Snooker star Zak Surety has written himself into the history books and it may be thanks to his rather unusual method of preparation.
During his 10-7 defeat against China’s Ding Junhui in the first round of the World Snooker Championship, the 33-year-old recorded a sensational four centuries in what was his Crucible debut.
Surety’s four centuries broke the previous record of three, which was jointly held by Jackson Page and Ryan Day.
Perhaps Surety owed his moment of brilliance on the baize down to long-running soap opera EastEnders.
That’s because he shared a snap of the show’s opening credits on his Instagram on Tuesday morning.
He cheekily captioned the snap: “Prep.”
Surety, ranked 73rd in the world, went into his first round match a major underdog given Junhui is ranked tenth.
Junhui is also no stranger to a deep run at the Crucible having reached the final of the World Championship in 2016, where he fell short against Mark Selby.
It was the Chinese star who began strongly on table two as he raced out to a 6-3 lead in the first-to-10 contest.
Junhui’s start was aided by the fact Surety failed to make 50 in his opening eight frames in what may have been a sign of the debutante’s nerves.
However, the pendulum of momentum swung the way of Surety when he made four centuries in the space of five frames.
Surety’s record-breaking feat had an important influence on the scoreline too as it helped him claw back the deficit to 8-7.
@zaksurety - InstagramIt’s not your usual method of preparation[/caption]Unfortunately for Surety, Junhui showed why he is ranked in the top ten as he stepped things up a gear.
The 38-year-old won the next two frames to secure a 10-7 victory and book a second round match against either 2023 world champion Luca Brecel or Wales’ Ryan Day.
Although it was an unfortunate ending for Surety, he can take comfort in the fact he made snooker history.
The 33-year-old had initially earned his spot on the World Snooker Tour in 2014 but lost it three years later.
It wasn’t until 2020 when Surety returned to the circuit, only to lose it for a second time in 2022.
Luckily for Surety, he wasn’t off the tour for a lengthy period as he quickly regained it via Q School.
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