Neil Robertson sets up Hawkins showdown in Players Championship final
Neil Robertson will play Barry Hawkins in the 2022 Players Championship final after a 6-1 victory over Jimmy Robertson on Saturday.
The Thunder is set to face the Hawk in a repeat of last month’s Masters showpiece, which he won 10-4 to claim a second title.
And the three-time Players Championship runner-up will hope for a case of déjà vu as he looks to finally get his hands on the trophy at the fourth attempt.
Although, world number four Robertson was far from his fluent best; recording a top break of 86 as both players struggled to adapt to conditions inside Aldersley Leisure Village.
“I must admit we were both being trolled by the table,” he explained. “You can’t account for when a table plays like that.
“When a ball comes off the cushion two feet further than what it should, it makes it extremely difficult to play. [Jimmy] said after the match that it didn’t play anything like it did yesterday.
“We were both really struggling trying to adapt; trying not to use the cushions when you should be because you don’t know what’s going to happen.
“The arena’s far too cold; it was like that when I played Ronnie, it was like that in the first round, and it was like that again today.
“When you’re playing in leisure centres, you’ve got to get the humidity right and you’ve got to get the temperature right, or else the table’s going to be extremely inconsistent.”
Namesake Jimmy was appearing in the third ranking event semi-final of his career following an impressive 6-4 victory over reigning champion John Higgins on Friday.
The Sussex cueist was in first with 31 during the opening frame, but his opponent ruthlessly capitalised on an untimely miss with 86 on the way to opening a 3-0 lead.
The world number 38 responded by taking the final frame before the mid-session interval on a re-spotted black for a glimmer of hope.
However, he was unable to build on the momentum of that win over Higgins and the Australian took advantage; runs of 55 and 53 seeing him through to a 35th ranking event final.
“I had plenty of chances,” the defeated Robertson added.
“At this level – in the semi-finals of a big tournament – you’ve got to perform a lot better than that. I didn’t take any of my chances.
“It was tough out there; I think I bogged him down as well. [I was] really poor today.”