Neil Robertson credited the implementation of a more aggressive break-off shot for his comeback victory over Xiao Guodong at the Shanghai Masters.
The Australian defied a 147 break from his opponent and retrieved a 5-2 deficit to pip Xiao in a deciding frame and reach the quarter-finals in China.
Taking inspiration from Shaun Murphy who first introduced the radical break-off shot at the end of last season, Robertson said that the more aggressive approach helped him to reproduce his natural game.
The Thunder from Down Under is one of snooker’s most successful players in history, but he has too often in recent years become bogged down in wars of attrition – often costing him victories in close games.
On this occasion, Robertson responded to a barrage of heavy scoring from Xiao early on with breaks of 115, 74, and 62 of his own to come out on top in a 6-5 thriller.
“It was a great match overall,” Robertson, who has never won the Shanghai Masters, told the World Snooker Tour.
“I didn’t think that Xiao did much wrong. I think I put him into a lot of difficult situations, especially with my break-off.”
“I take a lot of inspiration with what Shaun has done – I’m really pleased with how the break-off went, I put him in so much trouble.
“I was opening up seven or eight reds up at a time and making him to really have to think about it. It seems to work really well and you don’t really have scrappy frames.
“Straight away, the balls are already there and open. Obviously, if he gets a good chance, then he can make a big break.
“But if I get a good chance, then I can make a good break. That’s how I want my snooker matches to go.
“The way he started off, he played really well and there wasn’t much I could do. After the interval, he continued to play great.
“I made a couple of really good breaks myself, and I was really happy with how I came back and how I closed it out in the last frame.
“You need to always be in the moment…you can’t always control how your opponent is going to play.
“You can try and limit the damage that they do, but they are still capable of producing amazing shots – especially in this event where you have the top 16 in the world.
“At 5-2 [down], I didn’t really do anything wrong. I missed a couple of tricky pots and that was about it. That made it easy to come back and I was very calm.”
Elsewhere in the last 16 of the prestigious invitational event, defending champion Kyren Wilson won the last three frames to defeat record five-time Shanghai Masters champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-4.
World number one Judd Trump scored a brace of century breaks to oust Barry Hawkins by the same margin, while Mark Williams edged Chris Wakelin in a deciding frame.
Earlier on day two at the Luwan Gymnasium, Si Jiahui and Jack Lisowski wrapped up proceedings from round one by beating Pang Junxu and Zhang Anda respectively.
Both will be back in action on Wednesday with Si facing world champion Wu Yize and Lisowski taking on John Higgins.
Zhao Xintong also enters the fray in a must-see match against fellow home favourite Ding Junhui, while Shaun Murphy encounters Zhou Yuelong.
Featured photo credit: WST
Great insight David. I am not a snooker player so I have no opinion either way, but it will be interesting if Shaun Murphy and now Neil Robertson break off approach pays off. To be honest I never watched the Neil match but when Ronnie made his first break off in the first made that opened up the red balls, the play by play commentator said it was a horrendous shot.