Neil Robertson wins final-frame decider to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan and reach Tour Championship final
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Updated 02/04/2022 at 07:30 GMT
Neil Robertson beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in the deciding frame to reach the final of the Tour Championship. Following an afternoon of high-class snooker at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno, both Robertson and O'Sullivan were slightly below the jaw-dropping play from earlier in the day. But at the business end, Robertson crafted a superb break to claim the win.
Neil Robertson | European Masters
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Neil Robertson made it three victories on the spin over Ronnie O’Sullivan by winning a final-frame decider to advance to the final of the Tour Championship.
O’Sullivan came into the last-four clash with an 18-11 advantage in their meetings, and beat Robertson in the final of the World Grand Prix in December.
But Robertson had the upper hand at the Masters and Players Championship, and produced a determined display to win in Llandudno.
The Rocket made a bright start to the evening, after being dominated late in the first session, but Robertson dug deep and won the final two frames of the match to advance to the final with a 10-9 success.
The break following the first session came at a good time for O’Sullivan as Robertson’s run of three frames on the spin had the Australian threatening to take control of the contest.
Returning a few hours later, it was O’Sullivan who got in first. He needed four attempts to escape from a snooker, but after doing so he rolled in a break of 61 to move back in front.
After a blur of breaks in the afternoon session, the 10th was a scrappy affair which eventually went Robertson’s way - and he took the 11th to edge ahead for the first time since the taking the opening frame.
Robertson went into the final interval of the match with a 7-5 lead thanks to a break of 66, but after running through six of the previous seven frames with near-faultless snooker, he began the 13th with a wide.
His miss to the left corner proved costly as a break of 69 from O’Sullivan got him back in the contest.
The standard was a shade below the afternoon session and both produced surprise misses in the 14th frame. O’Sullivan’s failure to knock in a blue proved costly as Robertson picked off a glorious break of 117 to move two clear at 8-6.
O’Sullivan was angered by the missed blue, but bounced back to take the 15th with his ninth century of the week - with the blue and pink to keep the break going out of the naughty snooker handbook.
The 16th was a nerve-shredder, with Robertson winning a safety battle and getting a snooker he required. But after fashioning a chance, he missed a pink and immediately conceded as O’Sullivan got back on level terms.
O’Sullivan made it three frames on the spin with a vintage break of 112 - making it the second match in a row he had knocked in five tons after his stunning win over Mark Williams in the quarter-finals.
After being forced to sit in his chair and watch O’Sullivan knock in his fifth ton, Robertson dug deep to take a scrappy 18th and force a decider.
O’Sullivan got in first in the decider, but missed a tough black along the bottom rail.
Robertson took on a tougher red along the same cushion and got it to secure his chance. It was one he took, as he handled the pressure of the situation superbly to craft a match-winning break of 80 to keep his hopes of defending the title alive.
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