‘I need to be on top of my game’ – Mark Selby ready to ‘give it my best’ against Neil Robertson

Mark Selby admits he will “need to be on top of my game” if he is to make it past Neil Robertson and into the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open.

Selby was unhappy with his focus in his won over Hammad Miah, but he showed his quality against White, knocking in a sparkling 132-break to seal his place in the last-eight.

The Northern Ireland Open is the one Home Nations event missing from Robertson’s CV.

With Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and John Higgins already out, he will feel he has a big chance of getting his hands on the Alex Higgins Trophy.

“Neil is a brilliant player and one of the all-time greats of the game. Me and Neil have won a lot of tournaments and there aren’t that many that we haven’t.

“This tournament is one of them and I’ll be trying hard to put it on my CV.

“He has a good all-round game. WST put on Twitter a question about who the best long potter in the game is and Mark Williams said Neil for certain. I’d agree with that. It gets him out of trouble a lot.

“He is a difficult player to face. I will give it my best and see what happens.”

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