Robertson trails Jones after first session of World Championship qualifier

On ‘Judgement Day’ in the 2024 World Snooker Championship qualifiers, Neil Robertson trails Jamie Jones after the first session, sitting 5-4 down in Sheffield.

Robertson was forced to enter the nine-day qualification stage for the first time since 2006, having dropped out of the world’s top 16 in late March via a defeat to Ding Junhui in China.

In the afternoon session of this final round, he missed a red into the middle pocket early in the first which set the tone, as Jones capitalised to take the frame. The Australian’s edginess continued in the second as he went two down.

But the 42-year-old recovered to tie it up at 2-2, with that levelling frame seeing him score a break of 103. It marked his 100th century at the World Championships, joining an elite club featuring Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and John Higgins.

Jones immediately bit back with an even better break of 135 to retake the lead, only for Robertson to hit 70 and then 104 in successive frames to inch ahead. The former world No.1 was pegged back once again by the resilient Welshman, and then in the extremely cagey final frame of the session, fell behind.

If he makes it through to the Crucible, Robertson will look to win the title for the first time since 2010, with his best performances since being one semi-final and five quarters.

Elsewhere at the English Institute of Sport, Hossein Vafaei emerged from a sticky spot at 3-0 down to go ahead against Jiang Jun, while the most one-sided affair comes via David Gilbert’s racing into a 6-0 lead over Xiao Guodong.