Neil
Robertson, a snooker player blessed with a warrior-like temperament, today emerged
victorious from a Beijing battle with Mark Selby to win his first world ranking
title since he captured the 2010 World Open.
Robertson
has been close several times this season. Today’s final was not the most aesthetically
pleasing, and certainly not the quickest, but there was plenty of tactical
skill on show and any victory over Selby in a long match is an achievement.
It
was Selby who started slowly, making too many mistakes in the opening session
and Robertson, though not at his very best, took advantage to carve out a 6-1
lead.
Some
sort of Selby comeback was virtually guaranteed and he did pull back to 6-4 but
Robertson was never going to buckle and his 10-6 victory is a pre-Crucible
confidence boost.
It
also means that, going into the World Championship, each of this season’s
ranking events have been won by a different player.
I
think Neil is a terrific competitor. He’s also a positive thinker, not a moaner
and groaner. He has iron self belief and is single minded in the way so many
champions of the past have been.
Nobody
gave him anything. He had to work for it. He had to leave his family and
relocate to the other side of the world to pursue his dreams.
So
I admire him for what he has achieved. He is now, in terms of ranking titles,
the most successful player ever from outside the UK.
And
now all roads lead to Sheffield. The qualifiers for the Betfair World
Championship begin on Thursday. The Crucible draw will be made at 1.30pm on
April 15 live on Talksport.
The
televised phase of the game’s greatest tournament get underway on April 20.
It’s
the climax of the season and the campaign shows us that it’s wide open.
17 comments:
Fantastic week for Robertson, and has now cleared his head in losing his last 4 finals I believe by winning this one, and also beating Selby for the second successive time. The memory of losing from 4-0 up in the UK to Selby will be forgotten now. Knows he can win in Sheffield because he has done before and I think would have won last year but for a determined and clear headed O'Sullivan. Robbo should be slight fav now and will take all the beating along with Ding for the worlds.
Great win for neil especially considering playing a great grinder in selby whos achievements also speak for themself regardless of what the haters say..Neil has now won 7 ranking titles and could very well surpass jimmy whites ten ranking titles on the all time ranking list..Neil could have won back to back ranking titles if it wasnt for dings amazing comeback in ireland last week..Neil would be a worthy 2 time world champion something I would love to see him do.Then he would join an exclusive club of people who won the world championships more than once.When is next years calender being announced looking forward to seeing whats in store next year.
It's nice to see Neil finally win an overseas event.
Well done Robbo!
712, spot on.
Hi David. A great finl, today, in my view.
Selby won frame one, to go 1-0 up. Robertson won the next six frames, to go 6-1 up. Due to great safety, this, is where the session ended, two frames early. Robertson's lead, 6-1.
In session two, Selby, needed the better start. He got it. He won the first three frames. Robertson's lead, 6-4. Robertson won the next three frames. His lead, 9-4. Selby, won the next two frames, to make it 9-6' to Robertson. Robertson, won the next frame, to win the match, 10-6. A reverse, of when Selby beat Robertson, 10-6, in the 2013 Masters final, in London.
Great stuff.
@8:43 pm Neil won the 2008 Bahrain championship too.
Despite the comprehensive coverage by Eurosport which I appreciate, I join other comments on this website by asking can Eurosport PLEASE sort out the 2 second delay between sound and vision.
There is no technical reason why these two cannot be synchronised so what is the problem? Dave are you allowed to say? Do ES recognise it is irritating?
Agreed 3.11. I know that I watch a lot more of the World Championship on Eurosport these days because of all the nonsense on BBC, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. So now would be a great time to finally fix it.
I'll swear I heard one of the commentators saying "so Taylor has this black to become 1985 world champion" on the China Open coverage the other day.
3.11 - Personally, it's seems in perfect time to me...
On to the World Chp:
See the qual draw is out today and some interesting POTENTIAL final qualifying round matches - Woollaston/Day, Michaell White/Higginson, Lisowski/O'Brien, Dave Gilbert (last 16 last yr) v Fu (former semi finalist), McGill/Gould (although Brecel in same part of draw), M.Davis/Wenbo, Steve Davis/Ebdon, Milkins/Jimmy White (although Jimmy would likely have to beat Pengfei and Guodong first) - personally I'd be surprised if he did beat Pengfei although Pengfei has to win a match first.
The seeding draw for the World Chp also - if all the favourites got through to the quarter finals we would be left with:
O'Sullivan v Higgins
Trump v Murphy
Robertson v Maguire
Selby v Junhui
Obviously, Carter, Bingham, Allen and from the qualifiers, Woollaston, Fu and Gould might have something to say about that. Don't see anyone else getting through to the quarter-finals.
The way Higgins has been playing he won't make it past the 1st round then again he plays his best snooker at the crucible. Looking at the top half of the draw can't see any one threatening ronnie unless Higgins is in top form and i can't see trump beating o'sullivan in a best of 33 semi final because he's so good in longer games, so I'm predicting a o'sullivan v ding final that would be tasty !!
Still no Stephen Lee announcement? Surely WS aren't going to be so daft as to do it on the eve of the World Champs. What on earth is the delay?
2.06 JH didn't play his best snooker last year, or when the nugget beat him 3 years ago or when Ryan Day caned him 5 years ago. John is very hit and miss at the Crucible.
2.06 - "i can't see trump beating o'sullivan in a best of 33 semi final because he's so good in longer games" - he did beat Ding 17-15 in the semis 2 years ago and almost beat Higgins in the final. Has won the UK (best of 17' and a best of 19 final) he's fine in longer matches and would prefer them I'm sure.
3.23 - "Still no Stephen Lee announcement?" - On the BBC website it says -
Stephen Lee: Banned snooker player to miss Crucible
By Frank Keogh BBC Sport
Suspended snooker player Stephen Lee will miss the 2013 World Championship because a match-fixing investigation will not be completed beforehand.
3.23, this is not Stephen Lee's website. Why dont you contact WS if your that concerned?
That's why he's won it 4 times ... Bit of a stupid reply
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