Champion of Champions 2021 LIVE updates - Neil Robertson faces Kyren Wilson for place in final four

ByEurosport

Updated 16/11/2021 at 22:22 GMT

Follow our live updates from the Champion of Champions snooker as world number four Neil Robertson takes on Mark Williams from 13:00. Elsewhere on Monday, Kyren Wilson takes on Jordan Brown following the conclusion of Robertson’s match. Then at 19:00 the winners of the early matches face off for a spot in the semi-finals. Last year’s winner of the event Mark Allen is not involved this year.

Neil Robertson

Image credit: Getty Images

That completes our coverage for today

See youse tomorrow!

Kyren Wilson beats Neil Robertson 6-4!

Champion of Champions

Who does O'Sullivan face at Champion of Champions? Trump set for title defence

25/10/2022 at 07:48

A break of 113, his third ton of the night - and there was a 98 too - completes a terrific win for Kyren. He's into the semi, where he'll play Judd Trump. Tasty!

Robertson 4-5 Wilson (0-89)

I'm not saying Kyren has Neil's number - he doesn't - but the matchup does suit him. Neil's played well tonight too - he's ahead on every metric but the one that counts - and given how Kyren played this afternoon, to win in that circumstance is very fine behaviour.

Robertson 4-5 Wilson (0-50)

Neil looks extremely morose sat in his chair - not that long ago, he was 4-3 up and had potted five red-blacks, only to miss one you didn't expect him to. Kyren, meantime, is potting balls, and they're very nicely situated. This is five to over.

Robertson 4-5 Wilson (0-20)

Eeesh, Neil leaves a simple starter off the break and Kyren drains it. He starts picking, but then a cut-back run-through off the black tickles all manner of reds into play, and this could be the match.

Robertson 4-5 Wilson

The lead changes hands again! All night, this has looked like it'll need a decider...

Robertson 4-4 Wilson (44-70)

Neil plays a poor pot though, so can only go in behind the green thereafter, but trying to get at that side-cushioned red off the black cushion, he instead hits the black. Neil puts him back, as you would, and this time he executes perfectly. His virtue is rewarded too - when Neil brings the all into play, he sends it into the green pocket and is en route to going one up with two to play. The brown, though is missable, needing to go diagonally into the yellow pocket ... but he sinks it confidently! He can't sort the blue, though, so Neil returns to the table needing two snookers.

Robertson 4-4 Wilson (37-55)

Kyren is working his arse off out there, and when he gets down to the final two reds, one stuck onto the pink and one on the side cushion, he tries to cannon the latter and misses by a stretch. So he takes on the former, misses that by a stretch, and leaves it for Neil - though the other problem remains.

Robertson 4-4 Wilson (36-16)

But on 36 he has to bridge awkwardly and misses a red to left corner - not a gimme but one you assume is going down - and Kyren wades right in, a lovely little cannon making four reds that were previously safe available.

Robertson 4-4 Wilson (29-0)

Kyren jawses a long red and for double points cannons the black, keeping the white down the top end of the table and setting Neil away. On 16, he digs into the pack, and the split is friendly enough to turn this into a decent opportunity.

Robertson 4-4 Wilson

It needed a terrible error from Neil, but a superb run of 98 means we're down to a best of three! Don't mind if we do!

Robertson 4-3 Wilson (40-59)

This is good from Kyren, but the three remaining reds are clustered below the pink ... so he pots the pink, comes off the side, and separates them nicely. The frame is in his hands, dudes, and the next few shots move him close to securing it.

Robertson 4-3 Wilson (40-8)

But he misses a red to the yellow pocket - cue-ball and object-ball were close, so you thought he'd send it down - allowing Kyren to set himself away. He'll know, as we do, that if he can't take this chance there's a strong chance he's off home.

Robertson 4-3 Wilson (32-0)

Neil gets underway with a special, despatched straight and true into the heart of the pocket. What a sound! He looks the better player now - I guess he is the better player - and four red-blacks have us wondering....

Robertson 4-3 Wilson

Ah, he waits because Neil's at the table. He knows his etiquette.

Robertson 3-3 Wilson (54-28)

Kyren takes the yellow, Neil the green and brown, then Kyren fouls on the black; this is over, but Kyren doesn't concede.

Robertson 3-3 Wilson (51-22)

It's Neil, though, who gets the next chance, but there's a red on the top cushion and the yellow is on the side. If he can drop the former in, though, Kyren will need a snooker ... and down it goes. He then plays safe, and off Kyren goes again, looking to claw his way back into the frame.

Robertson 3-3 Wilson (29-22)

Briefly. He pots a red to left corner but without the power needed to get on a colour and Neil cuts one to the same pocket with the help of a flick from one close by. This is the first scrappy frame we've had - both players look a bit edgy now - and Neil has to play safe.

Robertson 3-3 Wilson (25-15)

Or does he! He misses a dolly of a red, I've not idea how - it was close range, a nice gap between cue-ball and object-ball, with no hint of a kick. But it means Kyren is back in business.

Robertson 3-3 Wilson (19-12)

Neil misses a long red and takes it and the white into baulk; Kyren bags it, then works his way back up the table. But, well, "Ach!" as Barry Davies would say. He goes into the pack off the blue and a corner red scuttles to top left. This brings Neil to the table with the hardest work done for him, and he quickly gets to making the most of his good fortune.

Robertson 3-3 Wilson

That careless pot on the brown cost us all 10 minutes of our lives - Kyren only managed one snooker, that Neil escaped - but maybe he halted momentum, and maybe that was his plan. We shall see.

Robertson 2-3 Wilson (64-33)

On 63, Neil carelessly misses a brown to the yellow pocket, so Kyren returns needing three snookers. Good luck, old mate.

Robertson 2-3 Wilson (10-33)

But then he misses one with the rest - it doesn't even get to the pocket, clipping another red en route - and when that's happening, you know he's nervous. This is a great chance for Neil to level it up because the table is set for a king.

Robertson 2-3 Wilson (1-30)

A beautifully controlled long red allows Kyren to put his hand down, and he holds for the black. The reds are pretty nicely spread already, so there are points there for the taking, but a poor shot means he's chasing. He manages one more red to take him back to baulk, though, which allows him to tuck in behind the green and it yields an opportunity, a red to right corner, ... which he misses. Oh dear. But then Neil misses a blue to left middle, and that stuff I said about both players playing well? Er I don't know that I'm talking about, because even when Kyren takes the red he's left, he plays it far too thin and convinces himself to tap in the blue that's still over the bag rather than the black. That means he needs the rest for the next ball, but he sinks it as well as you expect him to, and he's in decent shape now.

Robertson 2-3 Wilson

In all individual sports, we're hoping for that passage when both players are at it. We might just be there now.

Robertson 1-3 Wilson (75-1)

Tell you what, they're getting through these. In very little time, Neil's up to 48, but he's got the black on the yellow spot and vice-versa. Still, he's accumulating nicely and looks a comfy as ever in the balls.

Robertson 1-3 Wilson (26-1)

And so is Kyren! He draws back the cue Stephen Lee-style, and punishes a long red to left corner, carrying on where he left off before the break. My SkyGo then crashes, so I don't see what happens next, but Kyren is still on one and Neil is at the table ready to sink the pink. There aren't many loose reds though, so picking a route through the balls will be taxing.

We're back...

Robertson 1-3 Wilson

We know that Kyren has the game to bother Neil, and when he scores heavily as well, he's a serious problem. It's nearly 40 minutes since Neil potted a ball, and he's got some thinking to do in the interval. Kyren's run ends when he misses the blue ... no it doesn't, he misses it to the green pocket and it shoots over into the yellow! But the pink stays out when he takes a wld swipe at it, so it's just the 117 and just the 311 unanswered points. See you on the other side of the break.

Robertson 1-2 Wilson (0-86)

Frame secure, Kyren can go ton-hunting, and there's no reason to think he won't come back with a kill. In comms, they note that he made more of them than Neil last season and has done likewise so far this, not something many would have expected.

Robertson 1-2 Wilson (0-57)

Kyren has worked this really well, and it's now a really good chance for a 3-1 mid-sesh lead. WIth a decent lead and plenty balls still on the table, he chances a deep screw off the black in the knowledge that he'll surely finish on something, and he does. i can't seem him faltering from here.

Robertson 1-2 Wilson (0-25)

But he's still grooved, cracking home a long red that's offered to him and apologising when a felicitous flick off the broon means he's good for the yellow. There's a lot of work to do, but momentum is with him.

Robertson 1-2 Wilson (0-8)

Kyren is seeing it. Neil misses a long red, Kyren clouts it straight across the table into left corner, and with the black available, he's away. Er, no he isn't. The black blocks his route to the next red, and though he looks at it repeatedly, eye closed, he can't encourage the balls to move so eventually he resigns himself to a safety.

Robertson 1-2 Wilson

As Celina Dion once noted, "Baby, this is serious". A run of 114 puts Kyren in the lead, and that is a statement.

Robertson 1-1 Wilson (0-57)

Kyren's found some form - though as I say that, a poor positional shot means he has to force a black - he does it well enough, cues long to send down the next red, and this is going to be the frame.

Robertson 1-1 Wilson (0-18)

Kyren is into this now, sinking a long red then easing a testing brown to left middle. He might've ignored that second pot to play safe, because the black is in play, but took it on and now he's down the business end seeking to reap the rewards.

Robertson 1-1 Wilson

This is going to be a long and fun night, I daresay.

Robertson 1-0 Wilson (0-58)

Kyren catches a safety a little thick and leaves Neil a long tempter; he misses it and sticks Kyren in. As he gets to work, we learn that Rob Spencer, the ref, has a son, who came 20th in the World Series Poker - decent.

Robertson 1-0 Wilson (0-44)

But when he digs into the pack off the blue, he hits the top red full-ball, slides down the wrong side of it, and has to pay safe, 44 points to the good. Not what he wanted, but not bad.

Robertson 1-0 Wilson (0-39)

Neil leaves Kyren a tricky cut-back red that's very close to the white and he sinks it well, then follows it with an equally taxing black. The hard work isn't done - the table isn't set all that enticingly - but it's still a table, which is better than no table and who is he to turn up his nose?

Robertson 1-0 Wilson

Kyren looks extremely miserable sat in his chair. He takes his snook extremely seriously, and knows that he's not playing to anything like his standard. I know the feeling, old mate.

Robertson 0-0 Wilson (55-29)

Neil is so brilliant in the balls and had a lovely rhythm against Mark J earlier today. He eases about the table potting balls, secures the frame with the blue, and Kyren knows that his afternoon form will not do the job.

Robertson 0-0 Wilson (17-29)

He has not, and a poor shot from Neil hands Kyren another opportunity. He's 37-27 up in frames played between the two, but what's this?! He botches a green off its spot, the kind of shot you or I might sink - "you miss one of those a season," says Angles on comms - and there's a strong chance it costs him the frame. What was he thinking?

Robertson 0-0 Wilson (1-17)

Kyren will have to play much better than he did this afternoon if he's to give Neil a game tonight. On the one hand, he sorted him very nicely at the Cruce, but on the other, you feel that he needs a long, sapping stretch to impose his game. And he starts badly, getting in then missing one with the rest - yes, the rest, not something we see from him often - then has to sit there as Neil flukes a starter and sticks him in behind the yellow. He escapes, but has he left one?

We go again!

Righto, that us done for the afternoon

Join us - and me - at 6.50 for Robertson v Wilson. That should be alright!

Kyren Wilson beats Jordan Brown 4-2!

He made hard work of that and will know that if he doesn't play very much better tonight, he's getting a seeing-to.

Wilson 3-2 Brown (24-41)

Bottom line: neither man is playing well enough to win this. But someone's going to have to, and when Jordan runs out of position he plays into what remains of the pack, the kind of shot that could have them cueing in and out for a while. But it doesn't work out that way, Jordan clipping home a fine starter, but just as he's settling, he fails to land on the red he planned for, misses a tight red to middle, and raps knuckles on table in nauseation. The ways the reds are, there's very little to do with the white, so Kyren should finish off from here.

Wilson 3-2 Brown (24-20)

Kyren gets himself in, but another poor positional shot means he's got a difficult black from close to the side cushion. He sinks it well, but catches it slightly thick, doesn't get the bounce he's wanting from the top, and a careless safety hands Jordan an opportunity. For the second frame in a row, he's at the table knowing that a mistake probably sends him home.

Wilson 3-2 Brown

Kyren should've been back in his hotel by now and the suspicion remains that he'll get it done, but whoever wins is back on the table in less than two hours, while TTFDU has been chilling since three.