It was the first time ever achieved; and it seems imminent that we will be seeing this historic feat accomplished once again. In 2013/14, two players broke the single season century record however, one of these individuals ran away with the margin so significantly that he crossed a line many thought wasn’t possible. This is Neil Robertson and his momentous 100th century at the 2014 World Championship.
The stage was set at the WSC quarter-finals as Robertson was in the middle of contesting an epic against long-time rival, Judd Trump. It was towards the business end of the match as Robertson was 10-11 down and had been chasing Trump for some time. At this juncture, the stakes were high and Robertson was just fighting to win the match. And then the break was there.
It wasn’t an easy opening table for Robertson, as evident by the near two minutes spent deciding on his opening shot. However, it was clearly worth the time and thought as Robertson potted an acute long plant that commenced his historic break. The rest of the break was carefully played and judged by the 2010 World Champion and even though Robertson wasn’t necessarily running completely out of position, he wasn’t exactly in prime position throughout, having being saved by a few impressive pots during the contribution. But then the time came as Roberson potted the green that he needed to make 101 and received a deserving uproar from the participating Crucible crowd. Robertson went on to win the match 13-11.
Robertson was on a high-scoring rampage in the 2013/14 season with the UK Championship under his belt as he completed the Triple Crown (and became the first overseas player to achieve this). At the time, the high century record in a single season was held by opponent Trump, with a tally of 61 which was met in 2012/13. The way things seem, it’s like Robertson and Trump are just exchanging the high century record between them.
However, Robertson wasn’t the only one gunning for this record. Ding Junhui managed to beat Trump’s former record of 61 by adding one more to the total during the same season. If Robertson didn’t perform, Ding would have been the record holder until the following seasons. Although, no one was expecting The Thunder from Down Under as he ran away with the centuries with such a considerable distance that he was opening up the fans and pundits to the possibility of a century of centuries – something that was formerly unheard of.
To give an idea of Robertson’s centuries through the season and how extraordinary his scoring was, he eclipsed the previous record of 61 during the Champions League, which takes place from January. In early February, Robertson managed to reach 78 centuries and got this number to almost 90 centuries by the time he was complete with the Welsh Open at the end of the month. He reached 99 centuries thanks to his first two WSC matches before he accomplished the magnificent 100. Robertson then went on to make a further three centuries in his semi-final against Mark Selby to close out the season.
An astonishing moment of history that will always be remembered, particularly as it opened the eyes to other players as to what could be done in a single season. The other high century records after the 103 made by Robertson were all made in the past few seasons following 2013/14. It’s certainly no easy task even with the standards constantly rising, but Robertson has further etched his name in the history books with this Instant Classic.
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