Comeback king Jimmy reaches quarters

The Bexhill-based world number 49 twice recovered from 3-0 down to pull off 4-3 victories in the Bluebell Wood Open at the Doncaster Dome.

Robertson began with a 4-3 success over Chinese cueman Zhang Anda. He led 2-0 thanks to breaks of 65 and 115, and then 3-1 after his opponent fouled on a re-spotted black. Anda, ranked 76, fought back to 3-3 aided by an 84, but Robertson clinched the decider with a top run of 43.

Robertson scored just 27 points in the first three frames of his next match against world number eight Stuart Bingham, but conceded only 35 in winning the next three helped by breaks of 49, 69 and 46.

Bingham began the decider with a run of 72 only for Robertson to pinch it by a point thanks to a brilliant 73 clearance. It was Robertson’s third win over a top 16 player this season.

He made it a hat-trick of victories in the same day with a 4-1 success over 62nd-ranked Norwegian cueman Kurt Maflin. Robertson went two-up with runs of 70 and 60, and although he lost the third to a Maflin 90, Robertson won the next two with breaks of 81 and 39.

Robertson went 3-0 down against Australian potter Vinnie Calabrese - conqueror of Mark Selby - in the last 16, but recovered to win the next four aided by runs of 54 and 51.

His progress was halted by an on fire world number 11 Ding Junhui in the quarter-finals. Chinese star Junhui opened the match with a 146, and further breaks of 77 and 124 put him 3-0 up. Robertson edged a tight fourth frame, but Junhui sealed a 4-1 victory with a 72 in the next.

Mark Davis, the St Leonards-based world number 15, beat Alex Borg 4-1 with breaks of 66 and 53 before seeing off 26th-ranked Michael Holt 4-2 with a top run of 49. But he scored just 71 points in a 4-0 third round loss to 13th-ranked Marco Fu.