Neil Robertson vowed to get back to his ‘brutal’ best and resume ‘burying opponents’ after a 5-0 demolition of Jimmy Robertson at the BetVictor German Masters in Berlin.
The Australian is in the midst of one of his worst ever seasons, having not been beyond the last 32 of any ranking event and suffered four first round exits so far.
Despite being currently ranked seventh in the world, Robertson is projected to lose his place in the top eight and miss out on the upcoming Riyadh Season World Masters of Snooker. He is also on course to fall out of the top 16 and require a trip to the qualifying rounds for the World Championship.
However, 23-time ranking event winner Robertson has been putting in all the hours to ensure a return to form. Having won five in a row during his 5-1 first round win over Sanderson Lam, he has now won ten frames on the bounce.
Robertson crafted breaks of 87, 78, 135 and 86 during this morning’s victory and he now plays close friend Joe Perry, who beat Xing Zihao 5-1.
“I need to get back to being brutal and burying opponents into the ground. There are no happy, smiley handshakes anymore. I want the worst for my opponent on the table. Away from it fine, but on the table I want them to suffer."
Neil Robertson
2010 World Champion
Robertson added: “I’m just really focussed on getting the best out of my performances and doing the best that I can do. That is super hard work, eating well, sleeping well, diet and physical exercise. There is absolutely no stone which is going to be unturned from now until the rest of the season.”
Judd Trump continued his quest to scoop the £150,000 BetVictor Bonus with an event to spare, beating Matthew Stevens 5-3.
The player who accumulates the most money over the series earns the bumper payout, with only the BetVictor Welsh Open to go after this week.
Trump has already won two BetVictor Series events so far this season at the English Open and the Northern Ireland Open to establish a big lead. Only Barry Hawkins, John Higgins and Mark Allen remain in the hunt to catch him.
“I’ve got the incentive of trying to do well and put the series to bed in this tournament. I’m still in and hopefully I can improve in the next game,” said 2019 World Champion Trump.
“I’ve probably already scored more points than anyone has ever won it with before, so I would be incredibly unlucky not to win it from this position. I managed to pip Neil Robertson in the last event a couple of years ago. I don’t want that to happen to me. I’ve been very consistent in the series and I hope I can do the same here.”
Allen sealed his progression with a 5-2 win over Louis Heathcote. The Northern Irishman needs to win the title to remain in the hunt for the BetVictor Series bonus.
Chinese rookie He Guoqiang scored a shock 5-1 win over three-time World Champion Mark Williams. He crafted contributions of 121, 64 and 102 in the last three frames to secure a famous victory.
Defending champion Ali Carter eased through by a 5-1 scoreline against Peng Yisong and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh edged past Zhang Anda 5-4.
