Big beasts Robertson and O'Sullivan deliver the goods in Saudi... now we can't wait for more

The Saudi Arabia Masters final went all the way to a deciding frame again, with Neil Robertson edging out Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-9.

The event may remain a controversial one, but the absolute brilliance of the top stars is never in doubt and these two treated us to a thrilling contest.

O'Sullivan looked almost down and out when he trailed 7-2, but he produced a glorious burst of his trademark excellence to fight back. And right at the end, it was Robertson who had to dig the deepest as he made breaks of 101 and 87 to win the last two frames for victory.

It feels hard to believe now that it was only 16 months ago that Robertson failed to qualify for the World Championship at the Crucible.

The Australian didn't mope around that spring, far from it. He vowed on social media: "I'll be back much stronger next season, I can guarantee that."

Boy, was he true to his word. He captured the English Open and World Grand Prix titles last season. And now this third tournament success in less than a year has seen him shoot back up to number three in the world rankings.

It's obviously good news for Robertson, and frankly it's great for the sport too. This generational talent has been winning big for two decades, but at the age of 43 he still has so much more to give.

'Like Maradona and Messi ghosting past opponents'

As for O'Sullivan, he may have come up just short in the final but he left us with more epic memories.

We pretty much ran out of superlatives for this iconic sportsman about 15 years ago. It was back to the thesaurus again during his semi-final against Chris Wakelin. Even in his storybook career, this felt like a new chapter for O'Sullivan.

It was O'Sullivan at his bewitching, mesmerising best. In that hallowed zone that only the true sporting geniuses possess.

Like Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi ghosting past opponents on a football field or Roger Federer using his racquet on a tennis court like it's a magic wand.

Sports fans know when they're watching a next level performer. That's how it is with O'Sullivan, a man truly blessed with all the snooker talents.

It made me reflect on what sort of poor form O'Sullivan was in at the recent World Championship. On and off the table. A pale shadow of his best self really.

Of course, he still reached the semi-finals in Sheffield. That's pure O'Sullivan, isn't it? He turned up having not played for three months, with his last professional appearance ending with him smashing his cue and chucking it in the bin at the Championship League. His mind seemed to be in a million other places. Yet still, he ended up in the last four.

I'm no therapist, but he seems so much more settled right now. It's fair to presume getting married earlier this summer is a factor in this. In television interviews over recent days, he's had that buzzy funny air about him that makes him such an endearing character.

And on the table, O'Sullivan gave us some thrilling watches. He came back from 5-2 down to Chang Bingyu to win 6-5 in the last 16. A day later, he was 5-3 behind against the prolific Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals, but again O'Sullivan turned on the taps to level and then scrapped away - a quality of his that will forever be underrated - to win the decider.

Then came that remarkable semi-final with Wakelin on Friday. What a night. It started with a maximum for O'Sullivan in frame one. It never looked like he would miss. The oldest player to make one in professional play. Remember, O'Sullivan will turn 50 just before Christmas.

Soon after, he repeated the trick in frame seven. A trickier 147 this time, but O'Sullivan was making this frustratingly difficult sport look like child's play.

It struck me that this was also the opening night of the new Premier League season, with Liverpool playing Bournemouth at Anfield. O'Sullivan is one of the few British sportspeople who could deflect attention away from a top flight football match, let alone one featuring the champions.

O'Sullivan wasn't a slouch in the other frames of his 6-3 win either. He made a 142 in the second frame and a 134 in the last. Outrageous.

These were actually O'Sullivan's first maximums for seven years. When you hear about how many he makes in exhibitions, the logical conclusion to come to is that he hasn't really fancied it at times.

He talked more than once about the prize money recently not being as strong as it once was. That obviously isn't the case on this occasion, with O'Sullivan picking up a cool £147,000 bonus for making two maximums in the majors.

On this maddest of snooker nights, O'Sullivan went from 15 to 17 career maximums in two hours. It was a stunning watch.

There's no question that many fans still feel uncomfortable with snooker in Saudi, largely on moral grounds. Meanwhile, the arena in Jeddah was deserted for more than half the tournament. But the compelling nature of what happens on the 12x6 remains constant, whatever the setting.

With victory for Wilson at the Shanghai Masters followed swiftly by glory for Robertson in Saudi Arabia, the new snooker season is properly up and running. Now we can't wait for more.