Australia’s Neil Robertson sets up Stephen Hendry clash after beating Jamie Cope: 2012 China Open
Former World Snooker Championship winner from Australia, Neil Robertson has made his way into the second round of the 2012 China Open snooker tournament after ousting England’s Jamie Cope in the first round by a close score line of 5-4. The Aussie will next
meet the former seven-time World Snooker Champion from Scotland, Stephen Hendry in Round 2 of the event.
The Robertson-Cope match seemed a piece of cake for the Aussie because performance wise there was a great difference between both potters but Cope showed great resistance during the match and pushed the Thunder from Down Under into a deciding frame where
he could not maintain his form and tumbled down. Robertson, despite showing unconvincing performance in the match, was able to hit the winning spot after taking the final frame.
The Victorian potter grabbed early lead in the match by 2-1 clinching two frame wins and was about to make it 3-1 before Cope came back into the game brilliantly and pulled level at 2-2. Cope continued his impressive form and pushed the Aussie 3-4 down.
Before Cope could do more damage to the 30-year-old Robertson, he bounced back terrifically and breezed into back-to-back frame wins to take the match 5-4.
Speaking to World Snooker after his victory, Robertson said, “I should have been 3-1 up at the interval, instead it was 2-2 which was I little bit disappointing. It was a really tough match. Jamie's safety was really good and I couldn't get any good scoring
opportunities, I couldn't get any fluency in my game.”
He added, “I had to fight hard for every shot, and from 4-3 down I played two really good frames. I'm very happy to get through to the next round.”
Robertson’s next opponent is the veteran cueman, Stephen Hendry in the second round of the tournament. The Victorian potter has played Hendry a couple of times in his career and has performed well against him so he has a psychological advantage over him.
However, undoubtedly the game will be thrilling encounter as both potters have been impressive in the current season.
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