NEIL ROBERTSON was the victim of a bizarre bit of bad luck in his English Open match against Jackson Page on Wednesday.
The Australian cueist was competing in his round of 32 match at one frame apiece when he lined up to pot the black.
Neil Robertson was lining up a shot on the black against Jackson PageX @WST
The black went into the pocket, but the rebound did not go as intendedX @WST
X @WSTInstead of breaking the pack, the ball curved through a narrow gap[/caption]
X @WSTthe ball then took off to the other side of the table[/caption]
Still early in the frame, Robertson had hopes of rebounding the ball back and breaking up the pack of reds that still remained on the table.
He potted the black into the corner pocket comfortably, but his setup did not go quite to plan.
The ball boomeranged back, somehow threading the needle through the pack of reds, and ending up behind the green at the other end of the table.
The shot left the commentator perplexed as ‘the Thunder from Down Under’ watched on in astonishment.
The caller said: “Well, he’s gone through a gap which didn’t seem to exist.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing that again, how did he go through there?
“Like an invisible cue ball!”
The replay from an angle directly above the table revealed that after contact, the cue ball’s spin had steered it in a sharp curve, as if it had a mind of its own.
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X @WSTIt ended up behind the green ball, leaving him few options[/caption]
X @WSTRobertson was stunned by his poor fortune[/caption]
The arc of the ball could not have been any better positioned to steer it around the reds, before clipping the cushion and bouncing behind the green ball.
Instead of a nice broken pack or convenient angle, he now had just a few reds on the perimeter to try and pick off from distance to keep his turn at the table going.
The unlikely setback summed up a difficult day for the Aussie, with world No. 34 Page rallying to a shocking 4-1 upset victory.
It was not the way the 43-year-old would have envisioned his title defence going in Brentwood, owing perhaps in part to his concerns regarding tiredness after rushing to Melbourne last week to collect an honour, the Medal of Order.
His recent efforts to up his game, including receiving advice from the best to ever do it, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and hiring a new team to get the best out of himself, did not pay dividends this time, but it has still been a resurgent year for the Aussie so far.
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