Neil Robertson is a ranking event champion once again after edging Wu Yize 9-7 in an entertaining English Open final on Sunday.
The Australian withstood a gutsy fight back from his young opponent to etch his name onto the Steve Davis Trophy for the second time.
Success for Robertson brings his career tally of ranking titles to 24, while the £100,000 champion’s cheque guarantees his return to the top 16 of the world rankings.
That, incidentally, means John Higgins’ almost three-decade unbroken tenure in the elite bracket of the rankings has come to an end, with the Scot pushed down to number 17 on the official two-year list.
The moment, however, belongs to Robertson who completed his turnaround in fortunes after a dismal couple of years on the main tour.
Having been one of the most prolific winners for 15 years on the professional circuit, Robertson’s form nosedived at the beginning of the 2022/23 campaign.
The 42 year-old continued to struggle for results into last season, where he managed only one semi-final appearance in a ranking event.
It was always going to be unlikely that a player of such class and calibre would suffer in the doldrums on a permanent basis, though.
There were signs of a return to form this year, including a run to the quarter-finals of the recent Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
In Brentwood for the 2024 English Open, Robertson gained further boosts in confidence with standout victories over the likes of Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins.
A dominant 6-1 semi-final defeat of Chris Wakelin took him into his first final in more than two years, and initially it seemed as though he was going to romp to an easy glory.
Living up to his tag as the favourite, Robertson compiled a brace of century breaks and made four more sizable contributions as he established a comprehensive 7-1 lead at the end of the first session.
Wu, featuring in a maiden ranking event final at the age of 20, signalled his intent to go all-out attack in the second session when he began it with a superb 127.
But when Robertson subsequently made it 8-2 to go to within a frame of the title, the writing appeared to be on the wall.
Wu, to his credit, was not to be deterred and reeled off five frames on the spin with relentless breaks of 100, 82, 73, 95, and 50.
Robertson scored just 34 points during that sequence of play and was feeling the pressure, but an outrageous fluke in the 16th frame swung the match back in his favour.
The Melbourne man made a timely 55 contribution that helped see him finally cross the winning line and add to his previous English Open victory from 2021.
Featured photo credit: WST
Great to see Neil back winning again. Wonderful evening performance by Wu suggesting a great future. But it’s important to observe he had a couple of flukes in his 5 in a row run.
True. It’ll be interesting to see if Wu can push on from here. A lot of false dawns with the young Chinese players over the years.
Not just Chinese players, but any young players! For example, Jackson Page has hardly won a match since reaching the final of the Summer Championship League. It’s only because almost all semi-finalists under the age of 25 in the last 10 years have been from China, that we consider ethnicity. It seems to take so long to establish a ‘top player’ in today’s game, that even if Wu Yize doesn’t reach another final for 5 years, it would still be far too early to write him off. Mark Selby reached the final of the Scottish Open in 2003, but then for the next 4 years acheived only a single Q-final. At the age of 20, Neil Robertson was not even on the tour, having been relegated.
But yes, it was a gripping final. Neil Robertson did very well at the end in what was clearly a high-pressure situation for him. He may not be the same player he was a few years ago, but he is a proven winner.
It didn’t help China that Zhao and Yan were banned after triple crown successes.
Wu Yize and Si Jiahui look as good as any players under 25 in the game currently.
Robertson starting to appreciate the importance of matchplay again has underpinned this upturn in form. He’s always had that side in his locker.
So happy Neil is back. It was nerve racking watching how things were changing towards the end. I couldn’t watch the last frame but watched it afterwards on YouTube. I’m here for the week in Cheltenham to see Neil win again. Happy days. Ger from Mayo, ireland 🇮🇪
Have a good week, Ger.