Snooker’s English Open tournament reached its climax on Sunday at a packed Brentwood Centre, as Australian Neil Robertson – currently the most successful non-British player of all time – faced rookie Wu Yize from China, who was playing in his first ever ranking final at the age of 20.
Robertson was seeking his 24th major ranking title.
He won at least one every year between 2005 and 2022, including a world championship in 2010, but his previous one came over two years ago when he edged out John Higgins 10-9 in the Tour Championship.
The final – which was the first to nine frames – got off to just the start Robertson was looking for, as he scored 75 in the opening frame, and followed with a break of 72 to quickly go two frames in front.
After coming back from behind to win the third frame, a superb double red pot from Robertson led to him calling the shots once again, as he went four frames ahead going into the mid-session interval.
When play resumed, the fifth turned out to be a close affair and Wu took it, potting the final four balls to win his first frame of the match.
But his opponent bounced back and took all three of the frames that followed convincingly, especially the eighth when he scored an outstanding 138 without reply.
Play resumed at 7pm, and many of the audience could have been forgiven for thinking that perhaps Robertson would finish the job quickly, but instead his young Chinese opponent staged a tremendous comeback.
Wu took his second frame in some style, scoring a break of 127 in the process.
But after Robertson had replied by winning his eighth frame, Wu showed plenty of character by taking the next one, scoring his second century of the match and achieving a superb break of 135, and winning the following four frames to pull it back to 8-7.
But Robertson finally fought back, and after taking the final frame of what turned out to be a pulsating final, the Australian won the Steve Davis Trophy along with £100000 of prize money.
Neil Robertson – with the Steve Davis Trophy – speaking after his 9-7 victory over Wu Yize
“I haven’t won (a title) for a couple of years, and I was looking great at 8-2”, said Robertson after the match.
“(In the) first session I played brilliant, capitalised on every single minor error that he had.
“I had a pretty bad run for three or four frames where he had a couple of monster flukes and even got away with some safety errors.
“It was nice that lady luck was on my side in that final frame. I was very composed in getting over the line.”
What also made the win special for Robertson was that his father was there for the occasion, having travelled from his home in Australia to watch him in the tournament, and it was the first time in his son’s 20-year professional career that he had seen his son win a tournament live.
Another boost for Robertson is that this win means he is back in the elite group of top 16 players, with veteran Scot John Higgins – who exited this competition in the third round – dropping out for the first time since 1995.
