Neil Robertson is set to sit out the World Grand Prix next month after a nightmare start to the season continued at the UK Championship.
Robertson has failed to win a major trophy this year for the first time since 2005 as red-hot Zhou produced breaks of 136, 134, 99, 80, 74, 67 and 50 on Tuesday to secure a last-16 meeting with John Higgins on Thursday afternoon.
“I need people to not play like that, which they’ve been doing all season,” said a rueful Robertson on Eurosport after rolling in a classy 135 of his own to level at 2-2.
“It is very frustrating. If I could hit them over the head with my cue I’d love to, but I’d lose the match,” he joked.
“That’s what I’ve been facing all season, players playing like that. I take it as a compliment I suppose, that players know that they have to play at that level.
“For many years now, I haven’t lost many matches playing poorly. Players have had to play really, really well, and that was the case again.
“I’ve been there where my opponents haven’t really participated in matches. I’ve been doing very little wrong, but all my opponents have been playing great.
“So to all my opponents, can you stop doing that please.”
‘Magnificent’ Zhou closes out victory over Robertson
The 2010 world champion has work to do to protect his world top-16 spot when he returns after a series of setbacks in the ranking tournaments he has entered so far.
After opting out of the Championship League at the start of the season, Robertson has failed to go beyond the last 64 of six ranking events, suffering two first-round exits at the European Masters and English Open and at the last-32 stage of the UK.
His best performance of the season saw him reach the semi-finals of the invitational Shanghai Masters in September, losing 10-7 to world champion Luca Brecel, but that does not count towards his ranking.
He will now take a month off to “reset” before returning for the Masters in January.
“This is my last tournament until the Masters, so I’m going to miss the next few events, which is a shame,” he explained.
“But being an overseas player from Australia, you’ve got to make these decisions to put the family first for a change.
“I think going back home for nearly a month will be really, really good. I’ll get to see my brothers for the first time in four-and-a-half years, it’s a long time! I’m really looking forward to going home and resetting.”
Robertson will drop to 29th in the world in the provisional end-of-season rankings and is a lowly 86th on the one-year list.
‘What a break!’ – Robertson produces stunning break of 135
It means he will not qualify for the World Grand Prix in Leicester (15-21 January) via the one-year list after opting out of the Shoot Out (6-9 December) – which he has not entered since 2011 – and the Scottish Open (11-17 December) in Edinburgh which he won in 2017.
The German Masters qualifiers are also due to take place next month (18-22 December), but it is not clear if the top 16 will be seeded to start at the finals venue at the Tempodrom in Berlin with the tournament being held between 29 January until 4 February.
Robertson will return for the Masters at Alexandra Palace (7-14 January), but also risks failing to qualify for the Players Championship (top 16 on the one-year list) and Tour Championship (top eight on the one-year list) unless he can find some form at the German Masters, Welsh Open and World Open.
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