Sunday, December 8, 2013

UK Snooker Championship 2013: Neil Robertson beats Mark Selby

8 December 2013
Neil Robertson became only the eighth player in snooker history to win the 'Triple Crown' with a 10-7 victory over Mark Selby at the UK Championship. 

Robertson staged a remarkable comeback having been 5-1 down, and his win goes with the World title and the Masters. 

"To become the first overseas player to win all three is a fantastic feeling," Robertson told BBC Sport. 

Selby, who won the 2012 UK Championship title, missed the chance to move ahead of Robertson and be world number one. 

Robertson, 31, won the sport's biggest prize at the Crucible in 2010, the most prestigious invitational event at Alexandra Palace last year and claimed his ninth ranking title win at the Barbican Centre in York. 

"Mark in the first session was too good for me today," added Robertson. 

"Tonight I came out 6-3 down and I just had to play good snooker to get back in. When I beat John Higgins in the Wuxi Classic, I said the way I played was the best, but today was definitely the best I have played in a final. 

"When I came over to England, Ding Junhui and I turned professional at same time, and to get the Triple Crown ahead of him is a fantastic achievement." 

Robertson and Selby faced each other in the Masters final at the beginning of the year when Selby came out on top 10-6, but his opponent gained revenge this time. 

Selby has now won just three ranking titles in 10 final appearances, having let slip a commanding lead. 

"I played sort of OK in the first session," 30-year-old Selby told BBC Sport. 

"Tonight I was very poor, to be fair I didn't deserve to win. I had more than my fair share of chances. I didn't take them and Neil did. 

"If I had potted the black to make it 8-8, I probably didn't deserve it. I've been quite poor this week so to get to the final is a good achievement." 

It was an enthralling contest between the world's top two players as Robertson eked out Selby's confidence with high-scoring breaks to eventually dominate. 

With the nation's cricket team struggling in the Ashes series down under, Selby was looking on-course to restoring some sporting pride in England, but his counterpart launched a recovery to keep the Australians smiling. 

Selby had made snooker's 100th maximum 147 break in the semi-final against Ricky Walden and started the match in similarly stunning fashion, stroking in a sublime 130 clearance en-route to opening up a four-frame advantage. 

But Robertson, who withstood a comeback from Stuart Bingham in the last-four, hit back with breaks of 54 and a superb 123 to stay in-touch at 5-3 after the first session. 

He won three of the first four frames in the final session, including superb back-to-back centuries of 122 and 132 to restore parity at 6-6. 

Leicester's Selby was clearly rattled having been kept off the table for so long, missing chances when in amongst the reds. He watched as Robertson's resurgence continued, with the Aussie turning the match around to take the lead for the first time. 

All the momentum was with the Melbourne-man as he won his fifth frame in a row for 8-6, but Selby took the 15th with a run of 74, his highest break over 50 since the fifth frame. 

Robertson was 48 ahead in the next, but Selby came to the table and having gnawed away at the deficit, needed the final black to level the match, but inexplicably missed as an astonished Robertson tapped in to go one away from victory. 

And he clinched the 17th with a knock of 57 to triumph, taking with him the £150,000 prize money and trophy.