Sussex pair reach third round of snooker's English open

The Bexhill-on-Sea potter booked his place in round three of the Milton Keynes tournament after breezing past Chinese player Duo Honghao 4-1, as four half-century breaks steered him into the last 32.

And that equalled the world No.26’s best run at the Home Nations competition, having struggled to advance to the latter stages since his debut in 2016.

Robertson says he piled on the pounds in lockdown but hopes early morning running can help crystallise his focus.

“I went running this morning - I found a nice route around Asda, the stadium and through a few under tunnels,” the 34-year-old said.

“It was just a bit of fresh air to get the heart pumping and I’ll do the same thing tomorrow.

“I’m not really into my fitness but I try and do it - I’ve put on a little bit of weight and I need to try and lose a little bit, and the fitter I am the more sharp I am.

“It 100 per cent helps me on the table - my diet is no good so I need to change a few things and fitness is one of them.”

South coast star Robertson crafted steady breaks of 84, 65, 59 and 55 at the Marshall Arena to floor his Chinese opponent - ranked 32 places below him - in the space of five frames.

Robertson has endured a difficult few years at the competition, however, which is usually held in Crawley but has this season relocated to Milton Keynes owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

He crashed out at the first hurdle on his 2016 debut and followed that up with frustrating second and third round exits in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The opening matches are contested in a best-of-seven format and Robertson reckons that quick-fire set-up can make results a lottery.

“It’s a short format and every game’s tough,” he added.

“I don’t know what it is and I can’t put my finger on what it is, but it would just be nice to get on a nice little run in these best of sevens and try and make it to the best of nines.

“I’m trying really hard every game and hopefully I can get past the last 32.

“The tournament really gets going now and it’s nice to still be here by the Thursday - I’ve made the last 16 in some of the other Home Nations but not the English, so we’ll see what happens.”

St. Leonards player Mark Davis also advanced to the third round after clinching a topsy-turvy encounter against China's Zhao Xintong.

The world No.40 came out on top after an intriguing seven frames in Milton Keynes where he held his nerve in a scrappy decider.

Davis, 48, made breaks of 55, 54 and 50 and while world No.29 Zhao made two half centuries of his own it was not enough to prevent the south coast player edging over the line.

Davis will now meet world No.3 and 2010 world champion Neil Robertson in the third round on Thursday.

Watch the snooker English Open live on Eurosport, Eurosport app and Quest