World Champion, world number 1 and now the World Open champion, things are going pretty well for Australia’s Neil Robertson at the moment. His latest title came following an emphatic 5-1 victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan…
To read how the match unfolded, please click here to read my frame by frame updates.
In truth the 5-1 scoreline is probably not a fair reflection of a final that was ultimately decided by a combination of superb breaks from Robertson and some uncharacteristic misses at crucial times from O’Sullivan. The key moment for me was without doubt a missed pink from Ronnie when he was in and looking like levelling the match at 2-2 having just taken frame three with a superb break. He did not play as well as he has done during the tournament up until this stage but statswise at least, he was far from awful.
Which says a lot about his opponent because although Neil did of course play well to win the World Championship, in a different way I have been equally as impressed by some of his performances this week as he has played with a real confidence that sets him out as one of the top players of his generation. Just watching him, when he is faced with a shot that isn’t straightforward, you just know that he isn’t going to miss, where if it was most other players, you are almost expecting an error. That must be something that his opponents will sense too and is undoubtedly something that will benefit Robertson during the coming months.
For me although Neil had already won three ranking event finals previously, the 2009 Grand Prix and in particular his epic semi-final against John Higgins was the tournament where he really proved himself to be a top player and this win just goes to reinforce that.
Now up to world number one and seemingly playing better than ever, it is difficult to argue that Neil is not the best player around at the moment and it will be interesting to see how the likes of O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Mark Selby and Mark Williams react to that.
It’s going to be one hell of a season!