Robertson edges win over sticky O’Brien

NEIL ROBERTSON avoided a sticky end to his Betfred.com World Championship campaign but admitted knocking out Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien was as tough as extracting chewing gum from a carpet.

The 28-year-old Australian made a maximum 147 break inside 15 minutes at the recent China Open, but a Crucible record for the slowest frame almost fell as he and O’Brien became entrenched in a tense battle for the crunch 13th frame in their Crucible opener.

Robertson finally took it after an hour and nine minutes – six minutes short of the record set by Stephen Maguire and Mark King last year – to gain an 8-5 lead.