Nigel Chiu
Sports Journalist
Ding Junhui made his second 147 at the Masters to become the first player to make multiple maximum breaks in snooker’s biggest invitational event; Ding went on to lose to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first round of the event at Alexandra Palace on Monday afternoon
Last Updated: 08/01/24 3:40pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan beat Ding Junhui 6-3 in a memorable first-round match at the Masters after the Chinese player made a history-making 147.
Ding became the first snooker player to make two 147s at the Masters after he delivered a maximum break in the seventh frame of the best-of-11 encounter.
The 36-year-old made his first 147 at the Masters in 2007 and only two other players have made one at the biggest triplw crown event of the season – Canada’s Kirk Stevens in 1984 and Hong Kong’s Marco Fu in 2007.
O’Sullivan raced into a 4-0 lead after Ding missed chances to win the opening three frames. The fourth of those frames saw O’Sullivan make the 1,231st century of his 32-year career after Ding missed a red to the bottom right pocket.
It looked like O’Sullivan was going to go 5-0 up but he missed a relatively easy frame ball and Ding capitalised with a 56 clearance. Momentum was now on Ding’s side and a 92 break was followed by the brilliant 147 as he trailed 4-3.
However, the maximum seemed to work against Ding as O’Sullivan dug in and won the next two frames to get over the line, with both players receiving a standing ovation from the Alexandra Palace crowd at the end of the match.