It’s been almost three months since Neil Robertson and Judd Trump contested the (still) match of the season in which Robertson narrowly secured victory at the Champion of Champions. The next story of their saga takes place in the final of the German Masters, but does it live up to their first bout?

Breakdown

Not particularly. Neither player were at their top gears but as it always goes when these two collide, they like to run it pretty close to each other. The first four frames were shared with Trump making breaks of 60 in Frame 1 and 64 in Frame 3, despite Robertson trying to pinch this one back. Robertson was able to clinch Frames 2 and 4 however, making one of two centuries in the match in the frame before the break.

Robertson was able to take the next two frames with a 77 in Frame 6; although Frame 5 was one which Robertson would have been relieved to steal as he made 32 but missed an easy red. Trump went on to make 71 but left the yellow in the knuckle as it got down to the colours. Robertson ended up winning the frame 72-71.

Trump did well to respond by clawing back the following two frames. This wasn’t easy though as it required a couple visits each time but he would’ve been happy to level the match going into the evening session. According to his post-match interview, this was what Trump felt the turning point was for him.

Frame 9 saw a foul and a miss from Robertson which couldn’t be replicated even if it took another 100 attempts. After Robertson threaded that needle, Trump made a 54 to secure the opening frame of the evening. Trump then seemed to have found some of his long potting that he was lacking in the opening session as he made a 75 to extend his lead. Robertson did try to salvage a comeback on the final red but Trump did well to display his navigational skill in escaping snookers.

Poor safeties from each player in the next couple of frames meant that they shared Frames 11 and 12 (Robertson 66; Trump 59 with a magnificent final yellow). Frame 13 was surprising as both players were struggling with unexpected misses from each of them. It was Trump who eventually took the frame with a few attempts at the table. Robertson was able to keep Trump at bay a little longer as he took the penultimate frame in a similar fashion to the last. However, it was all Trump at the end of the night as he capitalised on an unforeseen yet significant miss from Robertson as he finished with 100.

Afterthoughts

It wasn’t necessarily the same kind of final that we saw in Coventry but it was the kind of match that took a lot of work to get over the line, regardless of who ended up winning. Neither player were in optimal condition on Sunday but in the end, Trump was just able to perform a little bit better than Robertson. Both players were missing pots that nobody would expect them to but Robertson’s misses ended up being more costly than his opponent.

If Robertson was able to reproduce the form he had all week, or that he had in the European Masters final, then it could have been a very different result. Nevertheless, it took the World No. 1 to put a stop in his tracks as Trump claims his fourth ranking title and first win of the calendar year (first win since NI Open). There’s no denying that these two players are currently the best in the world.

Now we observe the comedic predicament Robertson and Trump find themselves in as they figure out whether they will compete in the Shootout. It’s a tournament that top seeds generally don’t enter but now with the bonus available for the European Series makes for an interesting Prisoner’s Dilemma-like situation for Robertson and Trump as they look to see if each of them enter.

Robertson leads the prize money in the European series with £115,000 (£80k from European and £35k from German) while Trump trails with £80k from Sunday’s win. The £50,000 prize on offer for winning the Shootout at the end of the month would make a considerable difference should Robertson or Trump claim glory at this event. As is relevant to the Shootout, the race is on!