The draw for the 2022 US Open Pool Championship has been made ahead of action getting underway at Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City from October 10-15 with defending champion Carlo Biado set to meet Dalibor Nikolin in the opening match of the tournament.
Nineball World No.1 Shane Van Boening will start his quest for a sixth US Open title against rising star Joey Tate whilst 2019 Champion Joshua Filler will take on Canada’s Jeffrey Kennedy to start his week.
This year’s US Open sees the return of some of Asia’s top talent with Ko Pin Yi meeting Ben Crawley and brother Ping Chung taking on Robert Blackiston. 2013 World Cup of Pool champion Lee Van Corteza will return against Andrew Finnigan. Great Britain’s Jayson Shaw will go on the hunt for a second US Open crown against Vincent Beaurivage first up.
The top 128 players in the field were seeded based on the combination of the 2022 Nineball World Ranking and Live Nineball World Ranking.
Live rack-by-rack scoring will be available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com
From Monday, 10 October to Thursday, 13 October fans will be able to enjoy the action globally on the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube pages as well as Matchroom.Live with two tables streamed.
A range of ticket packages are available including an event pass giving you access to all six days of action for only $155, a saving of up to $55. A premium event pass gives you reserved front two seats for the single-elimination stage at $205. Limited seats are available for the final day.
From July 6th-9th, The Corner Bank in Toronto celebrated Canada’s 150th birthday with a $5,000 added 8-Ball event. The event was dedicated to the late Vince MacIntyre who we lost in 2013. There is no doubt that Vince would have played in this event if he was still with us, he was a warrior on the bar tables.
The talented field of 68 players included some of Canada’s best bar box players including Louis Fazekas, John Morra, Andy Aupin, Adam Monture and Al Porter. Fans in attendance witnessed some excellent pool. On route to the finals, John Morra defeated Rob Hall, Jonathon Lessard, Brad Guthrie before facing the current Canadian 8-Ball Champion Adam Monture. Adam and John traded games right down to the wire before Morra clinched the last rack. John continued his journey with wins over Erik Hjorleifson and Jason Klatt to earn the hot seat.
Jason Klatt had wins over Bruce Hickey, Ben Crawley, Jeet Khandi, Tyler Styer and Andy Aupin before losing to John Morra in the A-Side finals. In the b-side finals, Jason Klatt eliminated the young gun from Wisconsin, Tyler Styer. I’m sure we will be seeing more of this sharpshooter as he has recently been spending some time here in Canada.
Klatt now faced John Morra again in the finals. This was a “true double knock-out” event with Jason needing to win two sets for the title. Klatt wasted no time jumping out to a 5-0 lead before Morra could get a game on the board at 5-1. John missed the 8-Ball in the next rack put Jason in front 6-1. Jason held it together to win the first set 8-2 and the players quickly lagged again to start the last set of the tournament.
Jason Klatt came out of the gate strong once again. This set was played at a slower pace as both players could now see the finish line. Morra stayed within reach eventually tying the score at 5-5. A foul on the 8-Ball in the 11th rack put Jason ahead 6-5. Jason broke dry in the next rack and Morra carefully cleared the stripes to tie the score at 6-6. Now it was Morra’s turn to break dry, Klatt took his time and ran the table to reach the hill 7-6. Jason followed it up in style with a break-and-run to win the event.