Maximum agony for Stevens
Matthew Stevens came close to a 147 maximum break on the opening morning of the 888.com World Championship in Sheffield where he and John Higgins are locked at 2-2 at the mid session interval.
Two-time finalist Stevens potted 14 reds and 14 blacks in the third frame of the first-round clash but narrowly failed to pot the 15th red down the rail.
The superb break of 112 nevertheless put Stevens 2-1 ahead after he had taken the opening frame with breaks of 46 and 28, Higgins replying in the second with an 88 clearance. Higgins levelled it up in the fourth with runs of runs of 27 and 33.
On the other table, Australian Neil Robertson was 3-0 ahead on 1995 finalist Nigel Bond, the left-hander knocking in breaks of 70 and 52 as Bond struggled to find any form.
