Tour Championship: Neil Robertson beats Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-9 to reach final

Neil Robertson has won three of four high profile encounters with Ronnie O'Sullivan this season

Defending Champion Neil Robertson won the deciding frame of a high quality semi-final with Ronnie O'Sullivan to reach the Tour Championship final in Llandudno.

However, Robertson won the final two frames to triumph 10-9.

"It's a huge win. He's the best player ever. I thought it was a brilliant match." said Australian Robertson.

"You won't see better quality from two players than the first session today."

The pair ended the afternoon session level at four frames all and after O'Sullivan, 46, took the first frame of the evening Robertson edged ahead to lead 7-5 and then 8-6.

The Englishman responded to take the next three frames, a break of 112 not only putting O'Sullivan within touching distance of victory but making him the first player in snooker history to score five centuries in successive matches.

He also hit five hundreds in his 10-9 quarter-final victory over Mark Williams.

Robertson tied the match again with victory in a nervy 18th frame, before producing a match-winning break of 80 in the decider to reach his second successive Tour Championship final.

The Melbourne-born 40-year-old will now face either John Higgins or Luca Brecel for the title, they play the second semi-final on Saturday.

"You always have to enjoy playing the greats of the game because you never know how long it is going to happen for," said Robertson.

"Whenever I play the likes of John Higgins, Ronnie or Mark Williams I always savour the moment. These guys were idols of mine growing up. I never thought I would meet them let alone play them."

O'Sullivan was full of praise for his opponent in a match in which only two of the 19 frames did not feature a break of at least 50 from one of the two players.

"Brilliant. He's like that pretty much all the time now, the level he plays at," said O'Sullivan, who beat Robinson in the first ever Tour Championship final in 2019.

"He's an incredible player, great to watch. It's great to have him in the game."

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