The first round at this year World Snooker Championship concluded yesterday and, herafter, you will find the report shared by WST:
Robertson Victory Completes Opening Round
Neil Robertson overcame a nervy start as he pulled away from 5-5 to beat Pang Junxu 10-6 in a tough opening test at the Halo World Championship.
In the last of the opening round matches to finish, Robertson eased over the winning line and became the 15th seed out of 16 to make it into round two. “It was nervy in the first session yesterday,” he admitted. “Today I was able to dictate how the match went and from 5-5 I played really well. Pang has got one of the best safety games but tonight my long potting was good and I played some aggressive safety to open the balls up.
“Hossein Vafaei did me a favour earlier today by knocking out Si Jiahui, otherwise everyone would have been talking about whether I would be the 16th seed to win. With so many of the best players through, there are some amazing match-ups in the second round.”
Given his success across the tour, Robertson has a surprisingly poor record at the Crucible over recent years; he has not reached the semi-finals since 2014. He won the title in 2010 and hopes to join a group of only six players to have lifted the trophy on multiple occasions in Sheffield, but knows he must improve his performances over the early rounds which he has found difficult to negotiate over the past decade.
The 44-year-old Australian is into the second round at the Crucible for the 15th time and will now face Chris Wakelin in a best-of-25 clash starting on Saturday. The pair met in the opening round last year, Wakelin winning 10-8, so Robertson will be determined to reverse the result. The world number three also still has a chance to climb to the top of the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings though he must win the title and hope that Judd Trump goes out in the second round.
Record Equalled
Seed Succeed
Victory for Robertson means that 15 of the 16 seeded players have progressed to the second round. This equals a record set in 1983 and matched in 1993. The only top-16 ranked player to lose in round one this time was Si Jiahui, who was beaten by qualifier Hossein Vafaei earlier today.
Robertson led 5-4 after the first session and he had a chance in the opening frame tonight but missed a tricky red to centre pocket on 29 and his opponent later made 45 to square the tie. A run of 77 helped Robertson regain the lead and in frame 12 he led 29-6 when he converted a difficult red to a top corner and went on to make 49 for 7-5.
Pang potted just one red in the next two frames as Robertson extended his advantage to 9-5 with a runs of 80 and 54. He had a match-winning chance in frame 15 but missed a tough blue to a baulk corner at 17-0 and Pang kept his hopes alive with a break of 73. But Robertson clinched the result in the next with a run of 100, his 88th century at the Crucible.
Robertson, who won the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters at the start of this season, added: “I enjoy playing Chris Wakelin because he goes for his shots and it will be an open game. I was happy for him when he won the Scottish Open and you can see now he feels he belongs in the top 16.”
On the other table, Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen established a 5-3 lead over Kyren Wilson, who took the last three frames of the session to remain in touch in their second round clash.
2024 World Champion Wilson cut a frustrated figure for much of the session. He stated after his opening round match that he “hated” his cue. Those doubts were visible this evening and at one point he even gestured to bite off his tip.
Former Masters and UK Champion Allen, who is chasing a maiden Crucible crown, crafted breaks of 50 and 78 on his way to a commanding 5-0 advantage. Wilson dug deep and runs of 75 and 50 helped him to three on the bounce.
The pair return for the second of three sessions tomorrow at 2:30pm. First to 13 frames will progress to the quarter-finals.
As always, you will find all the detailed results on snooker.org
And, as it has been the case throughout the championship so far, WST reporting is comprehensive enough and I don’t have much to add.
I watched the first session of Mark Allen v Kyren Wilson and neither player looked at his best. Of course, this is a long tournament and players will have both good and not so good days. Also, winning their first match is crucial for the seeds. Both have done that and maybe they “relaxed” a bit too much. I expect them to play better in the next sessions.