Mark Selby made the fourth 147 break of his career at the British Open - but he needed an incredible pot along the way to stay on track.
The four-time world champion and 20-time ranking event winner produced his moment of magic in the opening frame of his last-16 clash with Jack Lisowski at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
It looked like his hopes of a maximum had ended on 88 when seemingly tucked too tightly next to a red to pot his only option to the left corner pocket. Instead he opted for an incredible treble to send it into the middle pocket and the rest of the break, comparatively speaking, was simple.
The 147 will earn him the tournament’s £5,000 high break prize as long as it is not equalled this week.
It’s the third maximum of the season and 179th in all. Selby’s last perfect break came in 2018 at the Champion of Champions.
Selby went on to complete an impressive 4-1 victory that also included a break of 117 in the final frame.
“Just to make a 147 in any tournament is a good achievement,” he said. “But to do it there, live on TV, was an extra-special feeling.”
The Leicester man’s reaction was still subdued for fear of any premature celebrations.
Selby said: “It’s great to make it but it it only wins one frame so it’s pointless giving it the big’un and then you go on to lose 4-1 and you look a bit of an idiot, really.”
Selby will face Mark Allen, who knocked out world number two Judd Trump 4-3 after a back and forth battle.
Trump hit the only century break of the match but four breaks of 50 or more saw Allen book his spot in the last eight.
Wales’ Jamie Jones beat Ben Woollaston 4-2 to set up a quarter-final with Noppon Saengkham after he thrashed Jordan Brown by a 4-0 score.
Robbie Williams will face Lyu Haotian for a place in the final four after coming back from 3-2 down to beat Steven Hallworth 4-3. Haotian got the better of Matthew Stevens 4-1 thanks to two century breaks.
And Ryan Day and Yuan Sijun make up the rest of the last eight line-up following wins over Graeme Dott and Anthony Hamilton respectively on Thursday.