Four-Midable: Maguire Joins Elite Group
Stephen Maguire became the fifth player in snooker history to make four consecutive centuries during his magnificent 9-5 win over Neil Robertson on Saturday.
These are the only other players in the ‘quad club’…
John Higgins
When Higgins finally puts his cue away for good, he will look back on the 2005 Grand Prix final against Ronnie O’Sullivan as one of his best ever performances. From 2-2, he won seven consecutive frames for a 9-2 victory. From 4-2 up, Higgins fired breaks of 103, 104, 138 and 128, becoming the first player to make four centuries in a row, and also scoring 494 unanswered points, which was a record at the time. A dazed O’Sullivan said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a bizarre experience.”
Shaun Murphy
Two years later, at the 2007 Welsh Open, Murphy became the second player to make four tons on the spin, and the first to so in a best-of-nine match. Up against Jamie Cope in the second round, Murphy knocked in runs of 135, 123, 102 and 101 to go 4-0 ahead. He had a chance of another century in frame five but ran out of position on 31. “I wanted five on the bounce. That would’ve been something,” he said.
Neil Robertson
Spare a thought for Ahmed Saif who became the first and only pro player from Qatar when he made it through Q School in 2013. A few months later he would have been left in no doubt as to how tough the standard is at the top level, when he played Robertson in the first round of the Ruhr Open in Germany. Saif failed to score a point and spent most of the match watching his opponent compile runs of 108, 105, 100 and 100 to win 4-0. Those four tons contributed to Robertson’s record haul of 103 during the 2013/14 season.
Gary Wilson
Earlier this season, at the 2019 UK Championship, Wilson was 4-0 down to Chris Wakelin in the second round before an astonishing barrage of high scoring. Breaks of 67 and 97 gave him two frames, then he rattled in 134, 114, 100 and 124 to win 6-4.
Five in a row has never been done, although O’Sullivan did make five tons, including a 147, during a 5-2 win over Ali Carter at the 2007 Northern Ireland Open.