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 today.

Two-time finalist Stevens potted 14 reds and 14 blacks in the third frame of his first-round clash with defending champion John Higgins at the Crucible.

The Welshman actually fluked the 14th black while attempting to move the final red from tight on the cushion above the middle pocket, and then narrowly failed to pot the 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.

Stevens had several chances to go 3-1 ahead in the final frame before the mid-session interval but failed to capitalise, allowing Higgins to level at 2-2 with 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.