Joshua Filler
There are now just 16 players left in the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open as a further 118 competitors were eliminated following an intensive day’s play at the BHR Treviso Hotel. Wiktor Zielinski (Poland) is still on track for his third successive Euro Tour title as he beat Besar Spahiu of Albania 9-6 to give himself a match against the Netherlands’ Marc Bijsterbosch tomorrow morning (Monday).
Euro Tour legend Ralf Souquet defines the term ‘fighting spirit’. Having gone to the losers’ side early on at the hands of young Spaniard Jonas Souto, he battled through and avenged that defeat, beating Souto 9-3 before coming from behind to defeat Thorsten Hohmann 9-8 and set up a last 16 clash with in-form Alexander Kazakis of Greece.
The feature match on Table 1 was between the 3 and 4 ranked players on the Euro Tour; Germany’s Joshua Filler and David Alcaide (Spain). It was great while it lasted as Filler, who seems to enjoy complete freedom when he is at the table, took a large 6-1 lead as he raced through the racks, seizing any opportunity that came his way.
Alcaide, with the match in danger of running away from him, fired back, taking the next two to reduce the deficit to 6-3. The German star though, steamed through the next rack to take a 7-3 lead. Filler broke and ran the next, coming with some great shots on a messy table to reach the hill at 8-3.
Alcaide took no time in winning the next to get to 8-4 but with the alternate break format, his chances were slim. An illegal break from Filler – two balls were potted but the third never made it past the headstring – gave Alcaide an opportunity. A safety battle ensued before Alcaide came out on top and cleared to get to 8-5 with the break.
The Spaniard took the next for 8-6 before Filler broke off in the next. It wasn’t all easy but he made no errors to close the match out 9-6. He can now look forward to facing Poland’s Konrad Juszczyszyn in the round of 16 tomorrow.
In what was always likely to be a close-run thing, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, the European No.1, beat Oliver Szolnoki (Hungary) 9-8 to keep his potential hold on the number one spot intact. Make no mistake, the Hungarian youngster is one of the fastest rising stars in world pool, and his scalp will give Sanchez a load of confidence for his last 16 match against Tomasz Kaplan on Monday.
The tournament continues at 10.00 local time on Monday morning with the last 16 round. The tournament concludes on Monday evening with the televised final stages.
All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and
then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
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