Marco Fu became only the second player to compile a 16-red break at a World Snooker Championship as the action in Sheffield continued on Thursday.
The Hong Kong cueist compiled a break of 139 in the fourth frame of his qualifying fixture with Ben Mertens at the English Institute of Sport.
After a four-point foul from his opponent to start the frame, Fu was given a free-ball opportunity which meant he could pot any of the colours and have it count as an additional red ball.
The 47 year-old proceeded to clear the table to record a feat that has only once before been achieved in the competition.
Steve James had been the lone player to previously do it, orchestrating a similar break way back at the 1990 World Snooker Championship.
In his first-round clash with Alex Higgins that year, James found himself in a similar situation with a free-ball chance at the beginning of the frame before duly compiling a 135 total clearance.
As a result of this rule, the maximum break in snooker is technically 155 and not the commonly targeted 147.
There have been a few known breaks of 155 made in practice, including a knock by former professional Jamie Cope in 2005, but it has never happened in a competitive match on the main tour.
There has, however, been one officially ratified break in excess of 147 in the history of the game.
At the 2004 UK Championship qualifiers, Scotland’s Jamie Burnett memorably compiled a record run of 148 against Leo Fernandez.
Marco Fu, meanwhile, won’t win any special prizes for his break at the ongoing World Snooker Championship qualifiers.
The 2006 and 2016 Crucible semi-finalist looks to be in good shape, however, as the break helped him to a 4-0 mid-session interval lead against his young Belgian challenger.
Fu needs to win three matches in the preliminary rounds to secure a return to the Crucible Theatre for the first time since 2018.
Featured photo credit: WST
Stuart Carrington, Alexander Ursenbacher, David Grace and Rory Thor have all been relegated.
I watched Long Zehuang and Zhao deliver an entertaining contest. Zhao is throwing in a few casual misses but is scoring very heavily.
Yes I was lucky to see all those matches. The late evening was extremely tense and dramatic, especially on tables 5-8. Huge credit to 18-year old Gong for regaining his composure after a reckless period. Grace and Thor were also relegated in agonising final frames, close to midnight. Lam also overcame Liam Davies 10-9 after an eventful match.