Joshua Filler survived being knocked to the loser’s side by Alex Pagulayan on day two of the World Pool Championship 2023 in Kielce, Poland as only 64 remain after two days of action live on Sky Sports, Viaplay, DAZN, Matchroom.Live and TV networks worldwide.
Filler faced Pagulayan early on for a spot in the Last 64 to avoid an extra match in Losers’ Qualification round this evening. The Killer fell to a 9-7 defeat, his second defeat to the Canadian in a matter of days after a loss at the Derby City Classic. It left Filler having to beat Daniele Corrieri to ensure his hunt for a second world title would continue and he did so in emphatic fashion in a 9-1 dismantling. Crucially, defeat to Pagulayan meant Filler lost his seeded position in the bracket ahead of the Last 64 redraw.
Last year’s semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef suffered a 9-3 defeat to USA hotshot Shane Wolford to be sent home at the first major hurdle whilst Oliver Szolnoki suffered the same fate in a hill-hill finish against Ajdin Piknjac. 2021 runner-up Omar Al-Shaheen struggled for his groove against Denis Grabe as the Estonian came good to knock the 2021 runner-up out the competition. There was frustration for 1996 champion Ralf Souquet also, the Kaiser well beaten by Pole Daniel Maciol in Winners’ Qualification before defeat at the hands of Dimitri Jungo. Home favourite Mieszko Fortunski was also knocked out with the World Pool Masters semi-finalist knocked out by Lars Kuckherm.
The 32 players who qualified through Winners’ Qualification were seeded in the Last 64 redraw against an unseeded player who came through the Losers Qualification matches with Karl Boyes completing the draw with Rachel Casey on the Matchroom Pool YouTube page. Pagulayan and Filler will have to dance again after being drawn against each other whilst defending champion Van Boening will come up against Uski.
Action returns from midday local time tomorrow on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, the Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA and Italy as well as on Matchroom.Live and broadcasters worldwide. Table 2 and Table 3 are on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube Channels respectively and Viaplay in above listed territories. See where to watch here.
Shane Van Boening (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Shane Van Boening will begin the defense of his World Pool Championship title against Japan’s Masato Yoshioka in Kielce, Poland from February 1-5 live on Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia and the Baltics, DAZN in the USA as well as Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.
The American will look to become only the second player in history to defend the title following in the footsteps of Earl Strickland in a packed arena at Targi Kielce. 46 countries will be represented in the 128-player field as it is whittled down to the Last 64 over the first two days of action before it’s straight knockout to the end where one will claim the $60,000 first-place prize and the world crown.
The draw was completed with the top 64 players from the Nineball World Rankings against an unseeded player from the other 64 in the hat. Standout first-round ties include 2015 world champion Ko Pin Yi facing James Aranas of the Philippines whilst 2022 semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef faces the tricky prospect of Johann Chua. 2004 world champion Alex Pagulayan was unseeded and will meet Michael Schneider.
World Cup of Pool winner David Alcaide takes on Billy Thorpe and Shane Wolford‘s mission for a spot on Team USA at the 2023 Mosconi Cup takes on Pia Filler. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz had a year to remember last year and will begin his Nineball campaign against So Shaw of Iran.
Double elimination matches are all race to 9, with all matches from the Last 64 a race to 11 except the final, which is a race to 13.
Table 1 will be live on broadcasters worldwide including Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA, Canada, and Italy, as well as on Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide. See where to watch here.
Table 2 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel.
Table 3 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel.
Junior International Championship series crowns two new 18 & Under champions
It was a primal roar.
Shocking in its volume, its intensity, its contagious enthusiasm for the moment. He stood there, back arched, gripping his cue, his off-hand tightened to a fist, roaring to the rooftops. He put his cue down, pivoted in a single spot, his fierce glare and ongoing roar inviting the 200 or so people surrounding him in the Iwan Simonis Arena at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside in Virginia to join him in his triumph. They did.
Scotland’s Jayson Shaw had just won the 9-Ball tournament at the 2022 International Open and he wanted everybody to know, including, it would seem, the folks working at the General Dynamics shipyard across the bay from the hotel. Though somewhat familiar to any and all who’d watched him win tournaments before, it had reached a level that according to close friend and teammate on the 2016 Mosconi Cup team, Darren Appleton, was new and unique to the moment.
“I’d never seen that before,” said Appleton afterwards. “I’d seen him do it in team play, like the Mosconi Cup, but never like that before.”
Speaking to the crowds immediately following his 13-10 victory over Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski, Shaw tried to explain. He’d been asked what elevated this win above others. He didn’t reference the roar directly, but as he spoke, it added meaning and context to it. He shared the moment and everyone in the arena, who hadn’t needed or expected the explanation, understood it.
“I’ve struggled the last 12 months,” he said. “Just wasn’t feeling it.”
This might have come as a bit of a surprise to the listeners who knew something about his last 12 months; the back-to-back wins at Turning Stone, his victories at the 12th New England Pool & Billiards Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open and the Pro Players Championship at the Super Billiards Expo. But the acknowledged champion was thinking about the other 14 events at which he’d not done so well, during which time the pressure within him to ‘get back’ to where he wanted to be was strong, bottled up in a human vessel that burst like a huge champagne cork when the final 9-ball dropped.
He was definitely feeling it now, as six years, to the day, after he’d defeated Jung Lin-Chang at the Kuwait Open, he laid claim to the 2022 International Open 9-Ball title.
But so was Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski when he stepped to the table at the start of the match, with his own set of demons to exorcise, including, exactly one week ago, his runner-up finish to Dimitri Jungo at the American 14.1 Straight Pool Championships. He more than made up for that disappointment, eliminating Joshua Filler and Fedor Gorst in the single elimination stage. Shaw had eliminated Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyousef 10-4, Spain’s Jonas Souto 10-3 and in the semifinals, Ko Pin Yi 10-3 to join him in the finals.
For those who’d been following the two finalists’ trips through the bracket, it was setting up to be a tight match between Zielinski’s resilience and Shaw’s raw and visible determination. Determination won.
The crowd had to wait a while for the two to settle in. Zielinski opened the proceedings with a dry break, which Shaw was unable to take advantage of. Zielinski then missed the 2-ball completely, giving Shaw ball-in-hand. Shaw ran the table to draw first blood. Shaw broke the second rack and scratched, giving Zielinski the opportunity to run the table and tie things up, which he did.
Things got better quickly, although when Zielinski broke and ran the third rack, it’d prove to be the last time that he would lead in the match. Shaw broke and ran rack four, running to the 3-ball and using it to drop the 9-ball and tie things. Though Zielinski would get within one, twice, at 7-6 and 8-7, the proverbial writing was on the wall.
Zielenski got the crowd stirring right after Shaw had reached the hill, ahead by four. Shaw scratched in the next rack and Zeilinski dropped a 2-9 combination to finish rack #17, quickly, and then, after Shaw smacked three balls home on the break, Zielinski used a long bank shot on the 1-ball to start a run that brought him to within two at 12-10.
Zielinski broke dry on the next rack and Shaw used a 2-9 combination to finish.
And then, there was the roar.
Tate and Hollingsworth meet for 2nd time in JIC final, Mast and Noelle Tate meet in girls’ final
It is indicative of the entire JIC program that the two girls who squared off in the finals of the Junior International Championships’ (JIC) 18 & Under Girls final were 14 and 12 years of age. The program made the distinction between 13 & Under and 18 & Under to keep burgeoning skills at the table in separate divisions, but the younger competitors weren’t interested. Sofia Mast (14) and Noelle Tate (12) advanced through the short field of eight entrants at the 2022 JIC’s 18 & Under Championships and though, there was a possibility that this year’s final would feature Tate sisters Bethany (16) who finished at the top of the 18 & Under Girls rankings, and Noelle, who finished 6th, that didn’t happen..
Mast had defeated Bethany, double hill, to claim the hot seat, but much to Noelle and Bethany’s surprise, the younger sibling defeated the older 7-5 in the semifinals. Noelle, who hadn’t given being in the finals a single thought on her way, fell 9-2 in the finals, and ‘besties’ that they tend to be, they hugged warmly when it was all over.
Noelle’s older brother, Joey and Landon Hollingsworth in the 18 & Under Boys final, not so much.
They’d met in the 18 & Under Boys finals last year, when Hollingsworth came out of a 5-5 tie and won the last five racks in a row to claim the 2021 title. This year, the two battled back and forth through five ties, the last of which set the stage for a double hill last game. Tate took his first lead since being ahead 2-1 when he won the 15th rack that made it 8-7. A tension-filled 16th rack saw them both miss shots that elicited gasps from the assembled spectators. Tate’s miss of the 6-ball gave Landon the chance to run the rest of the balls and he did for the 8-8 tie.
They ran through the final rack pretty quickly and it was Tate who got the first look at the 9-ball, but it was like a galaxy, far, far away. The audience seemed to be literally holding its breath and before he moved into his pre-shot routine, Tate was, too. But he settled into a stance, stroked and banked the 9-ball into a corner pocket to claim the JIC’s 18 & Under Boys title.
(Editor’s note: We’ll be working on expanded coverage of both the International Open and the JIC’s two Championship events, soon. Stay tuned.
JIC series begins its 18 & Under Boys and Girls Championships
The winners’ side final 8 has been set for the beginning of the single elimination phase of the International Open’s 9-Ball tournament tomorrow (Fri., Nov. 4). As this report is being compiled (10 p.m., Thursday night), the eight competitors who will advance to the final 16 from the loss side are still competing. If Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz emerges victorious from his match against Bader Alawahdi, the final 16 in the event will contain seven of the top eight finishers (half the field) from the recently-concluded Big Foot 10-Ball Challenge, including Fedor Gorst, who won it and runner-up Joshua Filler.
JIC underway; Boys will play winners’ side final four and 7/8 matches, Girls to play hot seat and quarterfinals
A total of 16 boys (18 & Under) and 8 girls (18 & Under) came to Norfolk to compete in the final events of the 2022 Junior International Championship series. In the course of the eight-event season, which began in January, the competitors amassed points which, at the end of the eighth stop on the series, yielded a ‘top players’ list, which led to invitations to the Championship events for the 18 & Under Boys and Girls.
Both of those events got underway today, Thursday, Nov. 3. At the end of the day, there were six boys and four girls left. The top two girls in the year-long rankings – Bethany Tate #1 and Sofia Mast #2 – will square off tomorrow afternoon (Friday, Nov. 4; 2 p.m.) in the 18 & Under Girls hot seat match. At noon, Precilia Kinsley and Noelle Tate will square off in the quarterfinals, to be followed by the semifinals at 7 p.m., pitting whoever did not claim the hot seat and the winner of the quarterfinals. The finals are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5 at noon.
At 10 a.m., tomorrow morning (Friday), the #2 and #3-ranked competitors from the 18 & Under Boys division – Landon Hollingsworth and Payne McBride will meet in one of the winners’ side semifinals. In the other one, #13 Garrett Vaughan and #15 Justin Maywin will meet. On the loss side, also at 10 a.m., playing in the two 7/8 matches, the #1-ranked Joey Tate will meet the #14-ranked Logan Whitaker.
Of the remaining six, three of them (Worth, McBride & Tate) competed in the International Open’s 9-Ball Tournament, with Brent Worth drawing what was arguably the toughest draw. He faced Hall of Fame German Ralf Souquet in the opening round and then, on the loss side, faced and lost to former junior competitor Chris Reinhold. McBride lost a winners’ side match to one of the semifinalists in last week’s American 14.1 Straight Pool Championship, Mieszko Fortunski and fell to Alecsa Pecelj on the loss side. Tate lost to Abdullah Alyousef on the winners’ side and Sullivan Clark on the loss side.
Some expected and not-so expected advances highlight Day One of the 128-entrant 9-ball event
Surprises?
At the level of talent on display at this week’s (Oct. 28-Nov. 5) International Open in Norfolk, VA, it’s hard to single out any one match in the event’s opening round of play and call the result a surprise. One’s reaction to a given result will depend largely on an individual’s perception of the players involved and their own sense of how a match between them would play out. This, in turn, might reveal more about the person being surprised (or not) than it might about the match result.
As a random example from the International Open’s first event of the week, the $10,000-added One Pocket tournament won by T-Rex (Tony Chohan; see story elsewhere in our News). If you haven’t already seen the results, imagine the semifinal match between Sky Woodward and Fedor Gorst, won by Woodward. Surprised?
Round one of the Open’s $50,000-added, 128-entrant 9-Ball tournament is over. We offer a short and not comprehensive list of matches from the round, and without looking it up through our links to the bracket, pick a winner, find the result and then determine whether it’s a surprise to you. An indication (J) identifies the player as a junior competitor. Results at the end of the report.
Among those whose victories in the opening round were not likely have been a surprise to anybody were: Jayson Shaw’s win over John Francisco, Spain’s David Alcaide (the last piece added to Europe’s Mosconi Cup team puzzle), who defeated USA’s Sullivan Clark 10-6, Sky Woodward’s victory (albeit, double-hill victory) over Italy’s Francesco Candela, Fedor Gorst’s win over Curucao’s Bryan Farah 10-7 and Joshua Filler’s shutout victory over USA’s Christopher Pyle. There are, of course, others who have advanced on the winners’ side, which, for purposes of brevity, we’ll restrict to those not listed above who are among the top 10 in our Money Leaderboard: Spain’s Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, Greece’s Alex Kazakis, Austria’s Albin Ouschan and the Philippines’ Roberto Gomez.
Among the key matchups highlighting Round Two today (Tuesday, Nov. 1) will be 6 p.m. battles between Alex Kazakis and veteran US competitor Raymond Linares, junior competitor Joey Tate’s matchup against Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyousef, Sanchez-Ruiz versus Justin Martin,Roberto Gomez against Alex Pagulayan and junior competitor Payne McBride taking on Straight Pool Championship runner-up, Mieszko Fortunski. At 8 p.m., Albin Oushcan will take on Thorsten Hohmann, David Alcaide faces Josh Roberts, Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes will go up against Taipei’s Ko Pin Yi, and the winner of the Strickland/Hsuan Wei Kuo match (revealed below) versus Taipei’s Hsieh Chia-Chen (all 8 p.m.). At 10 p.m., Round Two’s winners’ bracket will continue with Tony Chohan against last week’s Straight Pool Championship runner-up Wiktor Zielinski, Jayson Shaw will meet the winner of the Shuff/Tkach match (revealed below), Ralf Souquet will go up against BJ Ussery, Alex Pagulayan will take on Roberto Gomez and Sanchez-Ruiz will battle Justin Martin.
(‘Surprise?’ results from above: Junior competitor Kashton Keeton defeated Jesus Atencio 10-6,Strickland got by Wei Kuo 10-5, Taipei’s Chia-Chen sent Dimitri Jungo to the loss side 10-7, Shuff beat Tkach 10-8, Lombardo over Wolford 10-6. Ussery over Reinhold 10-9, Sayed downs Deuel 10-6, Fortunski gets by Krah 10-7, Junior competitor Payne McBride defeats Brian Vu 10-2 and Justin Martin moves on with a double hill win over Lukas Fracasso-Verner.)
Fans can watch not only the featured table with full commentary, but also any other table at the event with the Accu-Stats PPV coverage. They can also follow all of the action online with real-time scoring and online brackets all week long.
Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz is the new Nineball World Number One after clinching the 2022 US Open Pool Championship title beating Max Lechner in the final at Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City to take home the $50,000 first-place prize.
The Spaniard’s week in New Jersey couldn’t have gone much better finding out earlier on that he would be an automatic pick for the 2022 Mosconi Cup Team Europe side as one of the three players to come from the Live Nineball World Rankings and it ended with a memorable victory in front of a sell-out crowd over Lechner to break the $100,000 mark and overtake World Champion Shane Van Boening at the top.
Sanchez Ruiz was elated with his week’s work: “It is unbelievable how it feels. I feel so happy. Congratulations to Max. Thank you to everyone for the support, I love you guys. It’s the biggest win in my career. There are too many good feelings right now. I received the news of making the Mosconi Cup and it gave me so much. I want to say thank you to my team David Alcaide and Jose Alberto Delgado. It’s an unbelievable feeling, it really is.”
Joshua Filler was eyeing a second US Open, but it wasn’t to be as Eklent Kaçi abruptly ended the UK Open winner’s run in the Last 16. Despite that, Filler has opened up a $17,870 gap over Albin Ouschan at world number four.
Three Austrians now sit inside the top ten in the world with Lechner’s $25,000 winnings taking him from 15th to sixth just behind Mario He and Ouschan. Kaçi’s run in AC to the quarter-finals sees the Albanian break into the top ten whilst Alexander Kazakis, Wiktor Zielinski, and Abdullah Alyousef all had strong weeks to maintain their position inside the top ten.
The Ko brothers have been back in force in recent months after Pin Yi snapped off the APF Asian 9-Ball Open, Ping Chung reached the semi-finals to climb from 73rd in the world to 24th as one of the biggest movers. Poland’s Konrad Juszczyszyn steady year continued as he moved up to 15th and Sanjin Pehlivanovic moved inside the top 20.
2023 promises to be bigger and better for Nineball with the Matchroom provisional schedule revealed for the first time during the US Open. Matchroom’s calendar will begin with the World Pool Championship from February 1-5 before the World Pool Masters from May 6-9 ahead of the second-ever UK Open Pool Championship set to take place in London once again from May 30 to June 4. Both the World Cup of Pool and Premier League Pool will take place in June ahead of the European Open Pool Championship in Fulda, Germany from August 8-13.
The next US Open Pool Championship gets underway from September 25-30 before the Mosconi Cup caps off 2023 in December. See more on the 2023 Matchroom provisional schedule here.
The full Nineball World Ranking Schedule will be revealed in the coming weeks as it promises to offer more opportunities for players to earn their right to the biggest events on the calendar.
All eyes will now turn to the 2022 Mosconi Cup where both Team USA and Team Europe know three of their five-player rosters after Sanchez Ruiz and Ouschan were confirmed for Europe to join Filler. On Jeremy Jones‘ American side Skyler Woodward and Oscar Dominguez were confirmed to be joining Van Boening ahead of both Jones and Alex Lely confirming their two wild card picks.
Fans can expect to hear more soon from both skippers as they confirm their two wild card picks each to complete their sides ahead of the battle commencing in pool’s biggest battle.
After a hectic day’s play at the Petrich Arena in southern Bulgaria, we are down to the final four players. With a slightly altered schedule to take into account the start of the European Open, there were four rounds of play on the losers’ side of the bracket, one winners’ qualification round and then the last 32 played down to just four players who will return on Monday afternoon to contest the business end of the tournament.
And it is some of the big names of European pool who will gunning for the trophy as Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz takes on Alexander Kazakis and then Eklent Kaci goes up against Mario He.
For Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, it will be his sixth Euro Tour semi-final in a little over 13 months and he seems to be in unstoppable form going into the last four. He defeated Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyousef 9-5 to secure his berth in tomorrow evenings line-up.
Commented the Spaniard, “It feels so good and I feel so confident, and also so confident with my break which is working and I’m really happy with my performance. I’ll stay focused just on my game and tomorrow is the semi-final and I prefer to take it game-by-game.
“I had a few moments today; against Spasov of Bulgaria, the score was close and also the quarter-final was close. It was 5-5 and in the end I won it but it’s always tough. I’ll be trying my best but my focus is on the semi-final.”
Alexander Kazakis enjoyed a 9-3 victory over Miesko Fortunski to book his last four match against Sanchez-Ruiz, a game he is relishing.
“I’m really happy with my performance. I played four matches today and in all matches I played almost perfect and also, I had all the rolls on my side so you can’t ask for anything else! Francisco is having a great year and it all started for him when he won his first Euro Tour against me in the final last year.
“He won hill-hill and played really well and deserved it and after that he was just smashing everything. But every day is a different day and I’m going to try to do my thing, he’s going to try and do his thing and whoever has the most rolls and plays the best will win.”
It turned into an endurance test for Albania’s Eklent Kaci, who went to the one-loss side after his opening game of the tournament. That meant a busy schedule and today he came through an incredible six matches, capping it with a 9-5 quarter-final win over David Alcaide.
He said, “I was just trying play each match as it came. Six matches are a lot but I just tried to keep it going; win this one, then on to the next one and just keep moving forward. I got a bit sleepy and was travelling around the table just to stay awake. But to be honest I shot good – I made a couple of mistakes through tiredness I think but the important thing is that I’m in the semi-final and playing tomorrow.”
He will be facing Austria’s Mario He who is hoping for his first Euro Tour title since the heady days of 2018 when he triumphed twice that year. He sneaked over the line in his quarter-final match, beating Oliver Szolnoki 9-8.
Commented He, “I’m happy that I’m in the semis but I didn’t play my best game and didn’t break that well. I have to fight with myself a little bit. I feel like I need more motivation and will-to-win. I’m just a little bit easy and not caring too much and that’s usually not who I am. Tomorrow I’m going to try and get myself motivated. I need to improve my break, keep playing good and win my next Euro Tour, hopefully.”
Play continues 17:00 on Monday 8th on one table with the two semi-finals playing consecutively followed by the final at 20:00.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer as well as world ranking points, so there is everything to play for. 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 as well as selected matches on Facebook Live on the EPBF page. In addition, the semi-finals and final, played out on Monday night, will be live or highlights on the following television stations across Europe;
SportKlub HD – Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia,
Bosnia Herzegovina, Greece
Eyecons – Netherlands)
SportKlub – Poland
ORF – Austria
B1B Box – Bulgaria
Ko Pin Yi became the first major casualty of the 2022 UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena, London live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube pages as well as Matchroom.Live as the field edges ever closer to the single-elimination stage.
It was a packed day in England’s capital as 40 players were sent packing home with the biggest name coming in 2015 World Champion, Pin Yi. The Chinese Taipei star was sent to the Losers Bracket by Luke Garland yesterday and faced a potential three matches on day three to keep his UK Open journey going. Pin Yi beat Craig Brown early on 9-6 but came unstuck to South Africa’s JJ Faul who put on what he described as the performance of his career.
Mieszko Fortunski reached the semi-finals of the World Pool Masters just a few weeks back beating Jayson Shaw along the way and the Pole moved past the Brit once again to keep on the winners’ half of the draw. Shaw faces a stern test tomorrow if he is to keep going with a potential three matches on the agenda to reach the Last 16, first in the form of Jonas Souto Comino of Spain.
Fans were treated to a breathtaking performance by 14-year-old Riku Romppanen who came from 8-4 down to beat Robbie Capito to remain in the competition and meet Skyler Woodward to keep his hopes going. Romppanen’s journey will be one to remember with three wins over his three days but eventually came unstuck to Woodward despite pegging the two-time Mosconi Cup MVP back to 5-5 after Woodward led 5-0. The result leaving Woodward with a match against 2012 World Pool Masters champion Karol Skowerski to reach the Last 16.
Joshua Filler needs only one more win to reach the Last 16, the Killer doing a double on America’s Chris Reinhold and Shane Wolford 9-5 and 9-1 respectively. Filler will come up against Britain’s Luke Rollison, who has battled his way through after overcoming World Pool Championship semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef 9-7 in a memorable performance. World Champion Shane Van Boening is also in the same position as Filler after beating Juan Carlos Exposito of Spain and legend of the game Ralf Souquet to meet Poland’s Daniel Maciol for a spot in the Last 16 tomorrow.
Thorsten Hohmann will meet Mario He in Winners Qualification tomorrow, after the pair dismantled Alexander Kazakis and Ko Ping Chung 9-3 and 9-1 respectively. The other Winners Qualification match sees Dennis Orcollo up against former World Junior champion Sanjin Pehlivanovic. Orcollo was given a scare against Souto Comino who had gone into a 5-0 lead on the Filipino great. Pehlivanovic meanwhile overcame Nineball World No.5, Max Lechner, in an emphatic fashion 9-2.
The losers’ bracket is stacked ahead of Round 6. One of Francisco Sanchez Ruiz and Alexander Kazakis will learn their fate early on tomorrow as the pair do battle to make Losers Round 7 whilst it will be an all-American affair between Shane Wolford and Oscar Dominguez to keep their hopes alive. Two other 2022 Nineball World Ranking Top 32 players will meet in Alyousef and Marc Bijsterbosch. World Pool Masters runner-up Lo Ho Sum will face Romppanen. Ho Sum getting the better of Pijus Labutis and Denis Grabe on a busy day.
It was strictly business for Albin Ouschan who recovered from defeat to Karol Skowerski on the Winners’ side with victories over Snooker’s Gary Wilson 9-2 and Joao Grillo 9-1 to meet Souquet to keep hopes alive of another Nineball title. Ouschan winning seven racks on the spin to knock out Wilson.
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz vs Alex Kazakis (L6)
Jayson Shaw vs Jonas Souto Comino (L6)
Oscar Dominguez vs Shane Wolford (L6)
Joshua Filler vs Luke Rollison (W5)
Shane Van Boening vs Daniel Maciol (W5)
Ko Ping Chung vs Nicholas De Leon (L6) Mika Immonen vs Chris Alexander (L6)
Marc Bijsterbosch vs Abdullah Alyousef (L6)
Dennis Orcollo vs Sanjin Pehlivanovic (W5) David Alcaide vs Mieszko Fortunski (W5)
The final two days are available on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland as well as on Viaplay in Scandinavia and the Baltics and various other broadcasters worldwide including Matchroom.Live in relevant countries. See the full where to watch list here.
Tickets start from £15 for the day using the code UKOPEN at checkout. Secure yours here
The semi-final line-up for the 2022 World Pool Masters is complete at the Europa Point Sports Complex, Gibraltar live on Sky Sports, DAZN, Viaplay, and Matchroom.Live in selected countries as Lo Ho Sum, Joshua Filler, and Mieszko Fortunski joined Ko Pin Yi in tonight’s finale.
Lo found himself 4-1 down to Abdullah Alyousef who had rallied up some early confidence to leave the youngster wondering where his next shot may come on the table in a nervy affair. Alyousef is no pushover on the back of reaching the semi-finals of the World Pool Championship just a month ago, but his rhythm was disrupted in the sixth rack.
Lo had missed the two ball in his first opportunity at the table but Alyousef made a howler of an error on the three ball to put Lo back in who soon made it 4-2. The difference was soon one. In the seventh rack, Alyousef was snookered on the eight ball before making a meal of his effort for Lo to make it 4-3. Both players were making their World Pool Masters debut this week and was soon level for the first time since the start of the match at 4-4. It soon went 5-5 before Lo was first to reach the hill. Alyousef played the six ball with too much spin making the cue ball nestle inside the jaw of the middle pocket offering up a tricky pot on the seven, the Kuwaiti missed allowing Lo to reach the hill.
The miss of the tournament came in the next rack as Lo had the one ball in front of him and the five over the pocket – somehow the one ball avoided the five allowing Alyousef back to the table. Alyousef made him pay for hill-hill. Lo then completed a nervy but deserved victory in the following rack in more routine fashion to book a semi-final spot.
Nobody could’ve predicted how one-sided Filler’s win over Dennis Orcollo would be with the German offering out a donut win over the Filipino great. Orcollo didn’t get any table time with just the one foul in the match being his only contribution. Filler’s states were remarkable and do the storytelling of the contest better than any words.
Fortunski came up against the home favourite Sanchez Ruiz to book a maiden semi-final berth at a Matchroom event and he stood up well to the job at hand. The early exchanges saw the pair share the opening four racks. Neither Sanchez Ruiz or Fortunski could break away from eachother and a scratch on the break in the eighth for Sanchez Ruiz led to Fortunski levelling at 4-4. Into the ninth rack and Fortunski found his stroke with a break and run to make it 5-4 before another in the following rack to be on the hill at 6-4. Fortunski broke well in what proved to be in the final rack but gave Sanchez Ruiz a chance after hooking himself on the four ball. The resulting kick from Fortunski put him safe making it diffcult for Sanchez Ruiz to have a stroke on the four. Sanchez Ruiz made the jump on the four but left the table open for Fortunski to wrap up a huge victory.
The semi-finals and final complete the 2022 World Pool Masters from 5:30 pm UK time with Filler set to face Pin Yi. Lo takes on Sanchez Ruiz.
Sunday 8th May – Evening Session – 5:30 pm UK time – Semi-Finals
Albin Ouschan has been knocked out of the 2022 World Pool Masters at the Europa Point Sports Complex, Gibraltar live on Sky Sports, DAZN, Viaplay, and Matchroom.Live in selected countries as Francisco Sanchez Ruiz came from 5-2 down to beat the two-time world champion.
The evening session began at a canter as Joshua Filler wrapped up a huge 7-1 win over Skyler Woodward in a little over half an hour. On Woodward’s birthday, Filler was the party pooper as he barely got out of second gear on the way to victory whilst his American counterpart faltered. Filler’s golden break in the fourth rack put him 3-1 up before a bad miss cue from Woodward in the fifth rack left Woodward 4-1 down and a mountain to climb. The pair have done battle on countless occasions in the Mosconi Cup, and it was Filler on this occasion who was getting the better of Woodward with a merciless showing.
Sanchez Ruiz had the home crowd support on his mission to reach the quarterfinals but faced Ouschan who was looking to bounce back from defeat to Shane Van Boening in the World Pool Championship back in April. It was a cagey opening affair as both Ouschan, and Sanchez Ruiz scratched on their respective breaks as it moved to 1-1.
Ouschan put daylight between him and Sanchez Ruiz after winning the third and fourth racks to leave the Spaniard with work to be done. Sanchez Ruiz was locked out for large parts of the early exchanges as Ouschan locked him up in deep safety battles. The Austrian had his eyes on the quarterfinals as he led 5-2 with Sanchez Ruiz yet to put his stamp on the match but at that point things turned. Ouschan’s break left the cue ball tight on the eight with a rough angle on the one and it was from then Sanchez Ruiz took full advantage and make it 5-3. Into the next rack and Ouschan had the opportunity to reach the hill but unusually he missed a bank on the seven to give Sanchez Ruiz another bite of the cherry and go one behind.
There was a real momentum swing in the arena as Sanchez Ruiz rallied back to reach the hill first at 6-5 with a flawless rack before completing a comeback at 7-5 to send the local crowd into rapterous applause.
The first quarter-final of the tournament rounded off the night with Nineball World No. 5 Max Lechner meeting Ko Pin Yi who had already overcome brother Ping Chung and David Alcaide in the competition. Lechner struggled to get a hand on the table as Pin Yi continued to break effortlessly to move into an early 3-0 lead. Lechner though has become difficult to beat and he got back-to-back racks to make it only 3-2. That was Lechner’s last say on matters though despite only missing one ball all match. Pin Yi broke and run in 71% of his racks making 2.7 balls on average in the process. The Chinese Taipei’s performance arguably flawless making 98% of his pots and breaking and running in six of his even racks. Pin Yi will play in the first semi-final tomorrow evening against either Dennis Orcollo or Filler.
The quarter-final stage continues tomorrow afternoon from 12:30 pm UK time with Abdullah Alyousef meeting Lo Ho Sum. Filler’s reward for beating Woodward as mentioned is Orcollo. Mieszko Fortunski will take on Sanchez Ruiz. The semi-finals will take place tomorrow evening before the final which is a Race to 9.
Sunday 8th May – Afternoon Session – 1:00pm UK time – Quarterfinals
Abdullah Alyousef vs Lo Ho Sum
Joshua Filler vs Dennis Orcollo
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz vs Mieszko Fortunski
Sunday 8th May – Evening Session – 5:30pm UK time – Semi-Finals
Ko Pin Yi/Max Lechner vs Dennis Orcollo/Joshua Filler
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz/Mieszko Fortunski vs Abdullah Alyousef/Lo Ho Sum
