Neil Robertson backs Ronnie O’Sullivan to have World Snooker Championship to remember

Neil Robertson says Ronnie O’Sullivan has a great chance of a seventh World Championship title this year and will ‘blitz’ the opening rounds, if he continues the form he showed at the recent Tour Championship.

The Australian won that event but only after beating the Rocket in a superb semi-final which went all the way to a deciding frame and Robertson squeaked 10-9.

He may have lost, but O’Sullivan was clearly playing great stuff, as he did in his quarter-final win over Mark Williams as well.

There may be a touch of mind games to it and wanting to shift pressure away from his own shoulders as the tournament favourite, but Robertson is backing the six-time champ to have a great time in Sheffield this year and maybe match Stephen Hendry’s world title record.

‘Ronnie looks in brilliant form to go for Stephen Hendry’s record,’ Robertson told the Sunday Post. ‘This is probably the most focused that I’ve seen him for a long time, actually, and that makes him dangerous.

‘He’ll be feeling really good about his game going to the Crucible for sure.

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‘I played him at the Tour Championship and if Ronnie plays anywhere like the way he played there then he’ll blitz his way to the one-table set-up. There’s no one who can really withstand that.

‘He didn’t play any stupid shots against me, didn’t do anything silly, didn’t really miss anything easy. His safety play was unbelievable.’

O’Sullivan has said something similar about Robertson, tipping the Thunder from Down Under for Crucible glory after