Watch O'Sullivan's stunning 147
Ronnie O'Sullivan makes 147 maximum at UK Championship
2014 UK Championship, York Barbican |
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Dates: 25 November - 7 December |
Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, Two, Red Button, online, mobiles and BBC Sport app |
Four-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled a maximum 147 break to round off a comfortable 6-0 whitewash of Matthew Selt at the UK Championship.
O'Sullivan took advantage of a nervous Selt to cap a virtuoso performance with his 13th career 147 in the final frame and advance to the quarter-finals.
The world number four was also well placed for a maximum in the fifth frame, but missed the 12th black.
"I was pumped up and the adrenaline was flowing," said O'Sullivan in York.
"I was shaking like a leaf out there. The blue just about went in and I was shaking on the pink but I hit it well.
"I celebrated before the black because I thought I can't really miss that, but then I remembered Ken Doherty missing one. I didn't want to make myself look stupid."
O'Sullivan on his 147 break |
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"I wasn't trying to entertain, that is just how I play. I don't go out there trying to do anything differently from practice, it is how I have played since I was a young boy. I am lucky to be able to play at such a level." |
"It was nice but I already had the record at 12 and someone will have to do well to beat that. It is always nice to add to it and make it difficult for someone to reach." |
The 147 break was the 767th century of O'Sullivan's career which leaves him just eight behind seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry on the all-time list - and the Scot was moved to remark in commentary that snooker "does not get much better than this".
His previous maximum was at the Welsh Open in March, where again he made it to win the match against Ding Junhui.
O'Sullivan is the highest-ranked player left in the tournament following the surprise exits of world champion Mark Selby, defending UK champion Neil Robertson and China's world number three Ding.
BBC Sport commentator John Virgo |
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"Superb, absolutely superb from O'Sullivan. He was already punching the air before potting the final black. Fantastic 147 and Ronnie is the maximum man. He is the genius." |
Selt described his opponent as his "childhood hero" before the match, and the world number 44 looked on edge throughout.
'The Rocket', showing no ill-effects from the broken ankle on which he has played all his matches, faces Anthony McGill in the last eight.
Judd Trump made hard work of beating veteran Rod Lawler 6-3 to reach the last-eight of the competition in York.
Trump, the 2011 champion, said he had been giving much more attention to his game this season and putting in more practice, which paid off with his victory at the Australian Open in July.
But with no partitions between the tables at the Barbican Centre, he seemed to lose focus and was continually looking over at the other match.
Despite getting off to a flier with a 102 break, he was then frustrated by 43-year-old Lawler's tough match play.
However, he managed to apply himself and finished the contest in style with another century and could face O'Sullivan in Sunday's final if both advance.
In a repeat of the 2008 final, Marco Fu gained revenge over Shaun Murphy by winning 6-5 in a classic encounter.
Murphy made breaks of 137, 75 and 82 to lead 5-3 but Fu won three in a row, including the final-frame decider.
The 2004 champion Stephen Maguire beat Ireland's David Morris 6-3 to go through.
