Snooker: Graeme Dott last hope of Scot in quarters

Graeme Dott resumes today 62 down to Shaun Murphy in the second round. Picture: Jamie McDonald/Getty

Players from north of the border have landed 12 of the last 23 titles in Sheffield, with Stephen Hendry landing seven of those, Higgins four and Dott one.

Only Dott is left flying the Saltire in Sheffield this year, though, and it’s looking limp after he spent most of yesterday’s first session in his chair watching Murphy’s masterclass.

The Larkhall potter has it all to do in his last-16 match-up as he trails the 2005 world champion by four frames ahead of this morning’s resumption.

Dott, who succeeded Murphy as world champion in 2006, fired in a 77 break in frame two to level things up at one frame all. But Murphy, the world No 4, then produced the sort of thrilling snooker that has seen him take both the world and UK titles in his career.

The 30-year-old who has already got the better of Dott this year in a major ranking tournament, beating him in the second round of the UK Championships – fired in breaks of 128, 112, 54 and 99 to take a 6-2 lead from the pair’s opening exchanges.

In the first round, meanwhile, Robert Milkins caused a stunning upset yesterday as he knocked Neil Robertson out. In a round littered by shocks, the 37-year-old Gloucester man’s win against the world No 2 was among the most surprising.

He resumed 5-4 behind after taking the final two frames on Wednesday and, with Robertson a long way short of his best, Milkins was able to clinch a 10-8 victory.

From the outset yesterday afternoon, it was clear Robertson was struggling with his game, and world No 19 Milkins took a 46-minute opener to level at 5-5 before going ahead for the first time in the match.

Robertson showed some form with an 86 break to draw level but fluency was in short supply for the man from Melbourne. Milkins left the Australian needing four snookers at the end of the 17th frame, at 8-8, and he got three of them.

But Milkins clipped in a difficult long brown ball and added blue and pink to go one frame away from victory.

Making his first appearance at the Crucible since 2005, Milkins showed few nerves as the winning line approached, but, when he missed a blue on 51, they might have been jangling a little. But Robertson could not capitalise on his chance to force a decider and Milkins clinched the biggest win of his career.

Milkins said: “I’m absolutely chuffed to bits. Beating Neil over best of 19, it doesn’t come much better than that.

“I thought I did well to come out 5-4 behind last night and I probably didn’t play so well today but it put him under pressure, I think. It’s great, I’m ecstatic. I’m just happy for everyone connected to me.”

Robertson conceded the more resilient player won, saying: “I hardly won any of the scrappy frames and that was down to his good play. He handled the pressure a lot better than he perhaps would have done a few years ago. It’s not really a gutting defeat for me.”