Sympathy was the overriding emotion for Neil Robertson after close friend Kurt Maflin was cruelly dumped out of the Welsh Open.

Maflin had forced the former world champion all the way to a decider and had looked good to close out the match in the Cardiff quarter-final.

But an unfortunate contact saw him foul the black with Robertson duly mopping up the encounter thereon, prevailing 5-4 thanks to a break of 67.

Further breaks of 91, 69 and 136 had seen Robertson fight back from 3-0 down as Maflin started like a rocket, but the Australian couldn’t help but feel sorry for his unfortunate opponent.

“I thought it was a terrific match, both of us scored really heavily, the crowd really enjoyed it and I’m a bit gutted for Kurt,” he said.

“What a way to lose. He took on a very brave red at 4-3 that, if it goes in, he wins, but he just rattled it and in the decider I don’t know how he’s knocked in the black.

“It’s not just that, he’s then left me perfect in the balls and from there it was pretty straightforward, from there it’s just about me keeping my concentration and being brutal in the moment.

“When I came to the table I was thinking ‘what a way to lose’ if I was to clear up from there, on a personal level I love the guy and we’ve spent Christmases together in Norway.

“We’re both Chelsea fans and we’ve watched the games together, but I just had to tell my head to shut up, and just pot the balls. But I was really gutted for him at the same time.”

Watch the Welsh Open LIVE on Eurosport and Eurosport Player, with analysis from Jimmy White and Neal Foulds