Australian Billiards & Snooker Council

News

Rocket Next For High-Flying Robertson
21 Jan 2005

** This report is from the World Snooker website.

Giant-killer Neil Robertson added John Higgins to his list of scalps at the Welsh Open tonight (Thursday) and believes he is playing well enough to win the tournament.

The 22-year-old Australian had already knocked out Jimmy White and showed cool nerves in a 5-4 defeat of world No 5 Higgins. He will take on world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals tomorrow.

“I said beating Jimmy was the best result of my career, but John is the best player I have beaten,” said the gifted potter from Melbourne. “To be playing Ronnie now is fantastic and this is great experience for me. If I can beat him, I can definitely win the tournament.”

The first four frames at the Newport Centre tonight were shared, Higgins making breaks of 55 and 57 and former world under-21 champion Robertson knocking in 49 and a 79.

The Wizard of Wishaw took the next with a 58 and looked set to go 4-2 up with a 61. But Robertson clawed his way back and got the snooker he required on the pink, then blasted in astonishing long pots on pink and black to steal the frame.

The next two were shared, then the Aussie chipped away in the last with runs of 23 and 35, his opponent conceding at 0-64.

Higgins said: “I shouldn’t have lost the sixth frame and that was a turning point. I’m disappointed because I had a lot of chances to win the match, but if you don’t take them you don’t deserve to win. It was garbage and I’m gutted by the result. Neil potted some good balls and I missed too many easy ones.”

Robertson added: “The sixth frame was huge. Once I’d got the snooker I thought I might as well go for it and see what happens, and potted a really good pink and black. It’s nice to win easily, but I also enjoy deciding frames. You can’t play well all the time and tonight I had to fall back on my B game.”