FILE PHOTO: Snooker - World Snooker Championship - The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, Britain - May 1, 2024 Scotland's John Higgins in action during his quarter final match against England's Kyren Wilson Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers/File Photo
(Reuters) - Scotland's John Higgins became only the second player to reach 1,000 career century breaks on Thursday, achieving the milestone in a defeat to Mark Allen at the English Open.
Four-times World Champion Higgins, 49, recorded two 100-plus breaks in the 4-3 defeat to join Ronnie O'Sullivan, who crossed 1,000 career century breaks in 2019.
The next player to reach the mark will likely be world number one Judd Trump, who is on 998.
"It's a good achievement. I've played this game for so long to get to that milestone. You have to be proud of that," Higgins said.
"I'm really proud. To be honest, I wanted to get there before Judd. I thought that I have a 14 year head start on him.
"It is good to be second to Ronnie O'Sullivan, the best ever. Judd will obviously go on and probably eclipse Ronnie's century record."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Nashik, India; Editing by Michael Perry)
