Neil Robertson hit out at Scots hero Stephen Hendry after his victory in a four-hour epic with John Higgins.
The Thunder from Down Under, only playing after Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew from the Masters 48 hours before he was due to play Higgins, battled back from 5-1 down to knock out the veteran Scot with a sensational display – and immediately took a dig at seven time world champion Hendry. In the run up to the event, Robertson was one of the players namechecked by Hendry as he lambasted those playing “no risk snooker” on his Cue Tips YouTube channel.
And the comment clearly rankled with Robertson who said: “Yeah I don’t think Stephen Hendry is going to give me too much stick about that one,” before being cut off by laughter from the capacity crowd of more than 2,000 at Alexandra Palace. “It was an unbelievable match, John was playing incredibly well to get to 5-1 and he didn’t really do anything wrong. I played at my absolute best. I’m so happy that I could take my chance with Ronnie dropping out and give the crowd something to cheer about.”
MC Rob Walker continued: “You were supposed to be watching this on TV and now you’re in the quarter-finals”. With Robertson continuing: “It’s unbelievable, I had time to reflect on the first-half of the season. it’s been a really good season so far, but target for the second-half of the season is to bring my practice game. I don’t think many people have seen what I can do, that match there shows what I can actually do again.”
Wizard of Wishaw Higgins raced into a 5-1 lead, despite revealing in the build-up that a rainstorm in Paris whilst he was travelling home from a tournament had destroyed his cue. However Robertson fought back, producing a red hot display that had the crowd on their feet during a nail-biting final frame.
World Champion Steve Davis said: “You never know what is going to happen, and the Masters throws up these astonishing matches. It’s the way Neil Robertson dug himself out of the hole that I’m most impressed about. He’s made a conscious decision to up his speed and his game and he’s so dangerous.”