10.10.2007 Pot Black Tournament Match Report.
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Neil Robertson lost a closely fought quarter-final match to the seven times World Champion, Stephen Hendry on Saturday 6th October in the 2007 Pot Black Championship.
Robertson, 25, also known as the ‘Melbourne Machine’ was competing alongside seven former World Champions including the current world number one, John Higgins. However the Australian, sponsored by Evolution Power Tools, was there on merit after climbing to a career high seventh in the rankings due to outstanding wins at the 2007 Welsh Open and the 2006 Grand Prix. Robertson calls the former event ‘the greatest moment of his career’. The Pot Black Championship, first played in 1969, has a single frame format in which you only have to win one frame to win the match. Previous winners including Steve Davis, Mark Williams and Jimmy White. Throughout the match the players traded blows in a very equal contest. Hendry was the first to make an impression on the match with a break of 34 before making a misjudgement on a long red in to the top left corner pocket. Robertson capitalised on this error by Hendry and showed fantastic technique to build a break of 34, equalling Hendry’s opening break. The Australian’s cueing at times was exemplary, one of the highlights of his 34 coming when he had seemingly ran out of position but after despatching a difficult yellow he showed immense cue-ball control to gain the perfect position on the next red. Safety shots were at a paramount and Robertson looked more adept in this department, twice forcing Hendry in to fouls. It was on the second foul that the match surprisingly swung the way of Hendry. Hendry was forced to foul on the green by Robertson and in the process knocked the other colours from their original spots. Sportingly, Robertson, instead of asking for the balls to be re-placed, chose to take on a difficult green, which he ultimately missed. This moment of generosity proved to be decisive as Hendry showed clinical potting, using the rest on three occasions, to clear up and win the match 63-45. |