At the start of the Main Tour season 2004-05, Neil Robertson picked up where he'd left off ...

In September, despite playing with a broken toe, Neil made a good start to his overseas campaign by reaching the semi-finals of the Swiss Open. Competing against the likes ofJimmy White, Matthew Stevens and Ian McCulloch (tournament winner) Neil scored the tournament high-break of 138. Neil then advanced to the finals of the first ranking tournament, the Grand Prix, with a 5-0 win in his qualifying round.

At the Guild Hall in Preston in October, Neil reached the 3rd round of the Finals of the Grand Prix. He defeated Michael Holt 5-2 in the first round, then defeated Andy Hicks 5-3 in the second round, before going down 5-3 to world #20 Joe Perry, who happens to be one of Neil's regular practice partners back in Cambridge. Neil then qualified for the finals of the Travis Perkins UK Championship, defeating Paul Davison 9-3, Dave Finbow 9-4, and Shaun Murphy 9-8.

In November, Neil reached the Finals of the British Open, defeating David McDonnell 5-2 and Brian Morgan 5-2 in his qualifying rounds. His British Open run came to an end when he was defeated 5-3 by Stephen Maguire. Neil also appeared in the Finals of the UK Championship, defeating Joe Swail 9-7 to reach the Last 32, before narrowly losing 9-8 to Graeme Dott.

Neil secured his place in the Finals of the Malta Cup in December, with a 5-0 victory over Darren Morgan, including 3 centuries, followed by a 5-4 victory over Fergal O'Brien, and finally a 5-3 victory over Joe Perry.

In January, Neil began his Welsh Open campaign on a positive note with a 5-2 victory over Paul Wykes, and a 5-3 victory over Dave Harold in the third qualifying round. The Welsh Open became the 5th tournament in a row Neil had qualified for, but his run came to an end at the Irish Open qualifiers. Neil defeated Hugh Abernethy 5-1 and defeated Stuart Pettmann 5-0 in the 3rd round, but was defeated by world #22 Tony Drago 5-3 in a close fought 4th round match.

At the Welsh Open Finals, Neil reached the Last 32 with a 5-0 result against world #28 Robert Milkins. His game then reached a new level, when in a match he described as "the best of my career", Neil defeated world #11 Jimmy White 5-4 in the Last 32. Neil compiled breaks of 68, 95, 90, and 73 in the deciding frame, to secure his first victory over Jimmy who had defeated Neil twice in finals competition in the previous season. Two days later, Neil defeated world #5 John Higgins 5-4 in the Last 16.

It took the best player in the world to end Neil's Welsh Open campaign. Neil was defeated 5-4 in the Quarter Final by world #1 Ronnie O'Sullivan. From 1-1 Neil could only sit and watch as "the Rocket" compiled 3 centuries in a row to establish a 4-1 lead. Undaunted, Neil fought back to level the match at 4-4. In the 9th and deciding frame, points were even at 42-42 until a failed escape from a snooker gave Ronnie an opportunity to close the match. In the post-match interview Ronnie said "All credit to him. He's a very, very good player and definitely a future champion."

At the end of January, Neil's China Open tilt was ended in the 3rd round of qualifying by Dave Harold, who defeated Neil 5-1. Neil had defeated Andrew Norman 5-1 in the 2nd qualifying round on Australia Day.

In February, Neil returned to Malta for the Finals of the Malta Cup, and again picked up where he'd left off last season. He reached the Last 32 with a 5-1 defeat of Maltese wildcard Duncan Bezzina, then reached the Last 16 when he stunned world #2 Mark Williams 5-1, in their first ever encounter. Neil then reached the Quarter Finals with a thrilling 5-2 victory over Jimmy White. This became Neil's second Quarter Finals appearance of the season, equalling his best ranking tournament result to date. In the Quarter Finals Neil was stopped by John Higgins, who avenged his loss to Neil in the previous month's Welsh Open, by defeating him 5-2.

February ended with Neil winning his first qualifying match for the Embassy World Championship with a 10-6 victory over Stuart Mann in Round 3 of Stage 3, followed by a close-fought 10-8 victory over Nick Dyson in Stage 4.

In March, Neil won his Round 5 and final qualifying match for the World Championship, defeating Mark King 10-9. Neil had been well in control at 7-2 and had to survive a spirited fightback by the world #22 who managed to leve lthe match at 9-9. Despite a close contest, Neil had booked his ticket for the Crucible in April.

At the Embassy Finals in April, Neil drew a tough first round match against world #3 Stephen Hendry. Playing Stephen for the first time, Neil was down 2-7 (best of 19) at the end of the first day's play. In a spirited comeback the next day, Neil won 5 frames to 3, but unfortunately it wasn't enough and he was defeated 10-7.

This ended Neil's 2004/05 Main Tour season. Having reached 2 Quarter Finals, and claimed several top-ranked scalps along the way, Neil achieved his goal of breaking into the Top 32 and has now set his sights on the Top 16.

	2004/05 UK Season Summary: Start of Season Ranking:  68 on the 2-year list 48 on the 1-year list End of Season Ranking: 28 on the 2-year list 13 on the 1-year list
	Tournament Result Grand Prix 3rd Round Finals (Last 16) British Open 1st Round Finals (Last 48) UK Championship 2nd Round Finals (Last 32) Welsh Open Quarter Finals Irish Masters 4th Round (Last 48) China Open 3rd Round (Last 64) Malta Cup Quarter Finals Embassy 1st Round Finals (Last 32)