Yep, Yapp won ‘em both. And his girlfriend, Silviana Lu won the other one.
The 3rd Annual Meucci Classic at Racks Billiards Sports Bar & Grill in Sanford, FL this past weekend (Nov. 10-13) gave Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp his third and fourth 2022 event victory, which added to his already-best (recorded with us) earnings year since we recorded his first two cash winnings in September of 2012, a week apart; a 17th place finish at the Party Poker World Cup of Pool in Quezon City in the Philippines (won by Mika Immonen) and a week+ later, a 33rd place finish at the China Open in Shanghai (won by Dennis Orcollo).
So, the Meucci Classic was nowhere near his first rodeo. By the same token, Yapp’s presence outside of a fairly consistent group of world-travelling pool professionals had him flying under a lot of the US pool-playing radar until he showed up in the finals of the 2021 US Open 9-Ball Championships in Atlantic City and battled in the finals (unsuccessfully) against Carlo Biado. He became a much more consistently-present figure for the rest of the year, with appearances in (among others) the American 14:1 Straight Pool Championships (9th), the International 9-Ball Open (17th), the International Open’s Big Foot 10-Ball (3rd behind Joshua Filler and Mika Immonen) and a win on the Predator US Pro Billiard Series in Battle Creek, Michigan.
He’s cashed in 19 events this year, winning four of them, runner-up in two and 3rd in three. He won this year’s Michigan Open and the Sandcastle Open before heading to the eastern shores of Virginia where he finished 9th at this year’s International Open 9-Ball tournament and was 3rd for the second time at the Big Foot 10-Ball event; this time, behind the juggernaut known as Fedor Gorst and Joshua Filler. He shuffled off to Sanford, FL last weekend, where he went undefeated through seven opponents, downing Austria’s Max Lechner twice; double hill in the hot seat match and 9-5 in the finals of the $4,000-added, 121-entrant 9-Ball tournament.
Left in the good-company dust (among others) were Austria’s Wiktor Zielinski, Poland’s Mieszko Fortunski, Germany’s Moritz Neuhausen, Finland’s Mika Immonen, Austria’s Mario He, Greece’s Alex Kazakis and Estonia’s Denis Grabe. Lithuania’s Pijus Labutis finished the tournament with the distinction of having won the most consecutive matches, 10 of them on the loss side, before he was stopped by Lechner in the semifinals. Leading the American charge for the title was BJ Ussery, Jr., who finished 4th; an outstanding finish for the South/mid-Atlantic competitor. Also in the US lineup were local stalwarts Anthony Meglino, Donny Mills, Mike Delawder, Raymond Linares, Bobby Garza and 1992’s US Open 9-Ball Champion, Tommy Kennedy.
The 3rd Annual Meucci Classic’s $5,000-added, 63-entrant 10-Ball Tournament was a different story. Same ending, just a different story. The 10-Ball battles preceded and overlapped the 9-Ball battles, so Yapp availed himself of the six-opponent practice opportunity, with an extra ball in the game, and went undefeated. He got by Poland’s Konrad Juszczyszyn and two Americans, George Saunders and Alan Rolon Rosado, to advance to the 16-player, single-elimination phase of the event. Yapp was joined in the winners’ side advancement by Wiktor Zielinski, Bosnia/Herzegovina’s Sanjin Pehlivanovich, Dmitri Loukatos, Taipei’s Jung Lin Chan and Jeffrey DeLuna. BJ Ussery, Jr., who’d go on to finish fourth in the 9-Ball competition, advanced, as did Donny Mills. Joining them from the loss side were Adam Wheeler, Max Lechner, Pijus Labutis (who would not get the most consecutive win prize in this event), Jani Uski, Mika Immonen, Mario He, David Singleton and Denis Grabe.
Ussery would engage in the only double hill battle of the single-elimination’s first round, against Jani Uski, and it would knock him out of the 10-Ball competition. Three of the four quarterfinal matches went double hill; Immonen over Uski, Yapp over Labutis, and Grabe over Lechner. Zielinski downed Pehlivanovic 11-5.
Zielinski ‘iced’ the Iceman, allowing him only a single rack in one of the semifinal matches, while Yapp was a little busier, eliminating Grabe 11-7. Yapp claimed the 10-Ball title with a stingy 11-3 victory over Zielinski.
Indonesia’s Silviana Lu goes undefeated, winning 81% of her 37 games to claim Ladies title
In this, her first year as a cash-winning player in our AZBilliards database, Indonesia’s Silviana Lu has cashed in only two events. She finished in a tie for 5th place at the Asian Pool Federation’s 9-Ball Open, Women’s Division in August. A month later, she finished in the tie for 9th place at the WPBA’s Michigan Open. Her boyfriend, Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp finished in the tie for 17th in the former event and won the latter.
She has recorded her first event victory with us as a result of going undefeated through a field of 27 entrants in the $1,000-added Ladies 9-Ball event. And she did so by defeating her six opponents with an 81% game-winning average (30-7), shutting out half of them and not allowing any of them to chalk up more than three against her; Nicolle Cuellar, who has Florida-area tour victories and cash finishes going back 10 years to the former Flamingo Tour.
Note to competitors looking to take advantage of the increased amount of money being offered at Scotch Doubles events across the country: In addition to the Fillers (Joshua and Pia) and the Fedor Gorst/Kristina Tkach pairing, you might want to watch out for the Yapp/Lu partnership.
Lu’s trip to the winners’ circle went through Marge Soash (0), Cuellar (3), Palmoa Santana (1) and Jessica Human (1) to arrive at the hot seat match versus Jennifer Berzinski to whom she gave up two racks to claim the seat. Adriana Villar, who lost her opening match to Cuellar and won eight on the loss side (shutting out three and surviving a double hill match against Helene Caukin), challenged Lu in the finals. Lu shut her out to claim the event title.
In addition to the 218 participants in the three events (with some duplication), tour representatives thanked title sponsor Meucci Cues, the ownership and staff at Rack’s for their hospitality, Outsville, JB Cases, Carlos Sanchez productions, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore and Clutch Shot Billiards Apparel.
JIC quarter and semifinals feature a Tate family gathering
It’s come down to Russia’s Fedor Gorst, Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski. Scotland’s Jason Shaw and Taipei’s Ko Pin Yi. In matches that began today (Friday, Nov. 4) at around noon and lasted until about five minutes ago, the International 9-Ball Open’s field of 128, in single-elimination fashion, came down to its final four.
The final eight began squaring off immediately following the conclusion of a banquet and ceremonies which inducted Dennis Orcollo and Professional Billiard Instructor Association’s Jerry Briesath into the Billiard Congress of America’s Hall of Fame. While Briesath was present at the ceremony, addressing the crowd and accepting the award for his accomplishments as an instructor for many years. Dennis Orcollo, due to ongoing visa problems, accepted the award via a Zoom call from the Philippines, which, though it had its moments of humorous glitches went smoothly. Orcollo was introduced from a podium at the banquet and when the moment was turned over to him, he sat smiling on the screen for a number of minutes before the connection and cues translated across the thousands of miles from the Philippines and Norfolk, VA was accomplished.
Four of the eight 9-Ball quarterfinalists and a number of the Junior competitors went right from the tables in the banquet hall to the tables in the arena of the Sheraton Norfolk/Waterside in Norfolk, VA. Germany’s Joshua Filler and Wictor Zielinski took center stage in the Accu-stats feature arena, while Fedor Gorst and Austrian Albin Ouschan moved to one of the adjacent areas nearby.
The Junior International Championships matches – the semifinals of the 18 & Under Girls division and the quarterfinals of the 18 & Under Boys division got underway in another adjacent area at the edge of the center arena (more on this later).
Zielinski and Filler played before an appreciative and noisy crowd which had something to applaud at least once in all 16 games that made up their race-to-10. Zielinski edged out in front near the end to win it 10-6 and be the first quarterfinalist to advance. As Gorst and Ouschan continued their struggle, with Gorst getting ahead early and staying there to win it 10-3, Shaw and Spain’s Jonas Souto practiced in the Accu-Stat feature arena. Shortly after they gotunderway, Mario He and Ko Pin Yi squared off at a table in an adjacent area.
As Gorst had done to Ouschan, Shaw did likewise to Souto, by the same 10-3 score, becoming the third quarterfinalist to advance. And as Zielinski had done to Filler, Ko Pin Yi became the final piece to the International Open 9-Ball’s semifinal puzzle, eliminating Mario He, by the same 10-6 score.
The semifinals and finals of the 9-ball Open will play out on the Accu-State feature arena tomorrow (Sat., Nov. 5), beginning with Gorst and Zielinski at 4 p.m. Shaw and Ko Pin Yi will meet at 6 p.m. The finals are scheduled for 8 p.m.
Noelle Tate
Three siblings battle for sure slot in the finals, a chance at getting there and 3rd place in JIC
As the two sisters, 12-year-old Noelle and 15-year-old Bethany Tate began their semifinal match in the 18 & Under Girls division of the Junior International Championships, they were keenly aware of their 17-year-old brother, Joey, who was playing versus Payne McBride in the quarterfinals of the 18 & Under Boys division. They had to be, because they were playing at adjacent tables, forcing them to more or less constantly pay attention to what was happening at the next table to avoid poking someone with a stick; didn’t happen often, although checking to be sure that it didn’t happen, did happen often.
They went off at more or less the same time, while Filler and Zielinski were playing their quarterfinal 9-ball Open match. Applause emanating from the feature arena crowd had a way of coinciding with some good shooting going on in the junior matches. There was no mistaking which girl was which; the older Bethany, more than just a few inches taller than her relatively diminuitive younger sibling, Noelle. It was not a distinction that played out on the table.
One might have been fooled early, watching Bethany chalk up the first-game win, but it became clear when Noelle won the next two that this was not going to be easy for either of them. It was a pool game, but one that featured as something of a sideshow, sibling rivalry, age differentiation and that particular distaste for losing which has a way of playing out more emotionally at a younger age.
Bethany came back to tie the score at 2-2. They would go on to tie five times at each numerical progression; 1-1 through 5-5. As it happened, the ‘table’ offered each of them numerous opportunities to win using a combination that included the 9-ball. Bethany ended up doing it twice; once tying the match at 4-4 and again, at 5-5.
Meanwhile, brother Joey was behind in his match versus Payne McBride; a fact that there’s no doubt they were noticing, though they never, not once, let it be known, as they maintained their focus at their own table.
Bethany won games 2, 3, 5, 8 & 10. Noelle took games 1, 4, 6, 7 & 9. By the time they reached the 10th game, they had picked up their pace. Games 9 & 10 were played at a very rapid pace, with both girls taking and making bank shots and any other shots necessary to reach the finish line, quickly. Bethany was a little too quick in Game 11 to assess the lie of the last two balls; very close to each other, Bethany dropped the 8-ball well enough, but her shot pushed the 9-ball into a tough target range. She missed the 9-ball and Noelle sunk it to reach the hill first.
Still working at a rapid pace, Bethany was on her way through the 12th rack looking to force a double-hill, deciding game and made two successive (quick) bank shots to get the first shot at the 9-ball. It rattled in the hole and for all intents and purposes, it was over. Noelle did not shoot at the 9-ball, because Bethany saw the ‘writing on the wall’ and stepped in to give her a hug, effectively ending it.
Noelle had finished in 6th place in the JIC’s season-ending standings, based on performance in eight events. On her way to the finals in the 18 & Under Girls Championship, scheduled for noon tomorrow (Sat. Nov. 5), she had been defeated only once, by Courtney Hairfield, who’d finished in 7th place in the standings. On the loss side, Noelle had defeated Kennedy Meyman (#5), Precilia Kinsley (#3) and her own sister, Bethany, who had finished the JIC season as the division’s #1-ranked competitor.
“I was so nervous,” said Noelle, minutes after the match, “because normally, she beats me.”
Though aware that projecting how things might turn out in any ‘road ahead’ tournament setting was not generally a good idea, she did harbor some feelings about what wasn’t going to happen.
“I was not really thinking of being in the finals,” she said of tomorrow’s match versus The Pink Dagger, aka Sofia Mast, who finished as the division’s #2 competitor at the end of the season and sat next to Precilia Kinsley’s mother during the match between the Tate sisters and joined in the conversation about it afterwards. Asked how she had acquired the skills necessary to keep her own nervousness at bay during her match, Noelle smiled.
“It’s just a game, and you try to just have fun,” she said. “I have to keep thinking that.”
Meanwhile, the two Tate sisters were able to turn their attention to their brother Joey, who, last time they looked, was a few racks behind in his quarterfinal match. Though McBride reached the hill first, Tate caught up and won the final rack. He moved on within a matter of minutes to face Garrett Vaughan in the semifinals, winning it 7-4. So once again, as they did last year, Joey Tate and Landon Hollingsworth will square off in the finals of the JIC’s 18 & Under Boys Championship (2 p.m., today). He’ll get the opportunity to root for Noelle in the 18 & Under Girls final at noon and later, looking for the finals win this time, he’ll have his two sisters rooting for him from the viewing seats.
All of Saturday’s action will take place on the featured table and fans will be able to watch the junior matches free on Facebook and YouTube. Fans hoping to catch the semi-finals and finals of the main event will have to do so 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.
A sweator’s delight! At least that was how more than one described it!
Presented by PoolActionTV.com and hosted by Buffalo’s Billiards in Jefferson, LA, a suburb of New Orleans, this latest iteration of the Champions Challenge featured two of the best one pocket players in the world battling it out for over $200,000!
The match was played over the course of the past four days. It was a race to 36 stopping daily at 9, 18, 27 and 36 for the win.
Nicknamed “The Lion” or “The Killer Pixie” and sponsored by Lomax Custom Cues, Alex Pagulayan was born in the Philippines but his family emigrated to Canada when he was thirteen. He first started playing pool there – in the pool room managed by his father.
Since winning the Sands Regency 9-Ball Open in 1999, this BCA Hall of Famer has amassed over sixty major titles including the WPA World 9 Ball Championship, the World Pool Masters, the World Summit of Pool, US Open titles in 9 Ball, 8 Ball and One Pocket and the Buffalo’s Pro One Pocket Championship. A three-time gold medalist at the Southeast Asian Games, he is also a two-time Canadian Amateur Snooker champ as well as a two-time Master of the Table at the Derby City Classic.
Buffalo’s House Pro and the 2007 US Open One Pocket Champion, Tony Chohan is having a banner year. He started off the year with a victory at the Iron City Open 9 Ball Championship, took down the Southeast Triple Crown One Pocket division and followed that with wins at the Midwest Open’s One Pocket and Banks events. He then earned his second US Open One Pocket Championship title and then returned to home base to snap off the Buffalo’s Pro One Pocket for the second year in a row.
Day One saw Alex shoot out to 4-0 and almost won the next one. Tony won that one and got back into the match winning a few from there. However, Alex pulled away again and finished the day with that same four game lead – 9-5.
Tony started out Day Two winning several games but when play was over for the night, Alex had extended his lead to 18-13.
Entering Day Three, Tony was way behind but then it was like someone flipped on his switch! He won game after game and went ahead for the first time 23-21. However, that lead was shortlived. The next thing you knew, Alex went on a tear and claimed the next five out of six games and finished the day with a score of 27-24.
On the final day, there were more than a few games with the balls up table. Alex won most of those battles and finished out the match 36-29.
Congratulations, Alex, for another masterful job! Great effort, Tony! Kudos to both players for providing some of the best one pocket action we’ve ever seen!
PoolActionTV.com would like to James Leone (“Buff”), his manager Steve Tesvich (“Bullseye”) and their staff for taking such good care of the players and fans.
In addition, we’d also like to thank our fans and sponsors. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Lomax Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues, the Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX and the Action Palace of Dayton, OH.
Our next event is the $15,000 added Beasley Open at the Brass Tap & Billiards in Raleigh, NC. Featuring both $10,000 added open 9 ball and $5,000 added one pocket divisions, we hope to see you there!
Buffalo’s Billiards in Jefferson, LA – just outside New Orleans – is firmly establishing itself as the high dollar one pocket venue on the planet!
Over this past weekend, owner James Leone (“Buff”), his manager, Steve Tesvich (“Bullseye”) and his staff hosted the latest One Pocket Champions Challenge. Featuring Corey Deuel and Roberto Gomez with a five figure prize fund in the middle, the format was races to five – best out of seven sets.
No stranger to the finals in several disciplines, Corey (“The Prince of Pool”) has won over forty titles since turning pro in 1995. The 2001 US Open 9 Ball champion, he won both the Derby City Classic One Pocket title and the US Amateur Snooker Championship in 2013. Corey played on the International Pool Tour and was selected seven times to represent the United States on the Mosconi Cup – he was named MVP in 2006.
Unknown to most of his American fans, Roberto (“Superman”) is university educated with a major in broadcasting and worked as a reporter for the ABS-CBN network for a couple years before returning to his first love – pool. His first appearance on the world stage was at the 2007 World 9 Ball Championship where he reached the finals against Daryl Peach. It was a close match but Peach prevailed 17-15 to take the title. Three years later, he and Dennis Orcollo reached the finals of the World Cup of Pool but lost to Team China. Breaking through in 2018, Roberto took the Derby City Classic Bigfoot 10 Ball Challenge and followed that with several more ten ball and one pocket titles. He is the reigning International Open One Pocket champion as well as Bogies Billiards East’s house pro in Houston, TX.
Play began on Friday night and the first set started out neck and neck. Tied at 3-3, Roberto won the next two games to claim the first set.He also won the next one with an identical score of 5-3 – putting him up 2-0 in the race to four sets.
Saturday started out with both players trading games until tied at two games apiece. Corey took the next two to make it 4-2 but Roberto clawed his way back to tie it up 4-4!It looked like Roberto was going to win this one also but Corey finally notched his first win – he trailed 2-1 in sets. Set four also went down to the wire and again, Corey pulled it out. Two sets apiece!!!
Looking to close it out on Sunday afternoon, Roberto went on a tear and won the fifth set 5-1. Only needing one more set for the win, they ducked and moved to a 3-3 tie but Roberto closed it the match out with a 5-3 win.
Congratulations to Roberto for another one pocket notch on his belt! Good effort, Corey!
We’d also like to thank our fans and sponsors without whom none of this would be possible. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, CR’s Sports Bar, Lomax Custom Cues, Environmental Assessments, Diveney Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues, Simonis, Aramith and Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
Our next event is the $26,000 added HEX.COM Pro/Am to be held at CR’s Sports Bar in Coon Rapids, MN – a suburb of Minneapolis. Dates are August 17th-21st – hope to see you there!!!
The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) Hall of Fame will welcome a world champion and one of the game’s most revered teachers to the Hall of Fame Class of 2022. The United States Billiard Media Association (USBMA) today announced that Filipino star Dennis Orcollo and legendary instructor Jerry Briesath have earned induction into the sport’s most prestigious club.
Orcollo, 43, was the clear choice of voters in the Greatest Players category and will be the fourth player representing the Philippines to be inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame, joining Pinoy legends Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante and Jose Parica.
Briesath, 85, was a unanimous selection in the Meritorious Service category. The longtime and legendary instructor is considered the father of formal billiard instruction in America, having helped develop and guide the program from concept to its current roster of more than 300 professional instructors across the globe.
Orcollo and Briesath will formally be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday, Nov. 4, at the Norfolk Sheraton Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Va., in conjunction with the 2022 International Open pool tournament.
“Wow!” Orcollo said from his home in the Philippines, where he is awaiting a meeting with U.S. Immigration authorities to petition his return to action in U.S. tournaments. “I never really thought I would be in the Hall of Fame. This is a great award.
“I’m not Efren Reyes,” he laughed. “He is one of the greatest ever. I don’t think of myself that way, so I never really thought about it.”
For Briesath, an active pro player in the 1960’s and ’70s, the award is validation of years of service to players and the sport.
“This is just super,” Briesath said. “The Hall of Fame is about having the admiration of people in the sport and in the industry for what you’ve done. I’ve been to almost all of the Hall of Fame banquets and it was always wonderful to see great players and good people get recognized.”
A longtime poolroom owner in Madison, Wis., Briesath helped launch the BCA Certified Instructor Program (now known as the Professional Billiard Instructors Association) in 1992 and the BCA Summer Youth Cue Camps in 1993. He was awarded the BCA President’s Award in 1997 for his ongoing efforts to improve how players learn to play. He later helped create the BCA “How to Play Pool Right” book and video.
In addition to claiming the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) World 8-Ball Championship in 2011, Orcollo (known in pool circles as “Robocop”) won the BCA Open 9-Ball Championship (2007), Qatar World Open (2008), World Pool Masters (2010), and the China Open (2012). He has been a dominant force at the annual Derby City Classic, winning the 9-Ball division twice (2011, 2017), the Banks division twice (2014, 2020), and the Master of the Table crown twice (2017, 2020). He holds major titles in 8-ball, 9-ball, straight pool, 10-ball, one-pocket and banks.
Voting for the 2022 BCA Hall of Fame was conducted by the USBMA Hall of Fame Board, which consists of USBMA members, elected At-Large members and living members of the Hall of Fame. In his third year on the ballot, Orcollo was named on 34 submitted ballots (80%). Holland’s Niels Feijen was named on 25 ballots (60%), while American Corey Deuel was named on 15 ballots (39%). Jeremy Jones, JoAnn Mason-Parker, John Schmidt, Vivian Villarreal and Charlie Williams completed the 2022 ballot. To be eligible for consideration in the Greatest Players category, a player (a) must be 40 years old by Jan. 1 of the year of their inclusion on the ballot; (b) must have a professional playing career of at least 10 years; and (c) must have recorded significant achievements in U.S.-based and international events recognized by the BCA.
Shane Van Boening, Joshua Filler, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, and David Alcaide will contest the semi-finals of the inaugural UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena, London live on Sky Sports in the UK, Matchroom Pool Facebook in the USA, Canada, Spain, and Italy, Viaplay in Scandinavia, and the Baltics, as well as Matchroom.Live in selected territories tomorrow, Sunday, 22 May.
Van Boening has found everything in his stride so far this week and that continued in the afternoon session as he overcame Marc Bijsterbosch in an 11-1 demolition job that saw the South Dakota kid go 8-0 up with two golden breaks along the way for good measure. The second time Van Boening has mastered that feat in two events. The newly crowned World Champion set up a meeting with Mosconi Cup teammate Skyler Woodward in the quarterfinals, something he knew wouldn’t come easy in his tightest match to date. The pair could not be separated at two all after Woodward made one of the shots of the tournament kicking the six into the nine to level matters.
It did seem that Van Boening was going to pull away in the eighth rack as he went 6-2 up where a freakish act saw the seven ball bounce four inches out of the pocket but soon nestle inside it to extend his lead. Van Boening was soon three away from victory after a sloppy error on the six ball from Woodward allowed his compatriot to capitalise and take full control. The 14th rack did edge in Woodward’s favour though and he trailed by four at 9-5.
Van Boening’s shot selection was exceptional as ever and a neat shot on the five meant the cue ball kissed the seven and nine to open it up for the five-time US Open champion to reach the hill.
In the end, a break and run was the one-way ticket to the semi-finals Van Boening needed to beat his close friend and teammate, Woodward.
Sanchez Ruiz will do battle with Van Boening in the semi-finals after overcoming Dennis Orcollo and Daniel Maciol in the Last 16 and Quarterfinals respectively for 11-7 and 11-5. Not much separated the Spaniard from Maciol until the fifth rack where Sanchez Ruiz found his groove and form that has seen him work into Mosconi Cup contention. Maciol didn’t do too much wrong as Sanchez Ruiz started to run the racks up and build a 7-3 lead over the Pole. El Ferrari was running riot on Table 2 as he reached the hill after an hour and a half of play at 10-4 leaving Maciol with plenty to do to stay in the contest. It’s been a strong run for Maciol this week, but it was Sanchez Ruiz who did his Mosconi Cup chances no harm to wrap up a 11-4 win. His tenth match of the week after falling into the Losers Bracket after the opening match of the tournament.
Filler was in a rampant mood in the afternoon as he ran out an 11-3 winner over Imran Majid to eliminate the last remaining Brit in the competition. The German star wasn’t fazed throughout as Majid faltered in what proved to be the final nail in the 12th rack with a time foul to allow Filler to get to the hill before wrapping up his spot in the quarterfinals.
The 2022 World Pool Masters champion faced a tough test if he was to make his third semi-final in four Matchroom events this year, Aleksa Pecelj of Serbia has a burgeoning reputation in the game and he showed what minerals he had in his locker to defeat Karol Skowerski in a hill-hill finish to make a maiden quarter-final berth.
Filler’s experience in the big moments showed early on in their encounter as he soon rallied up a 5-0 lead with break and runs in four of the opening five racks, only missing out in the first after losing the lag. Pecelj though has proven on countless occasions this week, his hardy nature and he needed it to pounce on an unusual Filler mistake that left the two ball over the pocket in the sixth rack.
Soon, it was 5-2. At 7-3, Filler scratched on the break to give Pecelj another bite of the cherry and he took full advantage to soon make it 7-5 after clearing up in the 11th and a break and run in the 12th. Pecelj was preying on big moments to get back into it alongside some exceptional play and he snatched his moment to make it 7-6 with a gift after Filler scratched when screwing back to make the nine. For the first time, Pecelj was back level at 7-7 and had the opportunity to make the most it when breaking in the 15th but it was Filler who went back in front. It toed and froed as both had to find their nerve. Pecelj reached the hill first and looked to be in a commanding position, but Filler came back to make it a decider.
Pecelj started out with a fluke one the one but missed a simple two ball. From there, Filler showed his winning nouse to a perfect degree playing a beautiful bank on the six before an effortless stroke on the nine to book his place in the semi-finals against Alcaide.
Mario He had taken a 4-2 lead, but Alcaide came back to win the resulting two racks after an intense safety battle in the seventh. He soon restored his lead at 5-4 but the door was blown open again for Alcaide off the break as the two-time World Cup of Pool scratched to let the Spaniard in for 5-5. Alcaide was attempting to finally take control of the contest and he made light work of the 11th and 12th rack to do just that to build his biggest buffer to date in the match. It looked like Alcaide would put pay to He’s errors to lead 8-5 but a cut that hovered over the pocket put He back at the table and back in it at 8-6. Alcaide was looking for his run to the hill in the 16th rack at 9-6 but a double kiss on the two ball put He at the table to close the gap to two again.
A 4-9 combo from He in the 17th put Alcaide on tenterhooks as he closed in on an victory. An emphatic effort on the two ball left He hooked on the four ball which was enough for Alcaide to get in there and reach the hill. The drama wasn’t done there though as a missed carom from Alcaide on the 3 and 8 left He back at the table. He couldn’t do anything with it though and that was that as Alcaide set up a semi-final with Filler.
Table 1 – Sunday, 22 May – Semi-Finals – 11 am
David Alcaide vs Joshua Filler
Shane Van Boening vs Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
5:30 pm Final – Race to 13
The final two days are available on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, Matchroom Pool Facebook in the USA, Canada, Spain, and Italy 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 for the final day are £15 using the code UKOPEN at checkout. Secure yours here
Albin Ouschan, Ko Ping Chung, Alexander Kazakis, and home favourite Jayson Shaw all went out of the inaugural UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena, London. Only 16 remain as the $200,000 tournament heads into single elimination live on Sky Sports Action in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Italy, Spain, Viaplay in Scandinavia, Poland, and the Baltics as well as Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.
It was a grueling day of action in one of London’s most iconic venues as the tournament went through three stages of Losers Round action and a further two rounds of Winners to get the final 16 who will now compete over three tables in Races to 11 to make Saturday evening’s quarterfinals.
One player who won’t be there is Ouschan who has been battling to keep his impeccable record at Matchroom events going. It started in the best possible way with a win over veteran Ralf Souquet but he came up against a resurged Robbie Capito of Hong Kong, China who played one of the matches of his career to knock out the two-time World Champion 9-0. Shaw headed into the day knowing he needed to win three ties to keep hopes of making the final two days on home soil, but it wasn’t to be as young Jonas Souto Comino of Spain came good in a hill-hill finish early on live on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel. Souto Comino’s hopes of his best performance to date in a Matchroom event ended at the hands of Mika Immonen 9-3 swiftly after.
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz was dumped onto the Losers’ Side of the tournament on the opening day and has since then battled away to make the Last 16. The Derby City Classic 9-Ball winner sidestepped past USA Mosconi Cup hopeful Nicholas De Leon 9-3 before wins over Ping Chung and Wojciech Szewczyk to make it two Spaniards in the final stage. The ever-present David Alcaide has stayed on the winners’ side with relative ease all week but had his sternest tests of the week beating both Immonen and World Pool Masters semi-finalist Mieszko Fortunski 9-7 to be right in the picture.
World Champion Shane Van Boening continues to steamroller his way through the tournament beating Daniel Maciol 9-3 to be in the hat whilst Mario He’s remarkable week continued to defeat Thorsten Hohmann 9-3 after beating Ko Ping Chung 9-1 earlier on. World Pool Masters winner Joshua Filler breezed past one of the last remaining Brits Luke Rollison 9-2 with a golden break along the way to join He and Van Boening in the draw.
Another World Pool Masters winner in Karol Skowerski rolled back the years to beat Skyler Woodward 9-1 for his Last 16 spot after defeating compatriot Wiktor Zielinski in a hill-hill finish. Woodward did join Van Boening in the single-elimination stage though after fighting off a resilient Capito in Losers’ Qualification.
There will be one Brit flying the flag this weekend though as Imran Majid battled through a hardy day on the Losers Half beating Marco Teutscher in a hill-hill finish before overcoming Jose Alberto Delgado and Thorsten Hohmann 9-5 and 9-3 respectively. Majid faces Filler for a spot in the quarterfinals.
The Last 16 draw was completed by Karl Boyes and Matchroom Multi Sport Managing Director Emily Frazer. The eight winners from the winners’ half kept their seedings and were randomly drawn against the eight players from Losers’ Qualification.
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
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
Day 2 of the UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena, London live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube pages as well as Matchroom.Live brought plenty of success for the top seeds as only Ko Pin Yi, Naoyuki Oi, and Eklent Kaci came unstuck in Winners’ Round 1.
The action began live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook with the two young guns of Lo Ho Sum and Mickey Krause head to head with Ho Sum looking to build on his runner-up finish at the World Pool Masters just a few weeks ago. Krause is far from a pushover though and the Dane showed his credibility and rise through the ranks to dispatch the Hong Kong, China player to Losers Round 2 in a 9-5 win.
Dennis Orcollo went up to Solihull, Birmingham between the World Pool Masters and the UK Open to keep in stroke playing in a local tournament which he won on Sunday evening and that decision seems to have paid off so far as he came good in a 9-4 win against Chris Seville of Great Britain.
One of the upsets of the day came on one of the back tables as 2015 World Champion Ko Pin Yi was on the end of a 9-4 loss to Luke Garland. Garland was only a few frames away from a World Snooker Tour card a few years back before defeat to UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong at the final hurdle and it showed his pedigree to run seven racks on the way to an 8-0 lead over Pin Yi. Pin Yi did come back but it proved too much of a hill to climb putting him into the next stage in the Losers bracket.
Oi is still in search of his first Matchroom title and his work will be cut out if he is to get rid of that hoodoo this week. The Japanese star fell at the hands of Pole Mariusz Skoneczny in the opening match of the day live on the Matchroom Pool Youtube. Kaci also missed out to Skoneczny’s compatriot Daniel Maciol 9-6. Maciol will face Pijus Labutis in the next round on the winners’ side whilst Kaci faces Rich Jones on the other side of the bracket to keep his hopes alive.
The USA’s Chris Reinhold survived an inspired fightback from Pia Filler to set up a clash with Pia’s husband Joshua in the next phase. Reinhold had amassed an initial advantage, but Filler came back into the contest most notably with a brutal hook early on in the 14th rack. Filler ran it close to get one away from Reinhold at 8-7 but it was the two-time Mosconi Cup player who pulled through to meet Joshua next.
It was the end of the road for Martin Gould on day two as the former World Snooker ranking event winner faced two defeats. Firstly, to Great Britain’s rising star Elliott Sanderson despite hitting the front first and looking in control before being dumped out of the competition in the evening to the vastly experienced Daniele Corrieri who will represent Italy at the World Cup of Pool next month from June 14-19 at the Brentwood Centre in Essex, England.
The journey for Gary Wilson continued though as the former Crucible semi-finalist bounced back from defeat to Chris Alexander to beat Gianluca Cappella and set up a tie with Romania’s Babken Melkonyan tomorrow.
Top seeds Shane Van Boening, Albin Ouschan, David Alcaide, Max Lechner, and Jayson Shaw amongst others all sailed through their respective contests to keep their run on the Winners’ Side continue. Alcaide yet to drop a rack this week whilst Van Boening has only dropped two so far.
There’s plenty of action for fans to get their teeth into tomorrow as Losers Round 3, 4 and 5 all take place as well as Winners Round 2, and 3. Over 100 players will be out of the tournament by the close of play tomorrow.
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
Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz avoided an early exit coming from 6-0 down on the opening day of the inaugural UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena, London live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube pages as well as Matchroom.Live worldwide.
256 players descended on one of London’s most iconic sporting venues for a piece of history as they gun to become the first player to claim the UK Open title and a share of the $200,000 prize fund as the opening round and Losers Round 1 saw the first 16 players leave the tournament and leave many in a perilous position with the remaining losers round matches set to get underway tomorrow morning ahead of Winners Round 1.
Fans were treated to two live streams for free wherever they are in the world thanks to the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube pages as well as on Matchroom.Live and on betting websites around the world and they were not disappointed.
Sanchez Ruiz lost his opening match of the tournament against South Africa’s Jason Theron from 6-3 up to face Ashik Nathawani in one of the opening Losers Round encounters to keep his spot in the tournament. The Spaniard has had a good year of it so far and is one of the Mosconi Cup Team Europe hopefuls, but it was nearly curtains as Nathwani took hold with a 6-0 lead and only three from victory, but Sanchez Ruiz rallied from that point onwards to put on the performance of the opening day in a dramatic hill-hill victory.
Fresh off the back of claiming the title at Nineball Ranking Event, the Bucharest Open on Sunday, Ko Pin Yi made light work of Chun Hao Man 9-2 to kick off Table 1 action before one of the home favourites in Chris Melling put on a fine display to hand a donut to Petr Urban in a cruising 9-0 victory inside 40 minutes. The speediness of Melling’s showing wasn’t the last performance of such nature as both recent World Pool Masters winner Joshua Filler and two-time World Champion Albin Ouschan rattled off emphatic wins of the same scoreline against Robert Hart and Sergio Lagunas, respectively.
With over 38% of the field British, there was plenty of support for the home nations as World Snooker Ranking Event winner Martin Gould got off to a winning start in his first appearance in a Nineball tournament since the early 2000s to beat Tashunka Schultz to set up an all Brit affair with Elliott Sanderson in the Winners Round 1 tomorrow whilst fellow World Snooker Tour player Gary Wilson, a former Crucible semi-finalist showed off his first forway into another cue sport discipline in a 9-6 win over America’s Blaine Barcus. Another notable name from the world of snooker in Fraser Patrick overcome fellow Scot David Black.
Wilson said: “It was getting a bit twitchy. It was too close for my liking. I was 4-1 up. It was a scrappy game. I am trying to get used to the conditions and work out what’s going on. I tried my best to keep potting balls and getting onto the next one. The tables are so different, it is skiddier and more reactive. It took us a few racks to work it out. I am learning as a go and hopefully, I can improve”
Two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw comfortably pulled through against Ali Hirji Kheraj whilst newly crowned World Champion Shane Van Boening didn’t seem to break swear in another 9-0 win on Table 1 over James Channon.
Action continues tomorrow morning from 9am in the arena before streaming coverage begins from 10am on Table 1 and 2. See below the schedule of matches.
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 and £85 for the week using the code UKOPEN at checkout. Secure yours here
