Neil Robertson has sent out a statement to the rest of the field at the Dafabet Masters by dispatching world champion Mark Williams.

The Australian made a poor start to the first-round clash at Alexandra Palace and found himself trailing 3-1.

However, Robertson – 9.50 to win the Dafabet Masters outright – retained belief in his ability to turn the tie around and breaks of 59, 102 and 69 helped him claim a 6-3 victory.

Robertson, who failed to qualify for the Masters in 2018, held his nerve to set up a quarter-final clash with Barry Hawkins, who beat Shaun Murphy 6-2 later in the day.

The world number 10 admitted he was frustrated to miss out last year and he appears to have an extra motivation to go deep into the competition this time around.

“I made a huge clearance to get it back to 3-2 and that was the moment in the match that really got me going. I played really well after that,” he said.

“It was really frustrating coming here last year (to work for TV) and not being in the tournament. It’s hard to miss out. I would have been devastated to miss out again, especially this year with the new screens which are great for the audience because they can see a different perspective.

“To beat the World Champion today was a huge step in the right direction. I didn’t know what to expect from Mark. I was playing in the Championship League on New Year’s Day and Mark was on a cruise somewhere getting hammered! He said after he won the world title he was going to enjoy it as much as possible and he’s done that so good on him.”