Robertson becomes only the fouth player from outside the UK to win the Masters trophy. Photo: NeillRobertson.com
Neil Robertson beat Shaun Murphy 10-6 to win his first Masters title. This is the seventh time that the Australian player has reached the final of a televised event and won it.
The part Australian, part English final between Robertson and Murphy started with the lads sharing frames as they were almost trying not to get separate by more than a one.
Robertson collected frames one, four and five with runs of 103, 36 and 25, while Murphy took care of frames two, three and six with a series of 65, 102 and 53.
But the game stopped with frame seven, when Robertson used a 72 to put his nose in front by 4-3.
The next frame was the last one of the first session, so it was vital for his opponent to win it. It was a scrappy affair which result landed on how the boys would handle the remaining colours – the yellow ball being potted by Murphy.
After some pretty tense minutes, Robertson cleared until the pink and took the advantage of entering the evening session with a 5-3 lead over the Englishman.
From 8pm the battle of cues restarted, Murphy managing to grab the first frame and reduce the gap at just one point. However, it proved useless in front of Robertson’s rain of breaks (101, 76 and another 76).
The Australian was now just one step away from lifting the trophy, the scoreline becoming 9-6.
Still, Murphy didn’t give up and for the next couple of frames he kept his opponent in his seat, runs of 52 and 86 being responsible for turning the scoreline into 9-6.
But Murphy’s hopes to cashing the title vanished when Robertson hit a 70 break that was sealing his 10-6 victory.
The new champion received the visit of his girlfriend and baby boy in the arena and celebrated with the rest of the audience winning his first Masters title.
Although this isn’t a ranking event, the Australian goes “Down Under” with a cheque of £150,000 besides the honour of being one of the winners of the most prestigious invitational events in the snooker calendar.
Ramona Dragomir
