Snooker: Neil Robertson Completes Eighth 6-2 Victory in the Masters, in One of the Strangest Matches in History
London – United News Network – UNN: Australian snooker player Neil Robertson completed an unprecedented eighth 6-2 victory in the first round of the “Masters” tournament, after advancing past British player Chris Wakelin to reach the quarter-finals.
This comes after Chinese player Wu Yize began the streak of identical results by defeating defending champion Shaun Murphy on Sunday at Alexandra Palace in London.
World number one Judd Trump also advanced last Wednesday afternoon, by a single-frame margin over China’s Ding Junhui, becoming the seventh consecutive player to win with a 6-2 score in the first round—a feat previously estimated at odds of 44,000 to 1.
However, more surprises were to come, as Robertson, a former world champion, completed the clean sweep with a 6-2 victory in Wednesday evening’s match. This brought the total of all eight first-round matches ending with the same score to eight victories. It turned out that the probability of all first eight matches ending with that specific score was estimated at 220,000 to 1.
In total, the staggering probability of predicting both the exact frame scores and the eight winners correctly was estimated at 20,000,000 to 1.
The number of first-round matches ending in a 6-2 score had never exceeded four in the history of the Masters at any level. But after two-time tournament champion Robertson, an Australian national, scored stunning back-to-back centuries after the mid-session interval—thereby strengthening his lead—the chance of a complete sweep seemed certain.
Wakelin, participating in the Masters for the second time in his career, took the final spot following the withdrawal of British snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan, the record-holder with nine titles, and was unable to stop this winning trend.
Robertson joked during an interview with BBC Four: “I wasn’t thinking about winning the match at all; I was only thinking about winning it 6-2.”
He added: “I didn’t know if someone in the crowd might have placed a one-pound bet on all the matches having the same score or something like that. It’s fantastic. I hope it made someone a multi-millionaire. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
Former snooker player and seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry echoed the sentiment: “It’s absolutely remarkable. Usually, you’d see at least three 6-5 matches because of the nature of the tournament and the game.”
“It’s unbelievable. After the break, the players showed marked improvement and real progress in their levels.”
Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, matched this assessment, adding: “I have never seen anything like this in the game of snooker.”
Robertson, who recorded brilliant centuries of 116, 135, and 102 during the match, will next face England’s Kyren Wilson this coming Friday (19:00 GMT).
United News Network – UNN Arabic
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