Why Neil Robertson was disappointed with UK Championship qualifying despite progressing

11/21/2024 06:08 PM

Neil Robertson came through UK Championship qualifying, but was disappointed with the poor attendance at the event in Leicester.

Only the top 16 in the world go straight to York for the main stages, starting on Saturday, with the rest of the tour battling it out in qualifying to join them.

Robertson has slipped outside the top 16 but beat Oliver Lines and Matthew Stevens to book his place at the Barbican, where he has a stunning opening round clash with Judd Trump.

He was delighted to progress, but was not impressed with the sparse crowd in Leicester, despite a number of brilliant players being on display.

‘Qualifying for the Worlds was a little bit of a shock last season but I thought the set-up was really good, but it’s still not the same,’ said Robertson.

‘Now here I guess I was a bit disappointed in the crowd, I thought it would be a bit bigger being the UK Championship. There weren’t too many people here, and there were a lot of really good matches and a lot of fantastic players.

‘Not too sure why because the qualifying for the World Championship was absolutely packed it and it felt like a real event. Here was disappointing so I was really pleased to get through.’

The Thunder from Down Under certainly had a point, with the small arena far from full on either Judgement Day.

Robertson vs Trump is a sensational game for the last 32 and the Australian says he expected to see it come out of the hat.

‘I predicted it. I think World Snooker would love to see myself playing Judd or Ronnie so I fully expected that kind of draw,’ he said.

Confirming there was no funny business in the draw, he added: ‘No! It just always happens like that.

‘I remember Ding [Junhui] drawing Ronnie [O’Sullivan] in the first round of the World Championship. There’s just so many of these blockbuster games that seem to happen.

‘I don’t think there’s any fiddling around with the draw. The winners there are World Snooker for sure.’

Robertson needed a decider to beat Lines 6-5 in his opener but had a much more comfortable evening against Stevens on Thursday night, winning 6-2.

‘The first match going 5-4 down to Oli and everything was going against me,’ he said. ‘Today I was just a bit more polished and I thought I was really good value for the win, I think I played a really good match all round.’