Robertson maintains perfect finals record

The Australian continued his perfect record in world ranking event finals to claim his sixth tournament success with a 5-1 victory.

The world champion potted confidently to beat clear favourite O'Sullivan, who had excelled in the shorter-match format in this tournament at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Robertson clinched the first frame by potting the green as O'Sullivan chased snookers and quickly doubled his advantage with a break of 107.

He started the third frame with a trademark long pot but failed to build on it and O'Sullivan produced a brilliant break of 72 after potting his first red down the cushion left-handed.

But O'Sullivan, who hit a 147 earlier in the week, badly missed a spotted pink in the next frame to allow Robertson to restore his two-frame lead before the interval.

A break of 66 left the three-time world champion sitting in his seat and Robertson clinched the trophy by cutting in the pink to move to 63-44 after both players had missed several chances to take control of the frame.

Earlier, O'Sullivan had moved into the final with a 3-1 semi-final win over Peter Ebdon.

Robertson came from two frames down to secure his place in the final by beating Mark Williams.

Both winners reiterated their support for the tournament format ahead of the final,.

O'Sullivan said: "It's so much more exciting. People are going to have a good Sunday, two semi-finals and a final.

"It keeps everything fresh. They don't want to see me playing 11 frames – they have had their fix. It's like Wimbledon, two hours of intensity.

"They have got it right regardless of what the purists say. When you are playing

35-frame finals over two days, the first day is just jockeying for position.

"It comes down to the best of 11 frames in the final session anyway.

"The players can go off and then come back fresh for a new match with a new opponent."

Robertson, whose World Championship final against Graeme Dott ended at 12.54am, believes other tournaments should feature shorter matches.

He said: "I prefer the match to end in one session, I don't like going back to the hotel and waiting around.

"I feel this tournament has been a huge success, probably the most successful tournament I've been part of.

"I think the World (Championship) should be no more than best out of 25. The final goes on way too long and it can lead to tired snooker, which was what it was between me and Graeme in the final."

World champion Robertson had to come through a late-evening match on Saturday to reach the last four, winning 3-1 as Ricky Walden gave a disappointing display.

Quarter-finals: Mark Williams (Wal) bt Ding Junhui (Chn) 3-2, Neil Robertson (Aus) bt Ricky Walden (Eng) 3-1, Ronnie O'Sullivan (Eng) bt Stephen Maguire (Sco) 3-1, Peter Ebdon (Eng) bt Martin Gould (Eng) 3-1.

Semi-finals: Robertson bt Williams 3-2, O'Sullivan bt Ebdon 3-1. Final: Robertson bt O'Sullivan 5-1.