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Welsh Open: Stuart Bingham and Neil Robertson advance to final


Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham showed the class of world champions to set up a mouthwatering final showdown in snooker's Welsh Open.

First, Bingham rattled in four centuries in a five-frame burst of scoring which youngster Joe O'Connor simply couldn't live with, ultimately sealing a 6-2 success.

Then, Neil Robertson produced two century breaks of his own - including a sumptuous 140 in frame four - as he whitewashed Hossein Vafaei in a 6-0 romp which took less than two hours.

It means that a tournament punctuated by shock results will see two world-class players take part in Sunday's final and while Bingham boasts the head-to-head superiority, Robertson beat him 5-0 in the German Masters recently and 6-0 on their previous meeting.

Bingham pulls clear of O'Connor

Bingham produced some outstanding snooker en route to the last four and stepped up another gear against the inexperienced O'Connor, making four centuries in a one-sided success.

After the first two frames were shared, breaks of 107 and 100 gave Bingham a clear lead and underlined the size of the task facing O'Connor in what was his first ranking semi-final.

While he got back within one by taking the next, the form which had seen him oust John Higgins on Friday was lacking as Bingham pounced with further breaks of 104 and 125.

Bingham then took control of the eighth frame and with O'Connor unable to force the snookers he required, it was the senior man who finished the job.

Robertson wastes no time

Robertson was just as impressive, ruthlessly taking advantage of some early nerves from Vafaei to quickly assert his authority.

A 103 break in the opener and 140 clearance in frame four saw him establish a 4-0 lead at the mid-session interval and there was no change to the cadence of the match after a short break, as the Aussie completed the job with a break of 83.

Robertson said: "You never really expect to win so comfortably. Hossein had his chances in the first four frames; every little mistake he made I punished fully. That is what you have to do. You can’t let the crowd get behind the underdog. I just kept applying the pressure.

"I feel at the top of my game, no doubt. I’m hitting the ball great and playing with a smile on my face. The goal is to go out there and entertain the crowd and make them go away thinking about what a great match they have seen.

"Stuart is more than capable of crushing anyone on his day as well. He is such a heavy scorer, he plays the game very aggressively. We both play attacking snooker and hopefully I can get on top and have a good run and win convincingly. I’m also prepared for it being scrappy and can fight it out if need be as well."

Both Robertson and Bingham have been involved in the final of this event twice, winning once and losing once, and Sunday's showdown promises much.

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