Champion of Champions Day 5

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So as this year’s Champion of Champions draws to a close, yesterday’s play was all about seeing who would be the first player to reach this year’s final. After a near exit in his match against Jimmy White, Ronnie O’Sullivan was in no mood for another fall and so his opponent, Neil Robertson had his work cut out to beat him. With an unblemished track record, Ronnie had up until this point reached every single final of this event and Robertson knew that yesterday could be the day when this record was put to an end. In the match itself, Ronnie got out of the blocks first and took the first frame with a break of 66. With Ronnie in again in the next, led to a potted black causing the pink to drift across the table and land in the left middle pocket at the same time. A frustrated O’Sullivan had to sit down and endure Robertson’s good fortune as he captured the frame. Now 1-1, both players were feeling the pressure as they knew how high the stakes were in this match.

However Neil was not phased by his opponent’s match bullying and took his second consecutive frame of the evening to lead 2-1. With the match turning into a close affair, Ronnie was determined to level up the match in the last frame before the interval. This was quickly achieved with a break of 81. So set up a match that would be a race to the finish and after the recess Robertson slotted in a century break to take the first frame and only the ninth of this year’s event. Now 3-2, Ronnie match his opponent again by building up a break that included a superb red and a ridiculous blue. Vintage Ronnie levelled the match up to 3-3. Robertson then took the next frame with a break of 87 and pulled ahead again to make it 4-3.

With a Robbo advantage, Ronnie has to create an opportunity to chip away at the Australian’s lead. This was achieved with a break of 86 and so the match looked it had a decider written all over it. So the match then heated up with the shot making just getting better and better. O’Sullivan won the next frame on the black and leads for the first time in the match, 5-4. Requiring only one more frame for his final ticket, Ronnie thought he could pull away but Neil had other ideas and levelled the match up to take the match to a final frame shootout. O’Sullivan was not blessed with good fortune and miscued, allowing his opponent another crack at the whip. Robertson seized it and made a winning break including a fabulous red with the cue ball tight on the cushion. An amazing match and a deserved win for Neil Robertson with Ronnie O’Sullivan losing out to another potential tournament win fir the third time this season.

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