Snooker Players

Australian Open 2012 - Goldeneye Robertson Beats Bond

Local hero Neil Robertson got off to the best start possible on day one of the Australian Goldfields Open 2012 with a 5-1 victory over Nigel Bond at the Bendigo Stadium.

Bendigo Stadium - 9-15 July

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After suffering a disappointing start to the season having lost 5-1 to Jamie Burnett in the Wuxi Classic first round, local star and former world champion Neil Robertson begun his Australian Goldfields Open campaign with a brilliant 5-1 performance over Nigel Bond.

Robertson raced to a 4-0 lead with breaks of 135, 81, 92 and a 113 before the interval. When they resumed former world finalist Bond stole a scrappy 5th frame to keep his hopes alive before a fabulous 93 from Neil won him the match 5-1.

Robertson Bond Match Stats Australia 2012

One way traffic from Neil Robertson

He will be tested in the next round however as he faces either young gun Jack Lisowski or the recent Six-Reds World Champion Mark Davis for a place in the quarter-finals.

The other big result from the day was from former multiple ranking event finalist Jamie Cope who came from 3-4 behind to beat last month's Wuxi Classic champion Ricky Walden 5-4, which included a top run of 103 from the Shotgun.

Cope will no doubt want to improve on his record in recent seasons which has seen him fail to reach a ranking event final since the 2007 China Open. He will play Stephen Lee in the Last 16 who himself came through a tough match 5-4 against Rory McLeod.

Jamie Cope Snooker 2012

Jamie Cope

Leicester's Tom Ford also pulled off a good 5-2 win against the higher ranked Dominic Dale. The other Welshmen in the draw faired better however as Matthew Stevens r beat Liang Wenbo 5-3 with a top run of 128 and Ryan Day beat the higher ranked Andrew Higginson 5-4 to join Stevens in the last 16.

And lastly from day one, the two Australian wildcards in the draw, James Misfud and Johl Younger failed to progress as they lot 5-0 to Alan McManus and 5-2 to Cao Yupeng respectively.

Coverage of the tournament throughout can be found on the EuroSport channels and can also be watched online on the EuroSport Player.