Which was the fastest frame in the history of professional snooker?

The fastest frame in the history of professional snooker was recorded during a best-of-nine frames first round match between Maltese former professional Tony ‘The Tornado’ Drago and English former professional Danny ‘The Dustman’ Fowler at the Fidelity Unit Trusts International Open at Trentham Gardens, Stoke-on-Trent on August 31, 1988. In the fifth frame, Drago needed just three minutes to establish a 62-0 lead and went on to win the match 5-3.

Born in Valletta in September, 1965, Drago turned professional in 1985 and became known for his flamboyance, speed around the table and occasionally volatile temperament, hence his nickname. In his heyday, he was clocked at between 11 and 14 seconds per shot. In 1988, Drago beat Alex Higgins 10-2 and Dennis Taylor 13-5 en route to the quarter-finals of the World Snooker Championship, where he lost 13-4 to eventual champion Steve Davis.

Eight years later, at the Guild Hall in Preston, Drago set another record that has yet to be broken. In the fourth frame of his last-16 match against a youthful John Higgins in the 1996 UK Championships, he compiled a break of 103 in just 3 minutes and 31 seconds to set a record for the fastest century break in the history of televised professional snooker. Having led that match 4-0, Drago eventually lost 9-8, but the following year, 1997, he beat Higgins in the semi-final of the International Open at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre en route to the only and only ranking final of his career, which he lost 9-1 to Stephen Hendry.

Interestingly, until April, 2019, Danny Fowler also held a long-standing, if unwanted, record. In 1993, he lost 10-1 to Stephen Hendry in the first round of the World Snooker Championships and his points total of 119 ranked as the lowest ever recorded at The Crucible until Luo Honghao scored just 89 points in his 10-0 defeat by Shaun Murphy.