Dott sees off Robertson as his nerves hold up

The 2006 world champion romped into a 5-0 lead and looked set to humiliate the Australian in their best-of-11 frames contest.

Robertson was attempting to become the first UK winner to defend his crown since Stephen Hendry won a hat-trick of titles between 1994 and 1996.

At 5-0 down, that looked a forlorn hope before Robertson threw caution to the wind and hammered in breaks of 72, 100, 59, 106 and 79 to draw level.

Heading into the decider, the momentum was with Robertson, but Dott refused to wilt and clinched his place in the quarter-finals.

Dott is joined in the last eight by fellow Scot Anthony McGill, who produced a shock triumph in knocking out John Higgins 6-5.

“I think it was more to do with John’s lack of form really,” said a modest McGill.

“He gave me a lot of chances there and usually he doesn’t so I was kind of lucky.

“I heard he was playing really well, and thought ‘here we go’ but he must have left it in the dressing room.”

McGill could now face Ronnie O’Sullivan, with the four-time UK champion facing Matthew Selt today.

McGill has been tipped for a major breakthrough as Scotland’s next big thing but has only one notable quarter-final appearance behind him, at the Indian Open last season.

Stuart Bingham also reached the quarter-finals, thrashing Ricky Walden 6-0.

“It was one of those days for Ricky,” Bingham said. “You could see he was struggling

“I still need to improve. Even though I won 6-0 there’s room for improvement.”

Blackpool teenager James Cahill – who knocked out Ding Junhui 24 hours earlier - saw his fine run end in York, losing 6-2 to Mark Davis.