Thunder strikes Beijing - Robertson wins China Open

Neil Robertson - the 2013 China Open champion

Neil Robertson won 10-6 over Mark Selby in order to lift this year's China Open trophy and get a well-deserved present for himself just before the kick-off of the most important tournament of the season, the World Championship.

It was back in 2010 when everything seemed to revolve around this marvellous Australian snooker player, Robertson being crowned world champion as well as winner of the World Open. Since then, although he managed to capture the Masters title in 2012 and win a pretty amount of PTCs events, the "Thunder from Down Under"’s  record on winning major ranking events was ... zero.

Runner-up Mark Selby next to the champ

So, after whitewashing his namesake, Jimmy Robertson by 5-0 in the first round, continuing on the same high note by hammering Mark Allen 5-1 and Marcus Campbell 5-2, Robertson ended on a very tight 6-5 result with Stephen Maguire in the semis.

On the opposite corner, Mark Selby moved passed Mark King by 5-1, Ricky Walden 5-2, Mark Williams 5-1 and Shaun Murphy 6-2, in order to set a meeting with the man he beat just a few months ago in the 2013 Masters final.
Only that this time history didn't repeat itself and the one ending on losing was "The Jester from Leicester".

With a great 6-1 lead after the first session, Robertson needn't to worry about starting the last one as favourite. Still, his opponent has had a very decent history in comebacks and that's the card he’s played today also.

The presentation party

With breaks of 81, 66 and a terrific 125 clearance Selby was winning three consecutive frames, before Robertson could do anything. Still, the interval found the lads on a 7-4 scoreline, as the Aussie hit a break of 110 points to make a stand of his intention of winning the tournament.

Scrappiness seemed to be the name of the game as the players returned into the arena closely followed and watched by the referee in charge, Eirian Williams. However, Robertson did manage to grab another frame and also the following on, this time due to a more consistent participation (a break of 90) and was now just one step away from the victory line.

But Selby wasn't going to give in that easily, so he fought back with runs of 116 and 63 to get closer to his rival of the green baize.

As the scoreline went 9-6 it was crystal clear that the next frame was going to be huge. And I mean HUGE! Either Selby was getting even closer to force a decider, or Robertson would put an end to the match. Luckily for the last named one, it was the second option.

Robertson's roar of glory

The last frame was actually a re-racked one and Neil was the first one to get it going. With a break of 45, only stopped due to a horrendous kick, he had what it takes to win the snooker affair. Still, Selby had other plans and even though after some cracking safety shots and some scrappy contributions, he still needed no less than FIVE snookers to tie, he kept on going. Talking about consistency.

The miracle almost happened and Mark got four snookers, but in the end it was going to be Robertson who ended the match by potting the brown and the blue.

A genuinely and heartfelt roar was heard inside Beijing University Students Gymnasium's arena as Neil Robertson showed the entire world how much does this title mean to him.