World Snooker Championship successive title. There were 48 century breaks during the final stages, a new record. In the first round of 1997 championship Ronnie O'Sullivan made the fastest maximum break in snooker history, taking just 5 minutes and 20 seconds. The final was between Stephen Hendry and Irishman Ken Doherty. Doherty led 15–7 before Hendry won 5 frames in a row. Doherty then won the next three frames to win 18–12, ending Hendry's winning run of 29 consecutive matches. Stephen Hendry lost to Jimmy White in the first round of the 1998 championship. Doherty reached the final again meeting 22-year-old John Higgins.
2016 World Snooker Championship final. In the other semifinal, Mark Selby and Marco Fu set a new record for the longest frame of snooker ever played at the Crucible, at 76 minutes 11 seconds. After beating Robert Milkins 10–6 in the first round, Sam Baird 13–11 in the second round, Kyren Wilson 13–8 in the quarterfinals, and Fu 17–15 in the semifinals, Selby defeated Ding 18–14 in the final to claim his second world title, becoming the 13th player to win the World Snooker Championship more than once, and the sixth player to win more than one world title at the Crucible. A record-equaling