Robertson roars past Wakelin to reach English Open final

Neil Robertson will play Wu Yize in this year’s English Open final following a commanding 6-1 win over Chris Wakelin on Saturday.

The Australian is through to his first 37th ranking final – and first since the 2022 Tour Championship. Awaiting him is Yize, who whitewashed Ishpreet Singh Chadha 6-0 earlier at Brentwood Centre.

Robertson, who lifted the Steve Davis trophy in 2021, hit breaks of 92 and 71 on the way to progressing to his third English Open showpiece.

And the Thunder will fancy getting his hands on a fourth Home Nations crown, having dropped just five frames all week.

Robertson overturned a 54-11 deficit to snatch the opening frame on the black, before doubling his lead with a break of 92.

Wakelin, appearing in only his third ranking quarter-final, responded with 82 to halve the deficit, but his opponent controlled the next two frames with runs of 47 and 49 along the way.

The 2010 World champion then produced a 71 clearance from 46-0 adrift to move within a frame of victory, for which he required no second invitation to secure as contributions of 47 and 42 got him over the line.

That teed up a clash with Yize in Sunday’s showpiece, with the world number 41 reaching his first ranking final – becoming the 14th different Chinese player to do so.

After dethroning reigning champion Judd Trump in the quarter-finals, Yize found himself up against the week’s surprise package in Singh Chadha, who had stunned Mark Selby on the final black just over 12 hours earlier.

Although, this contest was to be very much one-way traffic. The Chinese controlled the opening two frames, before a neat 56 clearance from 61-11 adrift snatched the third on the black.

Runs of 32 and 47 put him 4-0 to the good at the interval, though his opponent had the opportunity to pull a frame back at 46-0 up in the fifth.

However, Yize fought back to snatch it on the pink and effectively thwart any faint hopes Singh Chadha may have had of coming back, with a 73 in the following frame completing the whitewash.

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English Open 2024 | Semi-Final Results

Saturday September 21

Wu Yize 6-0 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Chris Wakelin 1-6 Neil Robertson