Neil Robertson floats idea of one-table Crucible experience for all

Neil Robertson issued a radical proposal for dual World Championship venues after sweeping into the second round at the Crucible on with a 10-5 win over Ashley Hugill.

The Australia has been a long-time critic of the cramped conditions during the two-table set-up at the Sheffield venue.

And he believes a potential answer could lie in identifying a second, similarly sized auditorium in the city which could act as a second, simultaneous stage through the early-round matches.

Robertson said: "My idea is to make it kind of like Wimbledon, where you have Centre Court and Court One, so you give everyone who qualifies the one-table experience.

"I think if you had two Crucible venues that are equal, it would be an amazing experience for everyone to end their season - Sheffield is well equipped to deal with that.

"It's just an idea. Everyone gets to experience that from round one at the Masters, whereas here there's only four (semi-finalists). Being the World Championship, it should be the biggest event from the start, not the semi-finals."

Robertson cemented his status as title favourite by shrugging off an early scare against the Crucible debutant, having started with a 127 in the opening frame but fallen 3-1 behind in the early stages of their match on Monday.

Five frames on the bounce, including two more centuries, put him in a commanding position overnight and Robertson looked in no mood to hang around as he extended his streak to eight upon Tuesday morning's resumption.

But Hugill dug deep to delay the inevitable, surviving a scary safety battle in the next as Robertson got one of the two snookers that would have enabled him to wrap up victory before the mid-session interval.

A superb 82 clearance helped Hugill further reduce the