It looks as though no one is safe this week in Sheffield.
Neil Robertson’s 10-5 defeat to Robert Milkins makes him the fifth former world champion to face a first round exit.
He follows in the footsteps of defending champ Mark Selby, 2005 winner Shaun Murphy, Graeme Dott, and the 2015 victor Stuart Bingham who was downed by an excellent Jack Lisowski 10-7 last night.
For the Aussie, this will be a big hammer blow as it extends his run since reaching the one-table setup here to four years and is a repeat of his opening round defeat to Milkins back in 2013.
Robertson has had a somewhat mixed season having failed to qualify into the top 16 for the Masters back in January. Since then, he has shown glimpses of brilliance but never over a consistent enough basis for everyone to believe he’s right back to the top of his game.
A good run here would have sent out a strong message of his resurgence, but an early exit simply casts more doubts about his form given he was below par in almost every department.
The Thunder used to be renowned for his nous of always performing in the very big tournaments. The Triple Crown winner has now not won the World Championship in eight years and is without any of them in three years meaning he will likely be doing some searching to ensure he gets back to competing for the biggest titles soon.
But with all the talk of Robertson, it must be said that Milkins was well worth his win. He played his usual trademark free-flowing snooker and was quick to react to any sniff of hesitation he saw from Robertson, making sure he punished him.
Next up for the Milkman is two-time former champion Mark Williams who looked in fine form to knock out Jimmy Robertson. It can often be tough to raise yourself for another match after such a big win, but the Gloucester cueman can take full confidence from his efforts so far.
In the aftermath of his win, he re-iterated what so many qualifiers have said this week that they feel so super sharp following three rounds of qualifiers just days before the championship. The seeded players look vulnerable in the early stages of this tournament so far and in an event with surprises aplenty, you just can’t take your eyes off of the action.
