Neil Robertson admitted his annoyance at not being able to defend the Riga Masters title due to the cancellation of his flight to Latvia.

The 37-year-old was due to play Robert Milkins on Friday morning and had, along with a few other players, booked a flight from Luton airport an 6pm on Thursday.

However, thunderstorms and other problems meant the flight did not take off and the duo were unable to take to the green baize at the Arena Riga.

It means that 32-year-old Leicester cue-man Ben Woollaston was handed a bye to round two of the year’s first ranking event, with Australia’s Robertson left to wonder what might have been.

“It’s disappointing in the circumstances,” he told BBC Sport. “As defending champion, I’m all over the tournament posters, programme and venue.

“This is not the biggest event on the calendar, but it is annoying.”

World Snooker said it would have been impossible to reschedule all of the affected matches given the time available, but there are still some big-name players in the tournament, with former world number one Mark Selby having made the trip.

Robertson, priced at 7.00 to win the UK Championship, enjoyed a stellar campaign last season, with three wins and a run to the World Championship quarter-finals.

He will next be seen in China’s International Championship, where he will look to go one better than last year’s runner-up spot, with Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen the defending champion.

Milkins was hoping to kick-start his career after a poor 2018-2019 season during which, the Gibraltar Open aside, he was a regular early casualty.