GERMANY’S JOSHUA FILLER won his third consecutive DYNAMIC BILLARD Euro Tour title, and fifth in a row of events he has entered, as he coasted past Radoslaw Babica (Poland) by 9-3 to take the final event of the year, the Treviso Open. The German star’s winning run started in Slovenia last October and has taken in victories in Austria, twice again in Slovenia and now Italy. Despite having missed three events in the seven-tournament ranking cycle, his incredible run still sees him sit at No.2 in the rankings, a situation that could well be remedied soon.
Babica, a stalwart of the Euro Tour and the longest-serving member of the high-quality Polish squad, had only ever reached the one final before and that was back in 2007 where he lost to Bruno Muratore in Spain.
It was a big ask for the Pole and Filler took the opener before Babica snookered himself going from the 1-ball to the 2 in the next. His escape left the ball on for Filler who snapped up the opportunity to move into a 2-0 lead.
Babica took the next after Filler missed with a difficult attempt on the blue 2 but a dry and illegal break from the Pole lost the initiative. An uncharacteristic miss from Filler saw Babica blocked out and his two-rail escape failed to make contact with the 1-ball. The 1/9 combination was on and Filler speared it home for a 3-1 lead.
Filler had a nice open table after his break shot and before long, he had increased his lead to three racks. In the next, Babica saw two balls down, but he over-cut a difficult pot on the 1-ball and it set Filler up for another runout and a 5-1 lead.
Babica had a chance in the next following an illegal Filler break but missed a speculative 1/8 combination but he took second prize as the 9-ball stuck to the cue ball. A banked carom was marvellous executed by Filler but his safe on the 1-ball left it on for Babica. He went through the table to get his second rack at 5-2 and just about keep him in the match.
It was another illegal break, this time from Babica, and it gave Filler a good look at the table but he hooked himself and could only play a one-rail safe on the 2-ball. It left a difficult 2/9 carom for Babica but he dug into the cueball and made it to stay in it at 5-3 down.
Babica got to the table in the next but he scratched pocketing the 3-ball and Filler proceeded to clear the remainder to move it to 6-3. Babica could feel unfortunate in the next as he downed three balls from his break shot but was only left with a push out. In the end, a Babica safety wasn’t his best and it left the 1-ball sitting for Filler. He took advantage to take the rack and increase his lead to 7-3.
A well-placed snooker from Filler forced the error from Babica to give a ball-in-hand visit and he took no time to reach the hill at 8-3. Babica’s last shot of the game was yet another disappointing break from as it came up dry and that was all Filler needed as he ran out to take yet another Euro Tour title.
Naturally Filler was delighted with his achievement, “I always felt comfortable as I know I’ve got the break now – I get good positioning, make the balls and don’t have to deal with many illegal breaks and push-outs. I always had the match under control, the whole Euro Tour actually, and if you’re feeling that confident it helps a lot.
“The last five I’ve entered, I’ve won and it feels amazing to be honest. I’m just going to enjoy the moment as three in a row and five of the last five I’ve entered is amazing. I always look at this in a positive way. I always come to play good and if you do that and win that’s something to enjoy. My opponents didn’t take the chances they had and I punished them and I’m over the moon that I’ve won again and it’s just amazing!”
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer, 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 by visiting www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/ and clicking on the ‘LIVE’ button.
This will take you through to viewing options. In addition, selected matches will be streamed on Facebook Live on the EPBF page.
Results, live scoring, and draw are available at www.epbf.com
SERBIA’S BOJANA SARAC claimed her first EPBF Women’s Euro Tour title as she dominated proceedings to defeat Oliwia Zalewska (Poland) by 7-1 at the Best Western Premier BHR Hotel in Treviso. The 22-year-old had previously been a beaten finalist twice but she delivered a near-faultless performance for a satisfying victory.
Zalewska, 28, was the much more experienced of the two having won five Euro Tours previously including in Tallinn earlier this year. She was never at the races, though, as Sarac never let her off the hook.
Zalewska won the lag but lost the visit and Sarac soon ran out to take the opener. Then a solid break from Sarac saw a ball drop, leaving her a straight shot on the 1-ball. A perfect positional shot set up an easy 3/9 combination to move into a 2-0 lead.
Zalewska made a good break but scratched trying to kick at the 2-ball. It was a good ball-in-hand opportunity for the Serbian girl and she confidently ran the table to increase her lead. A great break from Sarac saw the 1-ball drop into the centre pocket, leaving a good look at the 2-ball. That went down and she came with some outstanding play, both potting and positional, to clear for a 4-0 lead.
Zalewska made a couple of balls from her break shot but with the 2-ball blocked, she pushed out. She left a difficult long cut on the 2-ball but Sarac was equal to it as she continued her flawless play to clear for a 5-0 lead.
Sarac made a couple of balls on the next break but with no other ball passing the headstring, it was Zalewska’s table. With nothing doing, she passed it back and Sarac left a difficult 2 ball from which the Polish girl played safe. They both had visits before Sarac fouled to give ball-in-hand to Zalewska and she took advantage to get her first rack on the board.
That small momentum was soon lost and Sarac reached the hill courtesy of a table-length kick on the 3 ball which enabled her to run out. Zalewska rescued a poor situation with a terrific kick shot to pot the 2-ball and position herself for the 3. Unfortunately, she missed the 5-ball when it looked easier to pot and left it hanging for Sarac. The young Serb composed herself and ran the table for her first Euro Tour title.
Sarac was naturally thrilled with her victory after a couple of near misses; “It feels amazing! I’ve been already two times to the final so three times is a charm! I played very well though – I was bit surprised myself. I talked to my husband in a time out in my semi-final. He’s always telling me the same thing; to stay calm and not think about my misses but I tend to get nervous, anxious and angry. He calmed me down which was good and when I won that match, the pressure fell off going into the final.
“As the match went on, I didn’t think about anything. I was in the zone and started playing and at 5-0 I felt we’d just started the match. It’s a good feeling as you don’t see the audience, you don’t see the result or that it’s the final which is very nice. But then I realised that I had to fight still because Oliwia is a great player and she could come back,” she added.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format and then single elimination until the conclusion. All matches are races to 7 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live by visiting www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/ and clicking on the ‘LIVE’ button.
This will take you through to viewing options. In addition, selected matches will be streamed on Facebook Live on the EPBF page.
Results, live scoring, and draw are available at www.epbf.com
Room Owner Paul Troxell, Alex Bausch, Moritz Neuhausen and Mike Zuglan
It’s been a good year for Germany’s Young Gun Moritz Neuhausen. Neuhausen teamed up with Joshua Filler for a second place finish at the World Cup of Pool back in June and then teamed up with both Pia and Joshua to win November’s World Teams Championship. A second place finish to Lee Vann Corteza and then a win in Connecticut were other highlights of the year. After an undefeated run last weekend at Snookers in Providence RI, Neuhausen can now add the 35th Ocean State 9-Ball Championship to his list of 2023 accomplishments.
Neuhausen hadn’t even planned on playing the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour’s Ocean State event, but was staying with friends in New York and they showed an interest in playing, so off they went. Neuhausen went through Saturday play with wins over Bill Longmore, Evan Moreau and winner of the Joss Stop on the weekend before in New York, Christoph Neumayer.
After a 7-4 win over “Giant Killer” Jeremy Sossei on Sunday morning, Neuhausen scored a comfortable 7-2 win over Jared Demalia and then a 7-0 win over Alex Bausch for the hot-seat. Bausch eliminated Sossei in the semi-final match 7-5, but wouldn’t fare much better in his rematch against Neuhausen as Neuhausen won the first set of the finals 7-3 for the tournament win.
Sunday’s second chance event came down to Phil Davis and Steve Mack for the hot-seat, with Davis winning 3-1. Mack then lost his one loss side match to Mehdi Bahloul to set up Davis and Bahloul in the finals. Bahloul won the first set of the finals 3-1, but Davis came back to win the second set 3-0 for the tournament win.
The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour now takes it’s mid-season break until the Turning Stone Classic XXXVIII at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY on January 4th-7th.
Fisher defeated Chieh-Yu Chou in 2 sets to claim her second consecutive Michigan Open victory.
The final day in Battle Creek, Michigan couldn’t have been more exciting, with women’s Final 4 showcasing an outstanding level of play.
The opening semifinal faced-off Chinese Taipei stars Chieh-Yu Chou and Tzu-Chien Wei. Reigning world 9-Ball and 10-Ball champion Chou took the opening set 4-2. Wei Wei, last year’s Michigan Open runner-up, played flawlessly in the beginning of the second set, but made a couple of unforced errors to go on the hill. Chou capitalized on Wei’s miss on the 9-Ball to steal the second set 4-3 and advance to the final.
Remarkable performance from Chihiro Kawahara, the tournament’s underdog, who reached the semifinals without dropping a match. until she encountered defending champion Kelly Fisher. Kawahara, who was 3-2 up in the first set, assisted to a carom masterclass by Fisher making 2 unbelievable early 10-balls that turn around the score. Fisher ended up winning the crucial first set 4-3. The second set was full of safeties from Fisher and stunning escapes from Kawahara. One of them, an incredible 2-rail kick shot, could easily be the shot of the tournament. Kawahara tied the match winning the second set 4-2 but couldn’t hold Fisher in the third set (4-2).
Final started shaky for both players. Chou took advantage and clinched the first set 4-1. Despite Fisher’s struggles at the beginning of the match, she found another gear in the second set and started flying towards her back to back victory. 4-1 in both second and third sets for Fisher, who couldn’t believe it: “I’m absolutely delighted to have won that tournament. Who would have known? Coming in, I didn’t really have any expectations. I just came in and was going to play my best. I’ve been in China a lot, playing Chinese pool and not as much 10-Ball, so I’m absolutely thrilled. Honestly, I really can’t believe it. So happy to have won it two years in a row.”
The Michigan Women’s Open presented by Samsung TV Plus had a tough field of 48 players and a total prize fund of $60,000. Champion Kelly Fisher took $18,000 first prize, while Chou earned $10,500 as runner-up. This victory means that Kelly Fisher not only becomes the two-times defending champion but also holds the record for the most Pro Billiard Series titles with a total of 5. Fisher won the Austria Open in 2021, Las Vegas Open and Germany Open in 2022, and two back-to-back titles in Michigan.
The Michigan Open was the third stop of the year for the Predator Pro Billiard Series. The Series will host three WPA World Championship events in Austria in October: The Predator WPA World 8-Ball Men’s Championship, Predator WPA World 10-Ball Women’s Championship, and Predator WPA World 10-Ball Junior Championships. The year ends in San Juan, Puerto Rico with the Medalla Light Puerto Rico Men’s and Women’s Opens and the WPA World Teams Championship
The Inaugural Pennsylvania State Women’s 9-Ball Championship presented by PA Pro-Am Pool and the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour (JPNEWT) was held this past weekend (Sept 16th-Sept 17th) at Bluegrass Billiards in Philadelphia, PA. The $1,500-added event for the new, highly coveted “Doris Sciarra Women’s Championship Belt,” supplied by TrophySmack.com., drew 65 women from four different countries and 12 states. When the dust settled, Bean Hung from Brisbane, Australia had gone undefeated, besting JPNEWT’s tour director, Briana Miller in the finals to claim the event title.
Hung opened with a surprising first-round, double hill match against Giovanna Napolitano. She advanced from that promising start to give up only five racks over the next four matches. She shut out Kristen Gore and gave up two to Eugenia Gyftopoulos before coming up against Miller for the first time in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Hung took the first of her two against Miller 6-2 and then, advanced to the hot seat match with a 6-1 victory over junior competitor Sofia Mast in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Aside from the main story of the finalists and their immediate predecessors, Mast and Brianna Aristeo were two of the event’s other major stories. Mast, known as The Pink Dagger, is a seasoned-veteran, not yet out of high school, who arrived to the winners’ side semifinal against eventual winner Hung, having given up only four racks to reach her and securing advancement to Day Two of the event.
Aristeo entered the tournament with an APA skill level of 3, having never played in a tournament before, let alone a state championship with players of the caliber she faced at this one. She came with a personal goal of winning a single match. She won three on Day One by an aggregate score of 18-10 and then, in a winners’ side quarterfinal, drew Karen Corr. Nerves no doubt played a role in her shutout loss to the legendary Hall of Famer. Aristeo went on to win two on the loss side. Her second, on Day Two, was her last as she fell to Giovanna Napolitano 5-1 and finished in the tie for 7th place.
Corr followed her victory over Aristeo, with a winners’ side semifinal, 6-1 win over Lai Li, which put her into the hot seat match against Hung. In a match that could have been a Main Event at any women’s tournament in the world, Bean downed the Irish Invader 6-1 to claim the hot seat.
Meanwhile on the loss side, Briana Miller was running a five-match gauntlet of races to 5, against top-notch competitors, destined to get her into a rematch against Hung in the finals. She started with a 5-2 win over the famed Dawn Hopkins and then, defeated WPBA star Emily Duddy in a double-hill thriller. She picked up Lai Li, fresh from her winners’ side semifinal loss to Corr, defeated her 5-1 and then, eliminated The Pink Dagger, Sofia Mast, 5-1 in the quarterfinals.
Next up for Miller, Karen Corr in the semifinals. Though likely not as ‘breezy’ as the score might indicate, Miller, who was five-years-old when Corr won her first WPBA title in 2000, defeated Corr 5-2 and turned to her rematch against Hung in the finals. Miller and Hung squared off with a crowd of over 100 in attendance and over 300 watching on the PA Pro-Am Live stream which collected $1,000 in donations during the broadcast towards the University of Pennsylvania’s Cancer Research center. Bean prevailed to complete her undefeated run with a hard-fought 9-6 win to claim the inaugural Pennsylvania State Women’s 9-Ball Championship title.
Tournament Directors Frank Maialetti and Briana Miller thanked the ownership and staff at Bluegrass Billiards for their hospitality along with sponsors Integrity Cues, J. Pechauer Custom Cues, Kamui Tips, TrophySmack.com, Forth Worth Billiards Superstore, InTheBox Sports Apparel, Salotto and Advanced Pool Instructor George Hammerbacher. The next event for PA Pro-Am Pool is the $2,500 added Pennsylvania State 9-Ball Open at Bluegrass Billiards in Philadelphia, PAon Oct 7th-8th. The next event on the JPNEWT (Stop #8), scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 21-22, will be a $1,000-added event, hosted by Eagle Billiards in Dickson City, PA on October 21st -22nd .
Ralf Souquet has had a career that a lot of players can only dream of. World Championships in 8-ball and 9-ball, a US Open 9-Ball Championship and a record six World Pool Masters Titles are just the top of a very impressive resume. For the last sixteen years, Souquet has been winning those titles with a Predator cue, but he will be winning future titles with a new cue and a new cue sponsor.
Souquet recently announced the end of his sponsorship with Predator and the beginning of a new deal with longtime friend Marcus Dienst from Arthur Cues.
“With my deal ending with Predator, I thought it was a good time to try something new and different than before“ said Souquet. “I’ve known Marcus for over 30 years and he made a cue for me a few months back. I liked the way it played and after a couple small changes, I was ready to give it a serious long term try”.
Souquet will have more than enough opportunities to give his new Arthur cue a serious long term try, with nearly a dozen events on his upcoming scheduled, including the Connecticut 9-Ball Open, US Open 9-Ball Championship, American 14.1 Straight Pool Championship and International 9-Ball Open coming up.
More information on Arthur Cues can be found online at https://www.billard-dienst.de.
Konrad Juszczyszyn has moved inside the World Nineball Tour’s Top 20 with victory in the Mezz Bucharest Open, sealing his first title on the WNT in the process.
Juszczyszyn defeated Ko Ping Chung – who had reached the quarter-finals of the UK Open earlier in the month – 11-10 in a thrilling final.
Juszczyszyn’s climb up the rankings sees four Poles move into the top 20. The WNT No. 17 is joined by countrymen Wiktor Zielinski (No. 8), Wojciech Szewczyk (No. 16) and Mieszko Fortunski (No. 20).
Polish pool continues to thrive in 2023, with Juszczyszyn’s win being the countries third of the calendar year – with Zielinski winning in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Szewczyk in Zaragoza, Spain.
Ko, who climbed into the top 20 himself, had beaten older brother Pin Yi – recent victor of the World Pool Masters – in the semi-finals to reach the final.
Pin Yi, the defending champion going into the event, reached his third successive Nineball semi-final.
The Romanian ranking event attracted a stacked field of talent from across the World Nineball Tour, with the likes of Shane Van Boening, Alexander Kazakis and David Alcaide attending ahead of the inaugural Spanish Open Pool Championship.
Van Boening was knocked out of the tournament by Juszczyszyn in the quarter-finals, with two-time World Pool Master Alcaide defeated in the same round by Pin Yi.
Tobias Bongers had an incredible run to the semi-finals – his best showing at a WNT event. The German potter defeated Petri Makkonen, Kazakis and Walter Laikre on the way.
14-year-old Swedish prodigy Laikre had earlier defeated Britain’s Tom Staveley on course for a last 32 finish – following up a strong showing for the teenager at the UK Open.
Next World Nineball Tour Ranking Event
The World Nineball Tour returns for the second signature Matchroom multi-table event of the year, where 256 players take to the stage in Lugo, Spain in the inaugural Spanish Open Pool Championship. The six-day event will be shown around the entire globe, with broadcast partners Sky Sports, DAZN and Viaplay displaying the action across the week.
Pool-match scores can be deceptive. A shutout is not always the breeze that it would appear to be, because the score doesn’t (as an example) tell you how many of the games featured long safety battles or whether the winner just happened to drop only the 9-ball in all of the games (highly unlikely, but impossible to know from just the score). By the same token, a double-hill match is not always the nail-biting, back and forth struggle that its score might indicate, although double-hill matches do have a way of highlighting a pair of opponents who are evenly matched, or, at minimum, evenly matched on that day. Aggregate scores can be misleading as well. The fact that a competitor chalks up an aggregate, game-winning total that indicates, as an example, he/she won, on average, somewhere in the vicinity of three out of every four games played is not necessarily an indication that he/she swept through a field like a proverbial knife through soft butter.
In other words, pool’s funny that way. On any given day, a player can shoot very well and lose, while another player can shoot poorly and win. You can’t tell which it was from the score alone.
All things considered, BJ Ussery’s undefeated run through a field of 114 entrants who signed on to PremierBilliards.com TOP Tour’s $5,000-added, 4th Annual Ron Park Memorial at West End Billiards in Gastonia, NC this past Memorial Day weekend (May 27-28), was an impressive case of playing well and winning. He fell short of winning the ‘three-out-of-every-four games’ threshold noted above, but only by percentage points. He won 42 of his first 61 games (68.8%) and 14 of his last 16 (87%), to finish with an overall game-winning average of 72.7% (56-21). Just over half of his game losses, 11 of them, were recorded in just two matches. He faced seven opponents in eight matches and shut out three of them.
“At a certain level,” said BJ, after waking up on Monday afternoon, having been at the tables until about 4 a.m., “double-hill matches and shutouts are very close to being the same thing. It’s a loss. You make a couple of mistakes and you lose.”
Included in the ‘mistakes’ department of course, are things like losing the lag for the first break and allowing your opponent to run out (1-0). Then you scratch on your first break and your opponent runs out again (2-0). Then, as your opponent is winning the games he breaks, you break dry twice in a row, followed with two wins for your opponent and suddenly, you’re on the hill at 6-0 in a race to 7.
“It’s either that,” Ussery noted, “or sometimes players will get into a ‘give up’ mode and start shooting at balls that they shouldn’t; hitting them at 200 mph to make something happen.”
“You just have to make sure you’re making balls or pushing out,” he added, “because the same thing could happen to you.”
Runner-up Clint Clark, who ended up playing 16 more games than Ussery (93/77), spread his games-against numbers around a little more evenly to arrive at his first of two against Ussery. He was only three percentage points behind Ussery in the games-won department (42-22, 65.6%) when they squared off in the hot seat match.
In Ussery’s first four matches, he was winning better than three out of every four games he played. Matt Collins in the first round and Landon Hollingsworth in the third, chalked up four against him, while Barry Mashburn in the second round and Chuck Ritchie in the fourth didn’t win any. Ussery stepped up to his first (and only) double-hill challenge, against Scott Roberts, in a winners’ side quarterfinal. Ussery prevailed to draw John Stallings in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
“It wasn’t a surprise,” said Ussery of his one and only double-hill match. “Scott is a good bar-table player and the last four times we’ve played together, it’s gone hill-hill.”
“He’s always been on the cusp of almost getting there,” he added. “He broke really well and is an under-rated bar-table player for sure.”
Clark, in the meantime, was spreading the games-against wealth around. He gave up two to Gage Smith, three to Boo Hargrave, four to Hank Powell and three to Daniel Heidrich before, like Ussery, running into his first (of two) double-hill challenges in a winners’ side quarterfinal that he won versus Zackary Martin. He drew Kelly Farrar in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Ussery gave up only two racks to Stallings, advancing to the hot seat match. Clark joined him after defeating Farrar 7-4. Ussery claimed the hot seat over Clark by chalking up his third shutout.
On the loss side, Farrar picked up Joey Tate, who’s working on his final year as a junior competitor, and was also working on an eight-match winning streak that had recently eliminated the competitor who’d given Ussery his double-hill challenge in the winners’ side quarterfinal, Scott Roberts. Tate defeated him 7-3 and then, downed Brian Capps 7-5 to face Farrar. Stallings drew Brian (David) White, who’d been responsible for sending Tate to the loss side and followed him over when Scott Roberts (an apparent force-to-be-reckoned-with) defeated him. White had just ended the pool-playing part of Tyler Chappel and Zackary Taylor’s Memorial Day weekend (7-4, 7-0).
Both matches for advancement to the quarterfinals went double hill, with Farrar and Stallings putting an end to any chance for a Tate/White rematch. Farrar then ended Stalling’s single-match, loss-side campaign 7-3 in those quarterfinals.
“I’ll tell you,” said Ussery, “when it was down to the final six, I really thought and told my girlfriend that I was going to have to be playing Joey Tate. He was playing really well, but I think the time just wore on him.”
Farrar and Clark then locked up in a double-hill rematch in the semifinals. Clark dropped the last 9-ball to earn his rematch against Ussery in the finals. Ussery completed his undefeated run with a 7-2 victory to claim title to the 4th Annual Ron Park Memorial.
Ussery is well on his way to making 2023 his best (recorded) earnings year and this win didn’t hurt. He’s already surpassed his 2022 figure and if he doubles what he’s brought home through the end of May so far, it’ll make 2023 his best year by a lot. He’s already at #66 on the AZBilliards Leaderboard (before this past weekend) and looking to take a few more steps up the earnings/level-of-competition ladder.
According to Ussery, the improvement over the past few years hasn’t been as much about practice as it has been about just the general increase in the number of tournaments in which he’s been competing. That, combined with something of an upgrade to the types of tournaments he’s been seeking out.
“I practice a little bit more,” he said, “but it’s more about competing every weekend, instead of every other weekend. It ‘keeps you in the grease.”
As a short-term goal, to accompany his ongoing climb ‘up the ladder,’ he’s looking to chalk up some more Matchroom points to move himself into contention as a member of the USA’s Mosconi Cup team, to draw the attention of players, who, in the past, may not have given him much thought.
“To make the other guys sweat,” he said, “because now they have to think about me.”
Tour director Herman Parker thanked the ownership and staff at West End Billiards, as well as title sponsor PremierBilliards.com, BarPoolTables.net, Dirty South Grind Apparel Co., Realty One Group Results, Diamond Brat, AZBilliards.com, Federal Savings Bank Mortgage Division and TKO Custom Cues.
The next stop on the PremierBilliards.com’s TOP Tour, scheduled for July 15-16, will be a $1,000-added, 9-ball event, hosted by Breakers in Mosheim, TN. As we submitted this report, the PremierBilliards’ Q City 9-Ball Tour (handicapped) is working on organizing an event for this weekend (June 3-4), about which further information may be found on the TOP Tour and Q City 9-Ball Tour’s FB page. The next firmly scheduled event on the Q City 9-Ball Tour, scheduled for June 10-11, will be a $250-added 9-ball event, hosted by Mickey Milligans in New Bern, NC.
Ko Pin Yi has won the 2023 World Pool Masters title in Brentwood, Essex beating Eklent Kaci in the final 13-5 live on Sky Sports in the UK and broadcasters worldwide.
Ko Pin Yi 13-5 Eklent Kaci
Kaçi won the lag and took the first rack with a break and run out and the second should have soon followed with a 6-9 combo but the nerves got the better of the Mosconi Cup winner to allow Ko in for his first rack and to level up. Ko looked more comfortable out there early on and broke and run in the third to go 2-1 up. It was cagey early on from both players as they struggled to get going with the scores locked at 2-2 before a deep safety battle where eventually Kaçi pulled through to lead the contest.
Any small error was to be pounced on by the two players and it proved the case with Kaçi leading 4-3, a dry break led Ko to then run through the following racks and soon assert a 7-4 lead and with an imposing position pushed on to break and run in the 12th and 13th rack to a 9-4 lead.
Ko did falter in the next rack though as he was left chasing the cue ball to keep his run alive allowing Kaçi to sweep in and cut the deficit to 9-5. The hope for Kaçi was short-lived though as he scratched off the break and then proceeded to scratch again after Ko fluked safe on the six. It meant Ko was only three from victory.
Another long safety battle took hold in the following rack with Kaçi clearly feeling the heat. After a safety, Kaçi had a chance on the five but left it well wide of the mark to leave Ko in for a simple run out to reach the hill in quick time. In the final rack, Ko broke well and finished up with a clever 3-9 carom to secure his first major victory since 2015.
It wrapped up an epic run from Ko that saw him overcome Jayson Shaw in the opening round 9-1 before knocking out Shane Van Boening in the quarter-finals 11-7 and an impressive semi-final win against James Aranas 11-9 to reach the final.
Ko said: “It feels so good. The World Pool Masters was the one I wanted to win. After I beat Jayson (Shaw), I thought already about winning and jumping on the table. It was tough but I feel so happy to win this tournament. I knew that the only person that could beat me was myself.”
NEXT WORLD NINEBALL TOUR EVENT
The JFlowers Scottish Open will take place the weekend before the next Matchroom event with the tournament set to be held at McGoldricks Sports Bar in Glasgow with the world’s elite set to descend on one of the UK’s most historic sporting cities for a vital World Nineball Tour Ranking event and tune-up ahead of the UK Open Pool Championship.
NEXT MATCHROOM EVENT
The first signature Matchroom multi-table open event comes next at the Copper Box Arena, London for the UK Open Pool Championship from May 30 to June 4 with the first-ever Jayson Shaw Junior Open taking place on June 2-3. Buy your tickets here from £15.
Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz ( Taka Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz has won the 2023 Premier League Pool title beating Jayson Shaw in the final 7-4 at the Morningside Arena, Leicester, England live on Matchroom.Live, Viaplay, and networks worldwide.
Sanchez Ruiz reached his fourth final in the last five Matchroom individual tournaments and did so by finishing top of the league by four points with a record 22 points overall before meeting Naoyuki Oi in the semi-finals. Oi maintained his spot in the top six for most of the week going into the final day and made sure of his spot late on with a 5-3 win over Shaw. A year back, Oi missed out on the final four by rack difference but on this occasion, the tables turned as Sushi Boom made it on the number by racks won. When it came to the semi-final, Sanchez Ruiz slayed Oi 7-3 at a canter to set up a tantalising final with either Sanjin Pehlivanovic or Shaw.
Pehlivanovic had led for large parts of this week but fell off the pace over the weekend, but held it together on the final day to face a tough semi-final with Shaw. Shaw meanwhile has played with freedom all week and hadn’t looked too fazed with the job at hand. The Brit lost the opening rack but came good from there to leave Pehlivanovic trailing in his wake at 6-3 before wrapping up victory at 7-4.
Konrad Juszczyszyn’s faint hopes of making the final four were ended abruptly in the afternoon whilst Alex Pagulayan missed out on the final spot by the margin of racks won to Oi. Pagulayan needed a heavy Oi defeat late on and at least register his own win. Pagulayan got the win but the heavy loss he needed Juszczyszyn to inflict on Oi along with Shaw beating him was not forthcoming for Sushi Boom.
Into the final, Shaw won the lag but lost out in the opening rack before Sanchez Ruiz stepped up to make a golden break in the second to lead by two. Shaw came back strong through with a break and run to pull it to 2-1. There was very little to separate the pair as it soon went 3-3 and 4-4. The 4-4 moment was a bruising moment for Shaw’s hopes with a missed cut on the three ball. From there, Sanchez Ruiz by his own admission had the luck of the green for another Matchroom title after in the final rack Shaw was left hooked off the break only to see his safety on the two in firing range for Sanchez Ruiz to deliver the fatal final blow.
Sanchez Ruiz said: “I am so proud but I am sorry for Jayson because I got lucky. I feel so sorry for him, he played good, especially in the final. It’s an unbelievable feeling if I continue playing like this, that would be tough!”
Next up is the World Pool Masters set to take place at the Brentwood Centre, Essex, England from May 10-13 with tickets on sale now from only £10 a session. The format returns to a 16-player field for pool’s most historic tournament with the likes of Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Jayson Shaw, Shane Van Boening, Fedor Gorst, and Joshua Filler all invited. Buy your tickets here.
