Ronnie O’Sullivan scores five centuries AGAIN but somehow not enough to beat Neil Robertson in Tour Championship semi
NEIL ROBERTSON stood up to a century barrage from Ronnie O’Sullivan to hand out more Tour Championship pain for the Rocket.
The 40-year-old Australian, the defending champion having also beaten the new world No1 in the final last year, is back in the showpiece after a thrilling 10-9 win in Llandudno.
O’Sullivan, 46, became the first player ever to make five century breaks in consecutive matches having done it against Mark Williams in the quarter-finals.
But it still wasn’t enough against the player of the season at the Venue Cymru, as Robertson roared back from 4-1 down early on, and then dug deep to tale the last two frames.
In a classic see-saw encounter that ebbed and flowed at the tournament for the best eight players of the campaign Robertson was 8-6 up before falling 9-8 adrift.
But in this third epic of a trilogy between the pair in this tournament Robertson piled more misery on his opponent having beaten him in last year’s final.
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And he will play for the £150,000 first prize tomorrow in the final tournament before this month’s Betfred World Championship at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan’s quarter-final final-frame victory over Mark Williams had been an absolute classic and one of the matches of the season.
And right from the start next week’s world No1, back on top of the pile for a fifth time in his 30-year career, looked set along with the Australian to serve up more of the same.
Robertson set the tone with an opening break of 115 – but incredibly found himself 3-1 down at the mid-session interval after runs of 125, 90 and 106 from the Rocket.
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And there was no let-up for the remainder of the afternoon as the audience were served up with a masterclass.
O’Sullivan’s third century of the contest, an effort of 128, put him 4-1 up and lesser opponents might have crumbled at that stage.
But Robertson then went on a trademark surge taking six of the next seven frames, helped by breaks of 62, 54, 85, 95, and then in the evening 50, 66 and 117 to lead 8-6.
O’Sullivan responded by rattling in a brilliant break of 100, his fourth century of the day and the 23rd in this year’s event – equalling last year’s record tally of 23.
And despite a scare he levelled at 8-8 making it a best-of-three for a place in the final. Robertson got a snooker he needed to win the frame, but then missed an easy pink.
A run of 112 put the Rocket one up with two to play, but Robertson took it to an almost inevitable decider.