O'Sullivan 147 sees off Williams

[Steve Gardner]

Bloke's a genuis, no question. There's a video of the break on the BBC website - just follow the link.

Source: BBC

Ronnie O'Sullivan hit a breathtaking 147 to seal a 13-7 victory over Mark Williams and cruise into the last eight of the World Championship in Sheffield.

O'Sullivan led 9-7 going into the final session and continued to cue beautifully as he extended his lead.

Breaks of 71 and 60 added to the lead before a 100 took him to the brink.

O'Sullivan then polished his opponent off with the ninth maximum of his career and his third at the Crucible, a venue that has only seen seven in all.

The 32-year-old will pick up a prize of £157,000 - £147,000 for the maximum plus £10,000 for the highest break - as long as no other player repeats the feat during the rest of the tournament.

The break took O'Sullivan eight minutes and 47 seconds to complete, three minutes longer than the astonishing world record time of 5:20 he set against Mick Price in 1997.

"As soon as I got on the first red I thought that I had to go for the 147," O'Sullivan told BBC Sport.

"Obviously it's more important to win the game but that money gives me a few options in the summer. I'll be getting a Bentley Convertible now - I've been dying to get one!

"The difference between this season and the last 13 seasons is that I've stumbled across a couple of things and kept my discipline with it and stayed patient.

"So I've never hit disastrous standards - before as soon as it went wrong I just wanted to get out of there."

O'Sullivan never put a foot wrong as he thrilled The Crucible crowd, while play stopped between Neil Robertson and Stephen Maguire on the other table inside the theatre.

In potting the 13th black, O'Sullivan released the last two reds with an exquisite cannon - and made the rest of the frame straightforward.

Former world champion Dennis Taylor, who commentated on the break for BBC Sport, described it as one of the finest positional shots he had ever seen.

O'Sullivan, who will face either Liang Wenbo or Joe Swail in the quarter-finals, now has the record for the most competitive maximum breaks, having previously been tied with Stephen Hendry on eight.

He added: "I really did think I was going to get beaten.

"I expected Mark to really make it count because he's a big game player.

"I had packed my bags because I thought it was one of those games that was going to get away from me."

Defeat for two-time world champion Williams means he will now drop out of the world's top 16, and will thus have to go through qualifying to make the ranking tournaments.

"I've made a big improvement from 12 or 18 months ago but it's still quite rubbish really," said Williams.

"I've got to go to the qualifiers now and I deserve to be going there at the end of the day. Hopefully I can try to get back into the top 16.

"I gave a lot of frames away when I was 50-odd up and kept missing frame ball.

"I could have been well in front after the first two sessions and instead he was.

"But the 147 was an excellent break. It's only him who can do a break like that and make it look so easy. I knew he was going to go for it from the moment he was going for the first red.

"He didn't look out of position once."

[Steve Gardner]

As with O'Sullivan's maximum, you can watch the entire break by following the link below.

Carter's reaction at the end was fantastic. He really struggled with nerves but held it together magnificently. He could very easily have missed the black at the end after leaving himself a tricky shot.

O'Sullivan must be gutted. He couldn't have foreseen having to share the bonus.

Source: BBC

Ali Carter fired a superb 147 to become the second player in this year's World Championship to claim a maximum break.

The 28-year-old recorded his first 147 in competition play to take an 8-7 lead in his quarter-final clash against Peter Ebdon at The Crucible.

It came just a day after Ronnie O'Sullivan's maximum and is the first time there have been two 147 breaks in the same ranking tournament.

"To get the first of my career here is extra special," said Carter.

His maximum came in the frame immediately after Ebdon had missed his own chance for a 147, missing the 15th black.

O'Sullivan will now have to share the £147,000 bonus for a maximum and the £10,000 for the highest break of the tournament, which could affect his plans to buy a Bentley later this year.

After claiming his 147 on Monday, O'Sullivan had said: "That money gives me a few options in the summer. I'll be getting a Bentley convertible now - I've been dying to get one!"

And in response to O'Sullivan's comment, Carter joked: "I'm going to buy a Ford Focus convertible, I've been dying to get one!"

He added: "It was a real adrenalin rush, especially after seeing Ronnie's yesterday.

"I was going for it once I got to 60-odd. I'm really pleased but I've still got a match to win so I had to keep my head in gear and I'm glad I settled in the last frame.

"I was just playing on instinct because I was shaking like a leaf. If the balls are there everyone's going to go for it because of the prize money."

Play had resumed at 4-4 after a first session which saw the two Englishmen rack up seven half-century breaks between them in an absorbing passage of snooker in which neither man was able to establish a substantial lead.

The tense battle continued in the second session, with Carter taking the lead three times with breaks of 55, 79 and 81 only for Ebdon to level the scores with runs of 143, 77 and 113.

With the scores at 7-7, Carter looked in good shape to make the maximum from early on in the 15th frame but still needed to pull out a superb pot on the final black with the white coming to rest near the side cushion.

When the ball fell into the pocket, Carter punched the air before being warmly congratulated by Ebdon as well as Stephen Hendry and Ryan Day, who had stopped their quarter-final on the next table to watch the break.

Taking a 9-7 lead into Wednesday's final session, Carter wrapped up a 13-9 victory to reach his first ever Crucible semi-final.