YUSHAN, CHINA — Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled the highest break in professional snooker history on Thursday, making a 153 at the World Open to surpass a record that had stood for more than two decades.
TLDR
Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled the highest break in professional snooker history, making a 153 at the World Open in Yushan, China. The 50-year-old achieved the record via a free ball rule situation in his quarter-final against Ryan Day, going on to win 5-0. The previous record of 148 had stood since 2004.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The 50-year-old achieved the feat in the opening frame of his quarter-final against Welshman Ryan Day. He went on to win the match 5-0.
The previous record was 148, set by Jamie Burnett of Scotland at UK Championship qualifiers in 2004. That record had been matched but never beaten in the 22 years since.
How the 153 happened
The record-setting break came through application of the free ball rule. O'Sullivan left Day in a snooker at the very start of the frame. Day's escape attempt missed its target, resulting in a foul.
Under snooker's rules, when a player is snookered after a foul, they receive a free ball. This allows them to nominate any colour as an extra red. If potted, that colour counts as one point, like a red. The player then has the opportunity to pot a colour for its usual value before continuing to the reds.
O'Sullivan nominated the green as his extra red, potted it, then added the black for seven more. That gave him eight points before beginning on the actual reds.
He then cleared 15 reds, accompanied by 13 blacks and two pinks, before potting all six colours in sequence. Green, brown, blue, pink, and black followed to reach 153.
The standard maximum break in snooker is 147. That requires potting all 15 reds, each followed by a black, then clearing all six colours in order. With a free ball at the start, the theoretical maximum is 155. No player has achieved that score in competition.
World Snooker confirmed that several players have made 155s in practice matches, but Thursday's 153 is the highest ever recorded in a professional tournament.
O'Sullivan's 153 break at the World Open (World Snooker Tour)
O'Sullivan on the record
O'Sullivan posted a video to social media from the back of a car shortly after the match.
Big shout out to all the people who have messaged me and congratulated me on the 153. It was a pretty cool moment, really happy to do it. Thank you to everyone out there who has supported me.
— Ronnie O'Sullivan, via video posted on X and Instagram
Speaking to World Snooker Tour, he explained his thinking during the break.
"I could have tried to get the other black but I thought, I don't think anyone's made a break above 147 on TV, so I thought I'd be the first," O'Sullivan said. "I've been the first of many things so I thought I might as well get that one too."
He also spoke about what continues to drive him at age 50.
"I've never made anything more than a 147. For me it's the excitement, the buzz, and if that's there I can do great things. I need to think there's a good reward at the end of it, and then you get focused. It sharpens the mind up a bit."
A career of records
O'Sullivan has won seven World Championship titles, a record he shares with Stephen Hendry, and he holds numerous other snooker records outright including career century breaks and maximum 147s.
His 17 maximum 147 breaks are more than any other player. He made his first in 1997 at the World Championship, when he was 21. That break took five minutes and eight seconds, still the fastest maximum in professional snooker history.
He has made more century breaks than any other player. He continues to compete and win ranking events at 50, an age when most snooker players have retired or dropped from the top 32.
Reactions from fellow players
Neil Robertson, the Australian former world champion, was among those to respond. He spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live after the break.
He's an absolute genius he really is. It gets branded a lot in sport and it annoys me when it is in other sports. But what he's been able to do, there's no other British sportsman who could do this. We are very blessed to have him in our sport. And we need to try and enjoy him for as long as we can rather than pick out the flaws too much.
— Neil Robertson, via BBC Radio 5 Live
Robertson also posted on X, calling O'Sullivan "the best ever and the best there ever will be."
Robertson is one of only four players to have made more than 1,000 career century breaks, and O'Sullivan leads that list with more than 1,250.
World Open semi-finals set
O'Sullivan faces China's Wu Yize in the semi-finals. Wu defeated Northern Ireland's Mark Allen 5-1 in the other quarter-final on the same day.
World number one Judd Trump also progressed, beating Iran's Hossein Vafaei 5-1. Trump made breaks of 88, 109, and 113 in the match. He faces Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the other semi-final.
The World Open semi-finals take place on Saturday, with the final on Sunday, March 23. The tournament is being held in Yushan, in China's Jiangxi province.
O'Sullivan is bidding for his second World Open title, having won the event in 2023.
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