Neil Robertson's attempt to become the first Australian to reach the world championship final since Eddie Charlton 35 years ago gathered momentum as he built a 6-2 lead over Ali Carter after the first session of their semi-final.
It was not surprising that Carter, the runner-up here two years ago, started sluggishly, having invested such prodigious mental effort in his late-night 13-12 quarter-final victory over Shaun Murphy that he was unable to drop off to sleep until 3.30am. Robertson, fully rested, marked his progress to 5-0 with breaks of 124 – his 39th century of the season – and 91, separated by his capture of the third frame after needing a snooker, then 76.
Carter managed to take the sixth but was never in contention in the seventh. He did make 38 and 69 in their last frame of the day, though, to cut his overnight arrears.
Robertson's four world ranking titles and the obstacles he has overcome here suggest that he possesses the core of inner steel champions require, an impression borne out by his off-table determination. "I was 10 grand in debt back home for funding my amateur trips overseas and when I came over here to Cambridge I had £500 in my pocket," he said. "My main priority was survival for an extra week, an extra month. Twice I cleaned out my savings coming over here to give it a go."
Graeme Dott, the 2006 champion who has kept direct Scottish interest alive after the departure of his higher-profile contenders in John Higgins, Stephen Hendry and Stephen Maguire, will resume this afternoon with a 5-3 lead over Mark Selby, who suffered an obvious adverse reaction to his late night 13‑11 win over Ronnie O'Sullivan from 9-5 down.
Dott made breaks of 79, 53 (ending on an easy green, which was to cost him the second frame), 70, 50 and 93 in leading 5‑2. Thus far, Selby's highest break was 35 and his pot-success rate a mere 75% but by managing to summon a total clearance of 142 he trailed only by two at the close.
Following his 2006 triumph, Dott was to be derailed by everything from clinical depression to a broken arm. "I showed up at tournaments but I couldn't practise because I felt so bad," said the 32-year-old Scot of the period in which he plunged to a provisional ranking of 43rd before he began the long climb back to a place in the elite top 16 he clinched with his quarter-final defeat of Mark Allen from two down with three to play.
