By Elliott West
“You always have to enjoy playing the greats of the game because you never know how long it is going to happen for.”
Neil Robertson
Introduction
In a repeat of last year’s Tour Championship final, Neil Robertson was up against Ronnie O’Sullivan again. The last time Neil won this epic battle 10-4 so the pressure was on both players to see if they could produce another classic when they met again. This was a game of high breaks and finesse snooker with the Englishman and Australian both playing at the top of their game. You could see from the outset that they had genuine respect for each other when they touched fists to start the match, their faces beaming and ready to relish the challenge ahead.
The Encounter
In the afternoon session, Robertson set the ball rolling with an impressive 115 break, only to be matched by O’Sullivan’s 125 break to make it 1-1. However, Ronnie then got onto a flyer and produced breaks of 90 and 106 to take a 3-1 advantage at the interval. When they resumed, the match was largely dominated by the Australian which resulted in a scoresheet of six frames played with four centuries and three 50+ breaks. This left the match evenly poised for the evening session with a scoreline of 4-4.
When play resumed in the evening, both players looked hungry for an advantage but it would take a while for this to happen. There would be nip and tuck at the start with the players sharing the first two frames 5-5 but then Neil raced out of the blocks and continued his epic race of winning six of the last seven frames from 4-1 down to lead 7-5 at the interval.
When play resumed, it was Neil who again initially began to soar, making a second century of the day to go 8-6 up but he couldn’t peg his opponent back for long and even despite laying successful snooker, O’Sullivan was undeterred, bringing the match to 8-8. This would then be increased to 9-8 but Robertson wasn’t done yet and pulled it back to 9-9.
The Victor
In the end, it was Neil Robertson who would claim the scalp with a 10-9 victory over his opponent in what turned out to be a highly entertaining and thrilling match. Both players lived up to the challenge and Robertson makes it back to back finals, two years on the trot at this particular tournament. Robertson has a brilliant mindset and one that refuses to lose even when the chips are down. He is a player who savours the moment and is aggressive in hunting the win. A heavy scorer and someone who can withstand everything that is thrown at him, I honestly can’t see either Luca Brecel or John Higgins beating him. Despite O’Sullivan claiming the world number one status, Robertson is clearly the unofficial claimant for the spot.
