ANTHONY HAMILTON achieved a snooker first as he dumped defending champion Alan McManus out of the £230,000 Thailand Open in Bangkok yesterday with a highly impressive exhibition of break building skills.
The bearded Nottingham professional fired in century breaks in three consecutive frames as he roared back from 3-0 down to beat McManus 5-3 in a top quality first round encounter.
"It's definitely my best ever performance," said Hamilton, a six year veteran of the pro circuit who in recovering from 0-3 to 3-3 put together runs of 105, 114 and a total clearance.
That last effort installed Hamilton as the early front runner for the £5,000 high break bonus and allowed him to become the first player ever to construct a hat trick of tons in a tournament outside Britain.
Hamilton, the world number 22, was on course for an unprecedented 400 until he missed the penultimate red to a distant baulk pocket in the seventh frame having fashioned a 70 break.
A contribution of 75 in the eighth completed Hamilton's purple patch and left McManus full of admiration.
"Anthony was unstoppable in amongst the balls," said the Scot. "He was brilliant - in fact I don't feel as if I have lost. I don't think there was anything particularly wrong with my game. In fairness, I couldn't do anything to combat that.
Hamilton, only the eighth player to record three straight centuries in a ranking event, said: "To get somewhere near how I play in practice is a good feeling. I just hope I can maintain this form all week."
Malta's Tony Drago, who had figured in at least the last 16 of the season's opening seven world ranking events, joined the list of seeded players to be eliminated when he was unexpectedly beaten 5-2 by Dubliner Fergal O'Brien.
O'Brien, part of the Republic of Ireland trio who reached the World Cup final in Bangkok five months ago, finished strongly with runs of 63, 52, 59, 72 and 66.
Ireland's Ken Doherty also progressed to the second round with a comfortable 5-1 win over Neal Foulds.
