Neil Robertson was thoroughly impressed by 18-year-old Panchaya ‘Mind’ Channoi as he avoided a scare by beating her 4-2 at Champion of Champions.
The Thai teenager pulled off a shock by winning the World Women’s Championship for the first time this year, beating former champs Bai Yulu, Mink Nutcharut and Reanne Evans along the way.
That earned her a spot on the professional tour and a place in this week’s Champion of Champions, where she took on the Australian legend on Tuesday afternoon.
Given that she is yet to win a match on the main tour she was not given much chance against the former world champion, with Robertson priced at 1/100 with some bookmakers.
Channoi, know by her nickname Mind, won the first frame, though, and at 3-2 behind took a 51 point lead in the sixth and looked in a good position to force a decider.
Robertson made a fantastic break of 80 to win the game 4-2, but he left with plenty of respect for the 18-year-old talent from Thailand who played a great brand of snooker to watch.
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On her attacking intent, Robertson told ITV: ‘That was evident in the first frame when she knocked in a fantastic long green! There’d be other top players in the men’s game that would have turned that down. She was really aggressive with her shot choice but wasn’t reckless.
‘If she got a better split in the pack there [in the final frame], it’s probably looking like 3-3. I didn’t think I did that much wrong. I know I missed a black when I looked like winning 4-1 but after that I thought she played absolutely fantastic.’
Robertson made breaks of 58, 84, 73, 52 and 80 to win the match and on finishing the match in style, the Thunder from Down Under said: ‘It was a brilliant break under the circumstances because she was looking so good and so composed so it didn’t look like she was going to make a mistake through pressure, so I feel as though it was a really good chance to win the match there and then.’
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Seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry loved the aggressive nature of Mind’s game and was pleased that she played some great stuff in a rare outing in front of the TV cameras and a crowd.
‘I’m so happy with her that she got to show the people at home and the audience here today what she can do,’ said Hendry.
‘Her long-potting was fabulous. One or two maybe inexperienced shots but by and large I thought she was brilliant. Some of the shots she was playing, I’m so happy for her to show the talent that she’s got.
‘What I loved about the way she played today is she went for her shots. She didn’t go into her shell and try and play safe, she went for her shots, very aggressive and some of her play was brilliant.’
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Robertson hails ‘fantastic’ women’s world champion Mind after avoiding scare
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