By Elliott West
Introduction
The 2013 Australian Goldfields Open took place between 8-14 July 2013 at the Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Australia. It was the second-ranking event of the 2013/14 season and had a total prize fund of $445,000 and a winner’s share of $70,000. Even before the tournament had begun, Shaun Murphy criticised his fellow professionals for eight of them not taking part in the event, including Ronnie O’Sullivan who decided not to register for the competition, and Ding Junhui who withdrew at the last minute due to a problem with his passport. The defending champion was Barry Hawkins.
The Tournament
With a wildcard round preceding the main event, both Australian players failed to get through to the tournament proper. Steve Mifsud lost to Mike Dunn in a close match 5-4 and Shaun Dalitz was whitewashed by Michael White 5-0.
Last 16 (Best of 9 frames)
By the time the tournament had reached the last 16 stages, the national hero, Neil Robertson was still at the forefront, the first time in three attempts of entering. A feat caused by the defeat of Jamie Cope, a victim at the hands of the Australian’s first title, the 2006 Grand Prix in Aberdeen. Time had moved on though and Robertson had since become a great of the game, climbing in the rankings and came to Bedigo having already won the first tournament of the season, the Wuxi Classic.
Robertson’s win was ground out and not a great win for his performance but also the fact that he had a heavy cold at the time. It was a match that Cope could have won and his hopes were briefly raised when winning the seventh frame. However, it was not to be and Robertson prevailed with runs including breaks of 83 and 76.
Two of the previous champions, Stuart Bingham and Barry Hawkins had already gone out in the last 16, losing 3-5 to Joe Perry and 4-5 to Tom Ford respectively with both players missing a lot of easy balls. An early surprise was Marco Fu who initially trailed Shaun Murphy 2-0 but thanks to an 80 clearance, the player from Hong Kong became fired up, changing gears in the match at just the right moment. Fu outplayed his opponent for four and a half frames, outpointing him 455–13. This was despite Shaun being happy with his game with the odd exception of three shots.
There were also wins for Mark Selby who defeated Zheng Anda 5-1, Mark Davis who dispatched Alfie Burden 5-3, Dominic Dale who got the better of Fergal O’Brien 5-2, and Robert Milkins produced an impressive performance by beating Rory McLeod 5-2.
Quarter-Finals (Best of 9 frames)
Neil Robertson produced another high-quality match in his clash with his regular Cambridge practice partner, Joe Perry. Runs of 111 and 102 gave Neil a 2-0 advantage and Perry could only get ahead in the fourth frame, only to be dashed by two sublime visits to the table by the Australian. Joe did manage to pull back to 3-2 However it wasn’t enough and his opponent closed down the match with breaks of 81 and 125.
Marco Fu scored heavily to defeat Dominic Dale 5-1. It would be Fu’s first victory to proceed to the semi-finals since the German Masters, the previous February. Fu won the match, thanks to breaks of 94 and 131, racing into a 2-0 lead but Dale came back at him with a 112 in the third. However, Fu was in no mood for a challenge and knocked in a 130 break to lead 4-1. Runs of 60 and 50 were enough for Fu to complete his victory.
Mark David’s had chances in his match with Mark Selby. Selby led the match 3-0 but Davis fought back, coming back to 3-3. However, Selby played the better snooker from there on and Davis was prone to missing some easy balls with Selby keeping his opponent quiet for the last two frames to win 5-3.
Robert Milkins cleared the last red to pink to clinch a 5-3 victory over Tom Ford and deny him the chance of a deciding frame. The match was low scoring with only one half-century and Ford won two black ball frames but his three scoring visits in frame eight were not enough.
Semi-Finals (Best of 11 frames)
The number one player, Robertson beat the number two player, Selby. This gave Neil the chance to win back-to-back titles with this 6-3 victory. Robertson had trailed 3-2 but completed victory with a 138 total clearance. This was the highest break of the tournament and the 16th century of the season. Mark had his chance to go 4-4 but got a kick on the green but the killer blow was the 138 break to win the match.
Marco Fu sank pink and black to clinch the tenth frame, denying Robert Milkins the chance of a decider but also his first appearance in a ranking final. It wasn’t a great match and the play was frankly scrappy. However a win is a win and the match looked ominous when Fu went 4-1 up, including breaks of 57 and 66. Fair play to Milkins though for bringing the match back to 4-4.
The Final (Best of 17 frames)
Marco Fu completed victory with a fantastic 102 clearance, having missed a short-range red on an initial break of 6. Fu had made a great start to the match, winning the opening frame with 98. However, Robertson responded with runs of 78 and 92 and this was followed by an 80 from Marco to make it 2-2 and then 3-2. Some grinding snooker then occurred and Marco got the better of Neil in a 42-minute bout that led to Fu going 5-3 inti the evening session.
Robertson took the first frame of the evening session but broke down in the next on 60. Fu seized his chance and stole the tenth frame to go 6-4 up. Robertson went on to pile on the pressure to close the match to 7-6. However, it was Fu who won the frame of attrition that ensued, a 44-minute frame that won him his second ranking title, and a finish that would allow Marco to leave Bendigo in style.
