Neil Robertson beats Mark Selby to win China Open

Neil Robertson warmed up for the World Championship by claiming his first ranking title in two-and-a-half years after beating Mark Selby in the final of the China Open yesterday.

Robertson had not triumphed at a ranking event since winning the World Open in September 2010, but gave himself the perfect opportunity to end that drought by taking a 6-1 interval lead in a drawn-out first session.

Selby managed to cut the deficit to two frames, but Robertson pulled clear once more to seal a 10-6 victory.

Selby won the opening frame with a break of 58 but breaks of 50 and 91 saw the momentum turn in Robertson’s favour and the Australian won the next two frames on the colours. He extended his lead and even though there were scheduled to be nine frames in the first session of this best-of-19 encounter, a prolonged affair ensured only seven were played.

Tournament organisers called a halt to the action with Robertson 6-1 ahead to allow the players some rest.

That seemed to work in Selby’s favour, with consecutive breaks of 81, 125 and 66 to reduce the arrears to two.

Robertson stopped the rot with an effortless 110 and then a break of 90 moved him to one frame from victory after he had taken a scrappy 12th.

Runs of 116 and 63 helped Selby cut the gap to three frames, but Robertson showed his resolve to clinch victory.