China’s Cao Yupeng was one frame away from winning his first ranking title but saw Australia’s Neil Robertson took the final five frames in dramatic fashion for a 9-8 victory in the Scottish Open final in Glasgow on Sunday.
Robertson, a former world number one, had never been ahead in the match until he secured the deciding frame, trailing 3-5 and 4-8.
“I’ve never experienced that before in my life in a match of that magnitude where I’m out, basically, and then somehow I get another chance,” the 35-year-old told the BBC.
“Especially with how well Yupeng was playing to be 8-4. He just completely outplayed me. Up to that stage I thought it was one of the best performances ever against me.
“Some of the mistakes he made towards the end I was expecting at the start of the match. From 8-4 I was counting on some nerves or jitters from him and I started noticing he was not timing his cue action as well. I was super aggressive, all-out attack, to put him under pressure.”
Cao, who made a maximum 147 break in the first round on Tuesday and defeated Judd Trump in the semifinal, was apparently heartbroken.
He said, “I don’t know how to say my feelings just now. I put too much pressure on myself. My heart needs to be stronger – that’s what I need to learn from Neil and the top 16 players.”
