Neil Robertson and Mark Selby were both beaten at the Masters on Sunday (Pictures: Getty)
Defending champion Neil Robertson and three-time champ Mark Selby both suffered defeats on the opening day of the Masters on Sunday, losing to Shaun Murphy and Hossein Vafaei respectively.
Robertson looked to be struggling for much of his 6-4 defeat to Murphy, having had a bad start to the day by forgetting his cue and having to return home to get it, meaning he did not have long to prepare at the venue before his contest.
The Australian revealed afterwards that he has been suffering badly with flu over the last couple of weeks and was still feeling pretty awful at the table.
He made a fight of things after being 5-1 down and even had a chance of a maximum when he made it to 104, but it wasn’t to be.
‘It’s probably one of the best performances of my career,’ Robertson told Eurosport. ‘I had an horrendous bout of flu over Christmas and New Year, I’ve just been in bed for a week and a half.
‘I’ve been going to the club and doing about 45 minutes, which is about the most I can do.
‘I’ve been on a lot of painkillers, really struggling out there physically, but I have to thank the crowd, they gave me something, especially in the 147 attempt. I wanted to somehow make a maximum and sort of be happy losing.
‘Every shot was so hard to play. Only during the 147 attempt some adrenaline kicked in and I had a bit of a second wind.’
Robertson was also under the weather at the UK Championship when he was beaten by Joe Perry in his opening game, so it has been a frustrating season in the big ones for him so far.
‘It is what it is. It’s disappointing because that’s a couple of events now that have been kind of ruined with flu,’ he said. ‘But all the best to Shaun, he’s a fantastic player.’
Selby’s 6-2 defeat to Vafaei was more surprising after the Englishman won the English Open in December and the Iranian only found out he was in the Masters last week, replacing the suspended Zhao Xintong.
The Prince of Persia was impressive on his Alexandra Palace debut, making two centuries and three half-centuries, sprinting for the finish line from 2-2 at the interval.
The four-time world champion made no excuses, just feeling that things were not running particularly well for him on Sunday evening.
‘I thought Hossein played well, the third frame was a big one, he nicked a good one,’ Selby told Eurosport. ‘At 2-2 I thought I was the better player, after the interval I had a couple of chances, I felt like they were just bitty chances, there wasn’t really anything to go at. It was just tough, not meant to be today.’
When suggested he was short on confidence, he said: ‘Not really, no. I feel like I’m playing okay, it’s not easy out there.
‘When you’re trying to get something going, going into the pack and things don’t seem to be happening. It can be one little split, you make 70 or 80 and you’re on your way.’
Hossein Vafaei made the perfect start to his first Masters appearance (Picture: Getty Images)
Vafaei moves on to play either John Higgins or Jack Lisowski in the quarter-finals and Selby says the debutant is a possible winner of the event.
‘There’s 16 players in the comp from the start and every one of them are capable of winning it, so there’s no reason why he can’t,’ said the Jester from Leicester.
The 28-year-old agrees, saying: ‘If I didn’t believe I could win this tournament, I wouldn’t be here. I think I belong here, the way I played and I felt comfortable. I don’t want the tournament to finish in the next round, I want to stay as long as I can.’
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Two upsets on the opening day at Alexandra Palace.
