Congratulations to Stephen Hendry who has tonight recorded his tenth career 147 break in the opening frame of his match against Stephen Maguire to again equal the record of Ronnie O’Sullivan at the top of the list. See how that affects the 147 list.
This season has been a bit of a struggle for Stephen Hendry so far but he began his last 16 match with Stephen Maguire tonight in the best possible way with yet another maximum break for the collection.
Putting Maguire under pressure with an excellent safety early on, Hendry made his next shot count, a fine long red leaving him in on the black with the reds spread. I often call a 147 on Twitter in such a situation, sometimes more tongue in cheek than others but right from the first pot the balls looked perfect in this break and for once I was not to jinx him!
In fact Hendry was rarely troubled, a couple of balls wiped their feet but he never really looked like missing and only a semi-awkward pink threatened to spoil the party. It didn’t though and the black soon followed it to rapturous applause from the crowd, including Neil Robertson and a standing Graeme Dott on table one.
Already the oldest man ever to have made a max in competition previously following his 147 at the Crucible in 2009, 42-year-old Stephen has now extended this record, making the 77th in all and the 4th in the Welsh Open.
What a start!