Neil Robertson joins exclusive club after making his 1,000th century break in professional competition

The Australian reached the magnificent milestone in the sixth frame of his 2025 International Championship qualifying match against Umut Dikme on Tuesday morning at Ponds Forge in Sheffield.

Robertson joins an exclusive band of break-builders who have hit four figures when it comes to tons on snooker’s top flight.

Ronnie O’Sullivan was the first to achieve the feat in 2019 when he made century break number 1,000 in the final frame of his 10-4 victory over Robertson in the final of the 2019 Players Championship.

O’Sullivan remains snooker’s most decorated centuries star with 1,300 to his name. ‘The Rocket’ also holds the record for the most top tier maximum 147 breaks with 17 - his latest two memorably came in the same match, against Chris Wakelin in the semi-finals of the 2025 Saudi Arabia Masters.

It wasn’t until 2024 that the elite centuries club welcomed new members with John Higgins gaining entry at the English Open. Like buses, just several days later, Judd Trump reached 1,000 at the British Open.

And now, Robertson is the latest inductee.

The world number three very nearly achieved the feat last week on live television at the British Open during his last 32 match with eventual champion Shaun Murphy.

In that tie, Robertson created history when he compiled a break of 100. That was his 999th professional ton, but it was the 100th time that he’d registered a run of exactly 100 points - the first player to do so.

Battling to stay in the match at 3-1 down, Robertson was aiming to counter attack in frame five, but whilst on a break of 66 - with the frame not assured and the centuries milestone on his mind - he missed the final red and allowed his opponent to the table.

Eventually, after an exchange on the final ball, Murphy won the frame on the black to move through to the next round, while Robertson went home stuck on 999 tons.

Fast forward a few days, and Robertson had the chance to make his millennium, although in very different circumstances in the behind-closed-doors qualifiers in Yorkshire. At least there was a livestream.

Robertson went 2-0 up before German amateur player Dikme got on the scoreboard with an effort of 91 in frame three.

In frames either side of the mid-session interval, 43-year-old Robertson threatened to make a century but had to settle for contributions of 87 and 68 as he moved 4-1 up.

However, he didn’t have to wait long for the moment to come as he constructed a 105 in frame six - his 1,000th century.

Victory for Robertson came in the next frame as he fashioned a break of 99 to win 6-1 and qualify for the main venue, televised stages of the International Championship which take place between November 2-9 in Nanjing, China.

Former world champion Robertson adds this latest accolade to his illustrious career CV. In the 2013/14 season, ‘The Thunder from Down Under’ was the first player on the professional circuit to make 100 hundreds in a single season. That feat has only been done twice since, both times by Judd Trump (2019/20 and 2024/25).

The player most likely to strike 1,000 centuries next is Mark Selby, who currently has 911.

For details on the 2025 International Championship qualifiers, visit our tournament information centre here.