UK Championship: Stuart Bingham makes 147 maximum break in first round win

Kyren Wilson produced 'snooker perfection' on Tuesday when achieving the feat in the sixth frame of his victory over Ashely Hugill and Bingham followed suit less than 24 hours later.

Bingham arrived at the UK Championship bidding to complete the set of triple crown titles having won the Masters at the beginning of this year to add to his World Championship success in 2015.

On the evidence of this display, one that was rounded off with a brilliant 140 total clearance, he looks well placed to mount a bold title challenge despite struggling for his best form so far this season.

Though edging into a 3-1 lead, Bingham initially took his time to warm to the task, but a run of 76 in frame five appeared to spark him into life and it was in the sixth frame when he struck gold, the 44-year-old calmly clearing the colours before allowing himself a pump of the fist when potting the final black.

Bingham’s 147 maximum break was the seventh of his career, and took him clear in fourth place on the all-time list of maximum makers, behind Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and John Higgins.

Surety did rally to claim the seventh frame but Bingham closed out the match in terrific style to book his place in the second round.

O’Sullivan cruises into second round

Seven-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan coasted into the second round of the UK Championship with a 6-0 thrashing of amateur Leo Fernandez in Milton Keynes.

O’Sullivan chalked up three half-century breaks and a clearance of 121 in a near faultless display at the Marshall Arena.

Fernandez had threatened to halt the whitewash with opportunities in both the fifth and six frames.

However, the veteran Irishman could not build enough momentum and missed crucial chances when on the colours in the sixth which allowed O’Sullivan back to the table, where he soon wrapped up victory.

The Rocket, beaten in the Northern Ireland final by Judd Trump on Sunday, will next play either Alexander Ursenbacher or Nigel Bond.

Robertson strolls through

Neil Robertson barely had to come out of second gear as he made light work of Brian Ochoiski, winning 6-0 to set up a second-round clash with Chris Wakelin.

Breaks of 54, 70 and 100 helped the Australian race into a 4-0 lead and after winning a much more competitive fifth frame, he put the match to bed with a typically pinpoint run of 58.

Joe Perry enjoyed a similarly comfortable workout as he whitewashed Alex Borg 6-0 with the help of a century break in frame one.

Jordan Brown pulled off a terrific result when coming from 4-3 and 5-4 down to beat European Masters runner-up Martin Gould.

The Northern Irishman saved his best until last, producing breaks of 71, 85 and 69 to win three of the last four frames and seal victory.

Meanwhile, Sunny Akani and Zhou Yuelong registered routine wins over Peter Devlin and Kacper Filipiak respectively while Dominic Dale beat Luo Honghao 6-3.

White marks 100th UK Championship match with win

Jimmy White socked it to fellow veteran Alan McManus as he marked his 100th match in the UK Championship with victory in Milton Keynes.

The 58-year-old revealed he has run out of underwear during his stay at the on-site hotel, but it did not stop him cleaning up with a 66 break to seal a 6-4 win and a place in round two.

White admitted: “Socks, underwear, shirts – I’ve run out of everything. I just need to get out of here, get home and regroup before I come back for my next match.”

White, who reached the semi-finals on his first main-draw appearance in 1981 and won it in 1992, admitted he was aware of the milestone but could share few recollections of his early years in the event.

“You can forget all of the eighties, and [I remember] a tiny little bit of the nineties,” joked White.

“I heard it was my 100th match and it really spurred me on out there. To come up with that clearance at the end was really pleasing, and it gives me a lot of confidence going into my next match.”