Neil Robertson v Chris Wakelin live stream | World Snooker Championship 2025 preview
Robertson marks his Crucible return on Saturday (Cody Froggatt/Sportimage Credit: Sportimage Ltd/Alamy Live News)
Neil Robertson makes his Crucible return when he locks horns with Chris Wakelin in the World Championship first round on Saturday.
The 2010 World Champion is back in Sheffield, having missed out last year for the first time since 2004.
Robertson was beaten 10-9 by Jamie Jones on Judgement Day, but steered well clear of the qualifying rounds following a return to form this season.
The Australian claimed his first ranking title in over two-and-a-half years at the English Open in September, before landing the World Grand Prix last month following a 10-0 whitewash of Stuart Bingham in the final.
Robertson has reaped the benefits of working closely with a sports psychologist and coach Joe Perry this term, while also switching to a titanium ferrule shortly before his World Grand Prix triumph.
Despite his pedigree in the game, the 43-year-old’s Crucible record is generally modest by his standards, with his 19 previous campaigns yielding just three appearances in the one-table setup.
Nevertheless, he has still made his mark at snooker’s blue-riband event; memorably completing his seasonal century of centuries in 2014, while compiling a magical 147 against Jack Lisowski eight years later.
Robertson faces a potential banana skin in the opening round against one of the highest-ranked qualifiers in Wakelin.
The world number 20 had climbed into the top 16 for the first time earlier this season, having been runner-up to Ding Junhui at the International Championship and reached the English Open semi-finals.
That culminated in him being seeded at the UK Championship and earning a debut at the Masters, though Wakelin subsequently dropped out of the elite bracket following a run of four first-round exits in five events.
However, despite having to go through qualifying, he wasted little time, dropping just seven frames as he comfortably overcame Xing Zihao (10-5) and former Welsh Open finalist Martin O’Donnell (10-2).
Wakelin now looks to record his maiden victory in four attempts at the Crucible, in what is his first appearance since 2022.
Two-time semi-finalist Mark Allen or former European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi awaits the winner of this clash in the second round.
The match breaks off at 2.30pm BST on Saturday with the opening nine frames, before resuming at 7pm on Sunday with a maximum of 10 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
How to watch Neil Robertson v Chris Wakelin live stream
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