Robertson reaches final four

The Bexhill potter won five matches to reach the semi-finals of Asian Tour event two, also known as the Haining China Leather City Open.

World number 50 Robertson began with a 4-1 victory over Chinese amateur Li Tianen last Tuesday. Breaks of 114, 77 and 75 put him into a 3-0 lead, and although he lost frame four, an 87 in the next sealed the win.

The following day he edged out 59th-ranked Thai cueman Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-3. Runs of 100 and 73 put Robertson 2-0 up for the loss of just a single point.

He lost the third, but went 3-1 ahead thanks to a 59 in frame four. Although Un-Nooh got back to 3-3 via breaks of 70 and 61, Robertson comfortably clinched the decider.

Robertson then won three matches on Thursday, starting with a 4-1 success against another Chinese amateur Xu Si. Robertson began the match with a run of 101 and although he didn’t score a point in frame two, Robertson reeled off the subsequent three frames with top breaks of 61 and 50.

That was followed by an excellent 4-0 whitewash of Chinese world number 23 Xiao Guodong in the last 16. Runs of 49, 54, 89 and 62 gave Robertson his second win over Guodong this season.

Robertson saw off Chinese world number 90 Tian Pengfei 4-2 in the quarter-finals. The 28-year-old went 3-0 up with best breaks of 72 and 64, and although Pengfei took the next two with runs of 55, 77 and 67, Robertson didn’t concede a point in frame six as he closed out the match.

But his brilliant run came to an end with a narrow 4-3 defeat to European under-21 champion Oliver Lines in the semi-finals on Friday.

Robertson lost a tight opening frame, but won three of the next four with top breaks of 60 and 55 to lead 3-2. Highly rated 19-year-old Lines took the next with a run of 89 and clinched the decider 87-7.

Robertson will be back at the table this afternoon (Monday) when he takes on former UK champion Judd Trump in round one of the International Championship, also in China.

St Leonards-based world number 17 Mark Davis came through his opening test at the same event yesterday, seeing off Thai player Dechawat Poomjaeng 6-2 with the help of a 101 break in frame two.