Milestone on hold

Century of centuries evades Robertson

NEIL ROBERTSON twice narrowly missed out on claiming his 100th century break of the season on his way to booking his place in the quarter-finals of the Dafabet World Snooker Championship.

The world No 1 defeated Mark Allen 13-7 at the Crucible but his landmark 100th century will have to wait for another day after the Australian fell agonisingly short in the final two frames of the victory, missing pots when on 94 and 92.

The match resumed with Robertson leading Northern Ireland’s Allen 9-7, but the Melbourne-born cueman wasted no time in racing to victory, with breaks of 59, 69, 94 and 92 wrapping up the win.

“Throughout the whole match Mark kept sticking with me and I thought he played really well,” Robertson told BBC2.

“He’s always going to score really heavily but his safety was really good and I didn’t have many opportunities at long balls.

“I was really happy to be 4-4 and at 9-7 I was delighted because I won quite a lucky frame. I had quite an unbelievable fluke on the green, so to come out today, I knew I had to come out and play really well.

“Those last two frames I was like a cricketer on 190 or something like that. It was unfortunate. I missed the black with one red left and I thought I hit the black perfectly and I was about to celebrate but it rattled in the jaws.

“That frame there, I missed a really tough red down the cushion and I thought I hit it pretty good again but it wasn’t to be. The snooker gods are going to keep you guys waiting a little bit longer.”

Robertson admitted he would have loved to have struck his 100th century in the session in front of seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry.

“I was gutted because Hendry was in the commentary box as well and I would have loved to do it with him in there,” the Australian said.

“Hopefully for the next couple of sessions he can be in the box as it would be good to do it in front of him.”

Next up for the 32-year-old is Judd Trump who saw off Welshman Ryan Day.

Resuming last night’s final session 10-6 in front, Trump lost the first frame of the night but reeled off the next three to book his clash with the in-form Australian.

Unlike Robertson, Trump is yet to discover his top form in this year’s championship but will be pleased with the way he polished off the final three frames against Day.

There were signs the 24-year-old could be in for a nervous evening when he missed a risky red in the opening frame of the session and Day took his chance to narrow to 10-7 with a break of 26.

Day looked set to further narrow the deficit in the next frame but was unfortunate to foul the blue with his waistcoat as he reached to pot a red.

Later in the same frame, a kick on a yellow forced Day out of position and gave Trump a chance to come back and clear the colours to restore his three-frame lead.

A break of 39 from Trump proved enough to take him within one frame of victory, and Robertson awaited after he won the scrappy final frame before the interval.

Former champion Shaun Murphy will face Ronnie O’Sullivan in the last eight after wrapping up a 13-8 victory over Marco Fu.

Resuming at 9-7, Murphy won the first three frames of the evening before Fu rallied with a break of 92 to narrow the deficit.

An awkward break of 25 was enough to see Murphy over the line in the next round.

In the afternoon session, Dominic Dale claimed the one frame he needed to wrap up a 13-4 win over qualifier Michael Wasley.

Dale will play last year’s losing finalist Barry Hawkins in the last eight, while the remaining quarter-final pits veteran Scot Alan McManus against Mark Selby.

All four matches get under way today.

Neil Robertson: missed two chances to claim his 100th century of the season.

Picture: PA. Judd Trump.