Neil Robertson stated that he was back to his best after demolishing Gary Wilson 6-1 at the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters in Riyadh.
The Thunder from Down Under put on a ruthless display to defeat Scottish and Welsh Open champion Wilson in under two hours.
It was a more familiar standard from Robertson, after a poor 23/24 season saw him slide down the world rankings to 27th position. The Melbourne cueman practised throughout the summer in an attempt to regain his winning touch and those efforts appear to be bearing fruits this week.
Robertson came through from a hard fought first four frames leading 3-1 and from there he never looked back. Breaks of 141 and 95 after the interval helped the 2010 World Champion to take three on the bounce to emerge victorious and seal a blockbuster quarter-final showdown with world number one Judd Trump.
“I’m definitely back, 100%. I’m a better player than I ever have been. I have worked so hard over the last six months on every aspect of my game. I’ve realised that my reputation can only get me so far,” said 23-time ranking event winner Robertson.
“I probably haven’t said too much about my game over the last 18 months, but I’ve got that sense of pride again with my safety game. My game is in a good place and I’m delighted to get through because Gary is a top player.
“It will be nice to play Judd. It has been a while since I’ve played him. Whenever we’ve played it has always been a massive occasion. Playing in the quarter-finals here has been fantastic.”
Trump put on an equally impressive display this afternoon, as he thrashed six-time ranking event finalist Jack Lisowski 6-1.
The result continues Trump’s relentless streak against close friend Lisowski. He’s now won their last seven meetings. The Ace in the Pack fired in century runs of 126, 115 and 105 on his way to victory this afternoon.
It was an important win in the race for the summit of the world rankings. Trump recently overhauled Mark Allen as world number one, but with £500,000 on offer for the top prize this week his position is immediately under threat.
Following the match he stated that he was unsurprised at tomorrow’s opponent Robertson’s return to form.
Trump said: “It was only a matter of time. A few people have said that they didn’t think he was going to get back but he’s way too good for that to happen. I think he was lacking belief and looking at too many things that can go wrong. I think playing those few games in qualifiers have helped his confidence.”
Shaun Murphy booked his place in the quarter-finals as he beat Elliot Slessor 6-3 with a top break of 111.
The Magician now faces Xiao Guodong, who edged out Scott Donaldson 6-5 with a superb 123 in the deciding frame. It has been some week for Xiao as he got married in China the day before he flew to Riyadh.
“There was pressure today because it’s now my biggest ever prize money (£50,000),” he said. “This is such a big tournament. I just tried to enjoy the game and concentrate. I thought about my family and my wife and that gave me power.“
The crowd wasn’t big at all in the afternoon despite the quality on display. Neil Robertson does indeed look very good again. The next match will be the big test. Judd played very well too but I can’t read too much into that because Jack Lisowski is such a “let down”. So much natural talent and going nowhere… the most frustrating player on tour for sure!
Ronnie O’Sullivan produced a brilliant comeback to rally from 3-0 down and beat Zhang Anda 6-5 to make the quarter-finals of the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
The Rocket came into the tie having lost his previous two meetings with Zhang. The Chinese cueman prevailed last season at the English Open, before scoring a famous 9-6 win over O’Sullivan on his way to winning the International Championship.
Zhang has been in supreme touch this week, after scoring a record breaking 5-0 whitewash win over Ben Woollaston in the previous round. He became the first ever player to make four total clearances in a best of nine match.
That form carried over into this evening’s game when he stormed into a 3-0 lead with breaks of 67, 77 and 66. He had the first chance in the fourth, but crucially spurned a red to the middle on 26. O’Sullivan stepped up with 64 to head into the mid-session two behind at 3-1.
When play resumed, back to back century runs of 109 saw 41-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan draw level at 3-3. The following frames were traded until Zhang led 5-4. The Englishman forced a decider with a break of 87, before a sensational long red to the green pocket gave him an opportunity which he swallowed up with 78 to win a thrilling match.
Despite the clinical nature of the way he closed out the victory, O’Sullivan stated that he is unhappy with how he is playing and feels that he is on the decline. He now faces Si Jiahui, who beat Pang Junxu 6-5 in a late night battle.
“There are so many unforced errors and so many mistakes compared to how it used to be. That is the reason why I don’t feel as dominant,” said seven-time World Champion O’Sullivan.
“I don’t think you can get that feeling back. I look at Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Jimmy White and John Higgins and watch them. I know how they used to play in their prime and then watch them towards the end, they are missing too many balls, making too many mistakes and have too much inconsistency. You need to be consistent to be a proper winner.”
Welsh three-time World Champion Mark Williams clinched a place in the 113th ranking quarter-final of his career, defeating 2015 Crucible king Stuart Bingham 6-2.
Williams fired in breaks of 71, 77 and 64 during the victory and will now face Jimmy Robertson in the last eight.
Williams said: “It is unbelievable (to be in a 113th ranking quarter-final). The only aim I’ve had in recent times is to see if I can be in the top 16 at the age of 50. I’m only six months away from that now. I’ve put myself in a good position and I think that will be a good achievement.”
Former European Masters winner Robertson scored a stunning 6-4 win over World Champion Kyren Wilson, having already defeated John Higgins in the previous round.
It really was an epic match, one that was well appreciated by the local crowd and got the snooker social media community, and the media guys, on the edge of their seats and glued to their screens. And yet, Ronnie is right, he isn’t quite the player he was but he certainly still has the fire in his belly when playing in events that inspire him. Zhang must be gutted as he would probably have won that match against anyone else.
There was a very decent crowd for Ronnie’s match considering this was on a “week day”: most people would have been at work during that day, and due to be at work on the next day.
Here are a few images shared by WST, including on Weibo:
And some videos shared by ES on their YouTube channel:
2 thoughts on “Day 6 at the 2024 Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters – Ronnie wins an epic to reach the QFs”
Of course, Ronnie is declining at this age, I think the interesting thing is to see how he tackles his (new) limitations. That aside yesterday’s match was quite something, especially the last two frames being merciless among the balls (after the viewer overcame the fright that Zhang Anda would have just another fluke, especially in the decider). He was turning into some kind of bogeyman for Ronnie, so it was a very sweet victory.
I didn’t watch every minute of the commentary and haven’t read all reports of the tournament, but it seems I’m the only one being exited about that Trump can make the golden break now in any match.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 
Of course, Ronnie is declining at this age, I think the interesting thing is to see how he tackles his (new) limitations. That aside yesterday’s match was quite something, especially the last two frames being merciless among the balls (after the viewer overcame the fright that Zhang Anda would have just another fluke, especially in the decider). He was turning into some kind of bogeyman for Ronnie, so it was a very sweet victory.
I didn’t watch every minute of the commentary and haven’t read all reports of the tournament, but it seems I’m the only one being exited about that Trump can make the golden break now in any match.