September 5
Results
Michael White 5-3 Andrew Pagett
Hossein Vafaei 4-5 Marco Fu
Jordan Brown 5-1 Himanshu Jain
Mark Davis 5-1 Liam Graham
John Higgins 5-1 Dylan Emery
Ricky Walden 3-5 Ian Burns
Sam Craigie 5-1 Peng Yisong
Liam Highfield 5-1 Jimmy White
Held over fixtures
(to be played in Wuhan)
Monday, October 9
Luca Brecel vs Xing Zihao
David Gilbert vs wildcard
Si Jiahui vs wildcard
Ali Carter vs wildcard
Anthony Hamilton vs wildcard
Zhou Yuelong vs Baipat Siripaporn
Ding Junhui vs Ashley Hugill
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ken Doherty
Featured photo credit: WST
