World champion Neil Robertson showed why he is the new world number one with a 5-1 win over Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of the World Open in Glasgow. He claimed his sixth ranking title with an assured display, capitalising every time O’Sullivan made an error. After losing the first two frames, a 72 break gave O’Sullivan the third and he looked good in the fourth before a slip let in Robertson to win. The Australian made it 4-1 and won the title by edging a nervy sixth frame. Robertson said the confidence boost of being world champion had transformed his game.
Neil Robertson Robertson honoured to beat O’Sullivan “Ronnie didn’t play that well but I still had to pot the balls that were in front of me,” he told BBC Sport. “Being world champion has given me huge confidence, I go into finals knowing I can win under the most amount of pressure.” O’Sullivan, meanwhile, was gracious in defeat and had no dispute with the result.
“He’s world champion and world number one, and he dispatched me like world champions and number ones do,” he said. 606: DEBATE Ronnie has played brilliantly all week, usually on that form he wins. Robertson is just awesome when he gets going
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Anyone expecting fireworks was in for a surprise as both players took a measured approach in the opening session. O’Sullivan played cautiously, but any time he made an error Robertson pounced. The Aussie won the first frame but the second looked to be O’Sullivan’s as he made a break of 43, before an in-off foul let in his 28-year-old opponent, who went on to clinch it.
A break of 72 helped O’Sullivan pull the score back to 2-1 and he seemed to have his eye in again in the next frame, only to miss a fairly easy long pink and scatter the reds, allowing Robertson to make a break of 59 and go into the interval 3-1 up.
Ronnie O'Sullivan
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O’Sullivan broke off after the restart but had only scored one point when an unlucky cannon off two reds allowed Robertson in to make a break of 66 to move within one frame of victory. Both players showed nerves in what proved to be the final frame, making encouraging-looking breaks only to stumble. But when O’Sullivan fouled by potting the white and yellow with two reds left on the table, Robertson held his nerve to clear the colours and win the frame, and with it the match – BBCnews
