Monday heading into Tuesday’s session.
Robertson remained calm under tremendous pressure as he scored huge breaks of 107, 119 and 132 in the seventh, eighth and ninth frames.
He subsequently grabbed the next three frames, enabling him to take a comfortable 9-4 lead and move to within one of advancing through to round two.
Hugill’s comeback attempt falls short
Hugill tried to pull out all the stops and managed to beat Robertson in the 13th frame and get a break of 82 in the next to reduce the deficit to four.
“In any match I can reel off seven frames in a row no matter the opposition,” Robertson said. “All areas of my game were pretty good. I struggled a little bit with the table. In previous years, I’d have let that annoy me, but I had to adapt. Whatever happens this year, I’m just going to adapt and do my best,” he added.
However, it proved to be too little and too late as Robertson put up a masterful performance in the next frame to finish with a score of 110 and pocket his 58th ton of the season.
Will Robertson finally end title-drought in Sheffield?
Robertson has been a spectacle to watch this year, having won four titles including the Masters, but his record in Sheffield has been atrocious.
The 40-year-old has only reached a single semifinal since winning the title more than a decade ago. Robertson will be tested in the next round as he is set to battle the winner of the Jack Lisowski-Matthew Stevens match.
Other players that are expected to challenge Robertson for the title are Scotland’s four-time champion John Higgins, former Masters champion Yan Bingtao and Englishman Stuart Bingham.
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