Neil Robertson just THREE wins away from becoming snooker’s new No1… and it’s all thanks to Ronnie O’Sullivan moment

NEIL ROBERTSON is three wins away from becoming snooker’s provisional world No1 – after being guilt-tripped by hard-worker Ronnie O’Sullivan. A 6-2 win over Si Jiahui in round two of the China Open, in which he scored a 102 break, saw Robertson move into the quarter-finals where he will face dinner pal Mark Selby. Neil Robertson will go to world No1 if he wins the China Open this weekend Credit: Getty Current world No1 Judd Trump lost his opening match at the China Open Credit: Getty The No1 seed – he is the defending champion from the last staging of the tournament in 2019 – would overtake Judd Trump at the top of the world rankings if he is the £250,000 champion this weekend. However the coronation – the Australian was last world No1 in January 2015 – would not officially happen until after the Wuhan Open at the end of August. Sign up for the Sport newsletter Thank you! World No2 Robertson might not have been buying lavish meals out with Selby or Barry Hawkins while competing in Taiyuan. But he has been practising hard – and it is all down to the influence of the Rocket. The Thunder from Down Under said: “I feel really good. I couldn’t have hit it any better out there. “I have been practising hard since before the Shanghai Masters. Doing everything right here, having not had a day off since. “We went to an academy in Beijing and I practised every day there. I have practised for hours and hours. “I was watching Ronnie. I was on another table in the hotel and Ronnie was there for three-and-a-half hours. I was there as well. Most read in Sport BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK Robertson says Ronnie O’Sullivan putting in the hours inspired him to follow suit Credit: Getty “The longer he was there, I thought, ‘well I have got to stay as well’. He’s 50 and putting in those kinds of hours. I have still got to do it. “I feel I have done everything right for this series of Chinese events. It’s nice to get the results. “It was a really good performance. Apart from maybe one or two mistakes from my end, I think it was the perfect match really.” Selby, 43, crushed Kyren Wilson 6-1 in the final last-16 clash with breaks of 65, 138, 79 and 69. Comment now