2025 UK Championship: ‘Better than ever’ Neil Robertson moves into last 16

Former world champion Neil Robertson believes he is playing «better than ever» having continued his fine season by moving into the last 16 of the UK Championship.

The Australian is third in the world rankings and beat Belgium’s Julien Leclercq 6-2 in the opening round on Sunday for his first victory in the tournament since he gained the third of his three UK titles in 2020.

A break of 105 put the 43-year-old 3-1 ahead against 22-year-old UK debutant Leclercq, who is ranked 79th and had to win three qualifying matches to get to York.

Leclercq pulled it back to 3-2, but Robertson won the final three frames to comfortably advance.

It continues a remarkable recovery from Robertson after he dropped out of the top 20 in 2024 and did not qualify for that year’s World Championship, the first time he had failed to do so in 20 years.

«When I didn’t qualify for the World Championship, I thought I had to do something,» said Robertson, who has had four spells as the world number one. «I was practising well, just not getting results so I looked up sports psychologists in the Cambridge area.

«From my first meeting it changed my views on what I was doing and made me realise I could be doing things so much better.

«I had always been my own sports psychologist. I had started to think I could be back in Australia more and I could maybe miss a couple of events and was getting homesick – and that allowed me to lose focus.»

Robertson began working with sports psychologist Helen Davis and credits her for «completely transforming my life», while former top-10 player Joe Perry has been a vital part of his coaching set-up.

«I have the team around me and I can really trust their voices,» he added. «It’s about setting up the daily, weekly and monthly structure so when you set a plan and stick to it, you go into all the tournaments prepared.

«I don’t think enough snooker players structure a team around them like other sports do, but why not? You see [Novak] Djokovic win a [tennis] Grand Slam and he is thanking several people as part of his team and we tried to do the same.

«I’m definitely playing better than I ever have, this season has gone brilliantly and I’m just enjoyed it.»

During his career, Robertson has won 26 ranking titles, including the 2010 World Championship and the UK Championship in 2013, 2015 and 2020, and has also won the non-ranking Masters event twice.

But another motivation for him to return to the top came when his son Alexander was faced with tough questions at school.

«It is good that Alexander has experienced that with me,» added Robertson. «He has only ever known, from being a toddler, of me winning, winning, winning all the time.

«Then he went through that spell where he is at school and his friends or teachers are saying, ‘what’s wrong with your dad?’, and this sort of stuff.

«That really hurts. They were not being nasty but he was upset with it so that was part of my motivation to get back.»

Fifth seed Mark Williams, who won this tournament in 1999 and 2002, claimed a 6-4 victory over David Gilbert in the evening session to join Robertson in the last 16.

The 50-year-old lost a lengthy opening frame, levelled at 1-1, but a fine break of 102 gave Gilbert the advantage again.

But Williams then recorded breaks of 51, 89, 73 and 55 to move 5-2 ahead and go one frame from victory. World number 24 Gilbert responded with a 100 break for his second century and then a 50 to pull it back to 5-4.

However, it did not matter as Williams did enough to get the victory to set up a match against China’s Pang Junxu after he won 6-2 against compatriot Xiao Guodong, the 12th seed.

«Before the interval I was poor but after that I played pretty good,» said Williams. «It could’ve gone 5-5 at the end but I’m glad to get over the line and there were some tricky balls in the last frame.

«I made a couple of good breaks. The interval changes a lot of matches. I went to the practice table. When I’m at the venue you can’t keep me off the table, I enjoy practicing at the venue.»

Robertson got back into the top 16 in September 2024, ensuring automatic qualification for the major tournaments, by beating China’s Wu Yize 9-7 in the final of the English Open.

The pair will face each other in the last 16 in York later this week after Wu held off a fightback from England’s Michael Holt to secure a 6-4 victory.

Wu, 22, moved into a 5-0 lead, thanks to breaks of 55, 78, 82 and 81, which included 11 reds and 10 blacks before any hope of a 147 ended with a miss on the 11th black.

But 47-year-old Holt, a quarter-finalist last year, staged a recovery with runs of 59, 82 and 60 to pull within one frame, before Wu sealed the success in the 10th frame.

Twelve players from China were among the 32 in York and Wu and Pang’s victories mean three Chinese players are already into the last 16, joining Si Jiahui after his 6-0 triumph over Ryan Day on Saturday.