Robertson Into Semis – And Hopes Baby Will Wait
Neil Robertson scored a 6-4 win over Mark Williams at the Coral Players Championship – then revealed he is on red alert as his partner could go into labour with their new baby at any moment.
Robertson and his fiancé Mille are due to have their second child on March 20th. And the Aussie hopes the baby will not come early while he is battling for the title this week in Preston. He faces Judd Trump in the semi-finals at the Guild Hall on Friday evening, needing just two more wins to take the £125,000 top prize (limited number of tickets still available, for details click here).
“If the baby comes early then I will have to dash off home, maybe Judd is hoping that happens!” said the 37-year-old. “It is strange, it could happen at any point and I have to prepare myself for that. The fortunate thing is that I’m in the UK and only a few hours drive away. Hopefully the baby will come when it is due in a couple of weeks.”
Robertson, who has been in fine form this season having won the Riga Masters and Welsh Open, lost the first two frames today against World Champion Williams, but then stormed back to take five in a row with top breaks of 63, 62, 95 and 75.
Welshman Williams made a 56 to take the next then got the better of a scrappy ninth frame to close to 5-4. And he had chances in the tenth but couldn’t take advantage. Robertson came to the table 17 points behind with the black, pink and baulk colours all safe on cushions. But he fashioned an excellent break of 54 by potting eight reds with blues, and that proved enough for victory.
“At 2-0 down it wasn’t looking good,” said 15-time ranking event winner Robertson. “I battled my way back to 2-2 then after the interval I managed to find some kind of rhythm. I was delighted to get through in the end.
“My game is really good. Myself and Judd are two form players. He is going for the big jackpot (£500,000 prize money available for winning all three Coral Series events) but this tournament is big enough as it is so he won’t be thinking about that. It’s a chance to get to a final. He got me in the semi-finals of the Masters in a close one so hopefully I can return the favour.”