Tour Championship 2021 - Neil Robertson powers into final with dominant win over Mark Selby

ByAlex Livie

Published 26/03/2021 at 21:06 GMT

Neil Robertson opened up a sizeable lead in the first session of his Tour Championship semi-final with Mark Selby. The Australian carried on the momentum in the evening session at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport to book his spot in the final where he will take on the winner of Ronnie O'Sullivan against Barry Hawkins.

Neil Robertson breezed into the final of the Tour Championship with a 10-3 win over Mark Selby.

The Australian broke the back of the final in the first session as he compiled a 6-2 lead.

He did not let up in the evening, making a statement century in the opening frame, and it set him up for a meeting with either Ronnie O’Sullivan or Barry Hawkins in the final at the Celtic Manor Resort on Sunday.

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It was a scrappy start to the evening, as it took nearly 13 minutes for a ball to be potted. Selby was first in but passed up the chance and Robertson punished him in ruthless style.

A 136, his fifth century of the event, eclipsed Jack Lisowski’s previous tournament best of 129 to set Robertson on his way to the winning line.

Losing the opening frame of the evening was a setback for Selby, seeing Robertson steal the second was a dagger to the heart.

Selby was well set with a 43-point lead, but he broke down and Robertson stroked a long red into the heart of the bottom right pocket and swiftly compiled an 84 to move further clear.

A break of 55 enabled Selby to stop the rot in the 11th frame, and it raised hope that one of the fiercest competitors in the game could mount a fight back against a player who had won six of their last seven meetings; all three this term.

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Robertson is well aware of Selby’s ability to win from unpromising positions, and produced the perfect response to losing the 11th frame.

A missed red from Selby handed the table to Robertson, but the balls were not well positioned. However, the 2010 world champion kept brilliant cueball control in a break of 103 - his 53rd century of the season - that only contained one black due to it being tied up for the majority of his time at the table.

Robertson secured victory in the 13th frame, but the only surprise was that he did not cap a fabulous display with a century. He looked well set on 45, only to surprisingly miss a black.

He got a second bite shortly afterwards and took it to book his place in a professional final for the 46th time in his career.

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