Snooker star Marco Fu achieves ultra-rare '16-red' total clearance at 2025 World Championship qualifiers

Three-time ranking event winner Fu was playing Belgian youngster Ben Mertens in a second qualifying round match at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield when he achieved the lesser seen feat in frame four.

The sequence of events began with Mertens accidentally clipping the brown ball when trying to hit a red near the start of the frame.

The cueball travelled back to the baulk area and landed in a place that meant the yellow, brown, blue and pink balls were all obscuring Fu's path to directly hitting any of the 15 reds further down the table.

This resulted in Fu being awarded a free-ball, meaning he could nominate any of the colours as an additional 'red' to get his break going.

Fu potted the brown into a middle pocket before potting the brown again - this time into a baulk pocket - to push the break onto five points. He then went about potting red-colour like normal.

The 47-year-old former UK and Masters finalist went on to sweep the table with a total clearance of 139 - constructing that break with 16 reds (including the free ball), nine blacks, two pinks, one yellow and three blues before sinking all the colours in order.

A '16-red' clearance is so uncommon that this is only the seventh time in professional snooker history it has happened.

It is the second time such an effort has been constructed in the World Snooker Championship. The first '16-red' clearance in professional competition was made at the Crucible Theatre by Steve James in 1990.

During his first round match with Alex Higgins, James fashioned a 135 with his extra 'red' at the start.

The seven times in professional snooker that a '16-red' clearance has been made (in chronological order):

• 1990 World Championship: Steve James (135)
• 2004 UK Championship: Jamie Burnett (148)
• 2008 UK Championship: Ricky Walden (141)
• 2018 China Open: Mark Selby (141)
• 2020 Scottish Open: Liam Highfield (140)
• 2023 Tour Championship: Ryan Day (139)
• 2025 World Championship: Marco Fu (139)

In the grander scheme of the match, Fu - who has reached the World Championship semi-finals twice before in his career - put in a very impressive display overall, eventually winning the opening session against Mertens, 8-1.

As well as the 139, Fu totted up further breaks of 66, 57, 60, 87, 138 and 56 to put himself in a commanding position and needing to win just two more frames in the evening session to set up a penultimate qualifying round meeting with Elliot Slessor.

Fu is aiming to appear at the Crucible for the first time since 2018, although he did not compete in the blue riband event in either 2020 or 2021.

The Asian snooker legend is also trying to preserve his professional player status, as he comes into the event ranked outside the world's top 64, and not inside the top four of the one-year list (for players outside the top 64 world rankings).

This means Fu is currently the wrong side of both cut-offs and would face relegation from the World Snooker Tour, although he would be a strong candidate for another invitational card due to his career achievements and influence.

The highest possible break in snooker is 155, not 147

Because of the free-ball rule, the highest possible break that can be made in a traditional frame of snooker is actually 155, and not 147.

If a player was to receive a free-ball before any of the 15 reds had left the table, they could pot a free-ball, then the black, then pot 15 reds all with blacks, then sink the colours in sequence. This equals 155.

However, simply getting a free-ball situation with all 15 reds still on the baize is uncommon, yet alone potting an additional ‘red’ followed by a black, and then a 147 on top of that for the 155.

A 155 break has never been achieved in professional snooker history (at the time of writing). However, a break bigger than 147 has been made, although this has only occurred once.

A break of 148 was crafted by Scotland’s Jamie Burnett during the qualifying rounds of the 2004 UK Championship.

Although a 155 has not been completed in official top tier competition, they have been instances where the feat was made in practice, including Thepchaiya Un-Nooh’s extraordinary effort in 2021 (footage above) at the Q House Snooker Academy in Darlington against Hossein Vafaei.