Neil Robertson takes scrappy win over Himanshu Jain to seal place in third round of Scottish Open
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Updated 30/11/2022 at 07:01 GMT
Neil Robertson is through to the third round of the Scottish Open following a 4-1 victory over Himanshu Jain. The Thunder from Down Under will have a chance to exact revenge on Joe Perry, who knocked him out in the first round of the UK Championship earlier this month. Stream the 2022 Scottish Open and more top snooker action live and on-demand on discovery+.
'So outrageous he apologised twice' - Strange fluke for Robertson
Neil Robertson saw off Himanshu Jain 4-1 to claim his place in the third round of the Scottish Open where he will have a chance to exact revenge on Joe Perry.
The Thunder from Down Under will meet Perry, his good friend, and conqueror in the first round of the UK Championship earlier this month.
Even though he was far from his vintage best, the world No.4 proved simply too strong for Jain, making breaks of 101, 95 and 74.
"It was pretty rough," Robertson said in the Eurosport studio afterwards.
"Back to back nights when you're coming out, last session of the night. Coming out to play at quarter past nine, not really ideal. And especially when you're the only table that's going apart from Ken [Doherty] and Gary [Wilson] but they got through their match quickly.
"You’re playing in front of like 30 people and it just feels like a qualifier you know?"
Jain shaded an opening frame after a scrappy affair that lasted 35 minutes. Robertson was displaying some rustiness, missing shots that he would normally have potted with ease, most notably the pink when leading 56-53, and his opponent made him pay. But that would be as good as it would get for snooker's new professional, whose highest break all night was 38.
Robertson was struggling early on but grew in confidence after dispatching a superb long blue to the yellow pocket which proved the catalyst for claiming the second frame and, ultimately, proving the defining moment in the match. A break of 101 and he was back in business.
But he required a fluke on a red to spark into life in the third frame, as he made 95 to ease into the lead for the first time.
The fourth frame was another slog, but Jain will count himself unfortunate not to land on a red after potting the blue. The balls were all there for Robertson as he made 74 to claim a third consecutive frame and move to within touching distance of victory.
It was a start-stop performance from Robertson, and a series of mistakes followed in what proved to be a strange fifth frame. Nevertheless, he made fewer errors than his opponent and eventually put the match to bed.
"He was struggling, he didn't really want to have a go at anything," Robertson said of his opponent.
"I made some good breaks but I don't know, I was never really pushed. It kind of felt like I could almost win at any moment.
"You never really want to be in that stage mentally. It was no disrespect or anything. I can see that he wasn't playing well, so then I was just like, 'well, I can kind of almost win the frame whenever I want'.
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'Can't believe what I've just seen' - Robertson's remarkable escape in win over Jain
"And then when you think like that you can lack a bit of urgency I suppose."
Meanwhile, Gary Wilson progressed following a 4-2 victory over Ken Doherty.
Doherty won the first frame, but Wilson levelled things up with a century of 123. The 1997 world champion went ahead for a second time, before Wilson made another century.
From there, Wilson proved too good for his opponent and won the final two frames to advance into the last 32 where he will play Ronnie O’Sullivan, who beat Ben Woollaston earlier on Tuesday.
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Stream the 2022 Scottish Open and more top snooker action live and on-demand on discovery+ and eurosport.co.uk.
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