Scottish Open 2022: Joe O’Connor stuns Neil Robertson to book place in first final of his career
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Published 03/12/2022 at 23:21 GMT
Joe O’Connor advanced to a final for the first time in his career with a shock win over Neil Robertson in the semi-finals of the Scottish Open. Stream the Scottish Open and more top snooker action live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch Seventh Heaven, a two-part show about Ronnie O’Sullivan’s historic World Championship win last season, on demand now.
O’Connor produces 'break of the tournament' to stun Robertson at Scottish Open
Joe O’Connor pulled off the biggest win of his career to date to stun Neil Robertson and book his place in the final of the Scottish Open.
Their only previous meeting resulted in a whitewash for Robertson, but O’Connor showed no signs of nerves, withstood everything the Australian threw at him and stood tall to secure a 6-3 win.
Robertson produced a performance that was bordering on perfection in beating Mark Selby 24 hours earlier.
A day on he made three centuries, but they were the only three frames he claimed as O'Connor stunned the 2010 world champion.
Selby learnt to his cost in the quarter-finals that even leaving a half-chance to Robertson was costly, and O’Connor was taught that lesson early as the Australian crunched in a sparkling opening red, followed up with a blistering blue and ran through a break of 137 to take the opener.
The sight of a red-hot Robertson mopping up a total clearance in the opening frame could have unsettled O’Connor. His worries may have increased when the world No. 4 got in again in the second, but his split of the pack did not work out and O’Connor countered with a nerve-settling 57 to get his first frame on the board in his first semi-final since the 2019 Welsh Open.
O’Connor’s only previous meeting with Robertson resulted in a chastening 6-0 loss at the UK Championship. Robertson offered an apology to O’Connor for the way he played in that match, suggesting it was disrespectful.
He said O’Connor had improved immeasurably since that contest, and he served notice of that with a fine starting red in the third frame. As well as showing off his potting, the underdog demonstrated his match-craft by winning a safety battle towards the end of the frame and rolling in a tough yellow to get himself in front.
Robertson has spoken about not wanting matches to be dragged into the weeds, and a 17-minute re-rack in the fourth frame after reds were chipped over the bottom left would not have been to his taste.
The re-rack probably did Robertson a favour, as he stepped in with a second century of the match and 20th of the season, a 127, to go in level at the interval.
Robertson came out after the interval and crafted a supreme 116. For much of the break a century did not look on as the table was tough, but he picked off balls, developed others and ran through his third ton of the match to get back in front.
The weight of scoring was in Robertson’s favour, but O’Connor was a match in the safety exchanges and he crafted a chance after a lengthy exchange in the sixth. And he showed he can score when the chance presents itself with a total clearance of 137 to draw level.
Centuries get fans excited, and there were two 137s and a 127 earlier in the match, but O'Connor produced the break of the tournament with a clearance of 47 to pull off grand larceny in the seventh.
Robertson was one red from getting ahead, but it did not drop and O’Connor produced a string of shots that simply defied belief. The break looked over with the final red welded to the baulk cushion, as he needed a blue to give him a chance of winning the frame. He powered it in with deep screw and got on the blue, knocked it in and went to dish the colours to edge ahead.
After some superb passages of play, the eighth was a scrappy, cagey, nervy affair. Both had chances, with Robertson looking set to draw level only to miss a black when attempting to force it get on the yellow.
Robertson trudged away from the table in frustration, and salt was rubbed into the wounds as O’Connor cleared to the blue to move 5-3 ahead.
O’Connor had no form of note to his name for a couple of years, but something clicked in Edinburgh and he produced a glorious break of 71 to get him over the line.
On a couple of occasions it looked like end of break, but he refused to allow Robertson back to the table and pulled off a couple of astounding pots to help him seal the win.
He said before the match that it was an opportunity, and he seized it with both hands to set up a final against Gary Wilson who beat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh earlier in the day.
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Stream the 2023 Masters and more top snooker action live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch Seventh Heaven, a two-part show about Ronnie O’Sullivan’s historic World Championship win last season, on demand now.
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