Robertson dominates Hawkins to win second Masters crown

Neil Robertson claimed his second Masters title with a 104 victory over Barry Hawkins at Alexandra Palace.

The39-year-oldAustralian, champion in 2012, dominated after Hawkins suffered from a slice of misfortune in the fifth frame with the score at 2-2.

Hawkins fouled the green with his sleeve and Robertson, who took advantage of a free ball to clear and take the frame, never looked back to take the £250,000 winner’s prize.

“I’m so happy to win this wonderful title again,” Robertson said as he held young daughter Penelope in his arms.

“This was my first title I won after( son) Alexander was born.

“I always wanted a minirepeat with Penelope here as well. She’s about the same age actually, so I’m happy for that.”

Robertson required two snookers in the final frame of his classic semi-final against Mark Williams to progress to his fourth Masters final.

He managed to do that to complete a fightback from 5-3 down to win the best-of-11 encounter.

Robertson said: “I was disappointed when we went into lockdown again and it’s just so fantastic to hear London cheer again for a snooker tournament.

“I tried to forget about it (the semi-final) and reset to play Barry. Then I got about 300 text messages from people saying they’d never seen anything like it.

“Every person I met coming into the venue said: ‘What about yesterday?’

“I said: ‘Hey, I’m trying to forget about that and concentrate on the final.'”

Hawkins had the majority of the support in the sell-out crowd, but the Englishman appeared nervous in the first session.

Robertson took a two frameadvantage into the interval after making breaks of 50, 105, 54, 54 and 73, while Hawkins’ highest break was 60.

Hawkins won the opening frame but that was the only time Robertson trailed in what was becoming an increasingly one-sided final.

Robertson extended his lead to 6-3 straight after the resumption before a 69 break gave Hawkins hope of a comeback.

But Robertson raced ahead with a 68 break and a straightforward Hawkins miss on a black in the next frame saw the Australian take an 8-4 lead into the mid-session interval.

Robertson compiled a second century break, a matchbest 114, in the next frame, and he quickly closed out victory to start the celebrations with wife Mille and young family.