Judd Trump insists he can overhaul Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record of 15 maximum breaks after rattling in a second 147 in under a month.
The Juddernaut is still to drop a frame in two matches at the Scottish Open after a second consecutive 4-0 whitewash win on Monday – this time against Mitchell Mann.
And the undoubted highlight was the perfect break in the very first frame of the contest for world No3 Trump’s eighth career 147.
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At least this time Trump, 33, got a first-bump and pat on the back from Mann, and a handshake from referee Luise Kraatz.
For his last one in the final of the Champion of Champions in Bolton earlier this month, eventual winner O’Sullivan, 46, snubbed Trump by remaining in his chair.
And even though Trump had to sit next to the Rocket in the Eurosport TV studio after this latest achievement there was again no gesture.
Trump said: “It’s always pleasing to make the maximum in any event. That is the third one in the calendar year, and two in the space of a month.
“Mitchell is someone I have grown up playing against, there is a lot of respect there. He was pleased for me to get it, and it’s always special.
“I didn’t get anything out of Ronnie again…I mean, he was up in the Eurosport box, so I don’t know if he was wanting me to make it or miss it!
“It’s pleasing to know I can keep doing it. It’s tricky, a lot of top professionals don’t ever make one. To make two in this season and three in a calendar year, there can only be a handful to do that.
“There is always a chance of getting to the 15 because of the age gap. The last few years I have started to make them more consistently, maybe one a season.
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“And if you continue at that strike rate, I’d expect to get somewhere near it at the end. I have to make maybe one every couple of seasons to get to that record provided he doesn’t make too many.
“Any record you can get near to which Ronnie or Stephen Hendry have set is always special, and that is maybe one that is achievable for me.
“The total centuries record, also. He is more than 300 ahead, but I have always been a heavy scorer and there were a few seasons I was making a lot more than anyone else.
Hopefully I can get back to that and catch him up. He looks like he is going to play for the next 5-10 years so it will be difficult.
“I will have to keep going at the rate that I am going and try to haul him back. For me the break building and 147s is special, I still get an unbelievable buzz from making a 147.
“From the first red after the safety shot he played, the reds looked nice. The balls were there and the table was playing good.
“It was a good one, I wasn’t really out of position and it makes it more special when you are in control and not chasing the ball around.
“There wasn’t really a moment when I should have missed, I just didn’t play the last blue perfectly.
O’Sullivan may not have shown too much appreciation for Trump’s magical maximum under a month ago in Bolton at the Champion of Champions, failing to get out of his seat and give the Juddernaut the traditional handshake or fist-bump.
But he was at least complimentary in the studio between frames about this latest feat, and then again sitting next to Trump after the contest albeit still with no handshake.
The man who has made more 147s than anyone in history with 15 said: “I could tell early on in the break – he was just getting perfect on everything.
“His touch is perfect and once he went into the reds on about 56 I couldn’t see him not making it. He wasn’t out of position, it was a fantastic break, the cue ball on a piece of string.
“First poke in the match – that is just unbelievable, he is making them for fun at the moment.
“Making a 147 is such a big buzz – the crowd they love it, and you love it as a player. It is just brilliant – fantastic.”
Trump famously made his first ever maximum in any tournament at the age of just 14 – beating O’Sullivan whose debut 147 came when he was 15. The Rocket added: “I was an old man.”
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