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.
Alex Kazakis, Ko Ping Han and Chang Yu-Lung were among the big names knocked out of the Medalla Light Puerto Rico Open on the second day of play at the Puerto Rico Convention Center, San Juan, while the likes of Kelly Fisher, Margaret Fefilova and Chia Hua Chen are already into the last 16 of the Women’s event.
A goliath match up between Ko Pin-Yi and Alex Kazakis would usually be reserved for the closing stages of any tournament, but here it was a match in the second round on the losers’ side of the draw. Ko had been beaten by Denis Grabe on the opening day but a 4-1, 4-0 win over another Estonian, Gert Gnadeberg, got the two-time World Champion up and running.
A shootout defeat to Jonas Souto Comino in the first winners’ round earlier in the day had sent Kazakis to the one-loss side and, like Ko, he now needed three wins to qualify for the straight-knockout last 32.
Ko looked certain to take the first set 4-1 but missed a straight 3 by going rail first in attempt to gain position on the 4. However, another chance presented itself and was taken in the sixth rack as Ko took the set 4-2.
The first two racks of set two were shared and it was Kazakis who had a clear opening in the third, only to miss the 1 to the side when a simple 2/10 was waiting. Ko took the gift but Kazakis was level again at 2-2 one rack later. The Greek was then able to lead for the first time when Ko missed the 9, but the Taiwanese leveled at 3-3 to move a rack away from victory.
Kazakis needed to hope for a chance as Ko broke on the hill, and he got one immediately as Ko struggled to find power with his break, leaving Kazakis a layout from which he took a clear path to the shootout.
In the tie break, neither player so much as clipped a jaw in their four regulation innings, forcing sudden death where it was Kazakis who blinked first. Ko had already taken a 5-4 shootout lead when the Greek missed his fifth shot to be eliminated from the tournament. Ko’s next opponent will be Tyler Styer.
However, Ko’s brother Ping Han is out of the event after suffering a shootout defeat to Puerto Rico’s Miguel Batista. The home player took the first set 4-3 before Ko fired back, only to lose 3-2 in the shootout. Another local favorite, USA’s Puerto Rico-born Tony Robles, awaits Batista in the next round.
With $100,000 in the prize pot of the 128-player Open, and $75,000 for the 64-player Women’s event, the Medalla Light Puerto Rico Open is the final stop of the 2022 Predator Pro Billiard Series and will be followed in Puerto Rico by the Predator World Junior 9-Ball Championships and Predator World 8-Ball Championship.
In the Women’s Open, eight of the last 16 are now known. Kelly Fisher defeated Kristina Tkach by shootout to reach the single-elimination stage, while Canada Open champion ‘Amber’ Chen was winner over Japan’s Yuki Hiraguchi. Pia Filler, Allison Fisher and Margaret Fefilova make it four Europeans already through.
The other four players to reach the last 16 undefeated are all from Asia, with Filipino speed-shooter Chezka Centeno and Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wan-Ling and Tzu-Chien Wei joining compatriot Chen in the last 16 draw.
The Open event moves to single elimination with 32 players remaining. Winners’ qualification matches commence at 10am local time with Fedor Gorst, Carlo Biado and Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz among those with two chances to qualify. Wiktor Zielinski, Roberto Gomez and Yukio Akagariyama are some of the experienced players who will have to win two matches on the losers’ side of the draw if they are to make it.
Shane Van Boening (Taka Wu – Matchroom Multi Sport)
Nineball World Numbers One and Two in Shane Van Boening and Joshua Filler both made it through to the quarter-finals of the inaugural European Open Pool Championship at Hotel Esperanto, Fulda in Germany live 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.
Filler came up against Mosconi Cup teammate Jayson Shaw in the opening contest on Table 1 with the Killer looking to make it through to the next stage on home soil whilst his opponent was looking for their first taste of singles glory in a Matchroom event since 2017. Shaw took an early lead with a golden break in the first rack but Filler came back including a golden break of his own to lead 3-1 and set early pace.
There were some tetchy moments from both players and after five racks Filler edged it 3-2 and took control from then on opening up an assertive lead at 8-2 to put him only two away from a clash with either Mario He of Austria or Besar Spahiu of Albania for a spot in the semi-finals tomorrow. Shaw played a full-length bank to make the one in the 11th rack and from there ran out to cut the deficit but it was short-lived as Filler came true appeasing the home fans with a break and run in the final rack which included an inch-perfect jump shot on the one.
Van Boening’s task to reach the quarter-finals was one of trials and tribulation against Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Sanjin Pehlivanović. The pair couldn’t be split after four racks in a high-quality encounter in a meeting of generations. Pehlivanović trailed 4-2 when Van Boening had seemingly left the youngster hooked but he had other ideas playing a full-length bank of his own whilst jumping the six ball only for SVB to get back to the table and establish a three-rack lead at 5-1. The performance from Van Boening wasn’t what he would describe as clinical and it’s something that Pehlivanović bayed on to level matters back up swiftly at 5-5 and sending a warning sign to the World Champion.
Pehlivanović had his chances to take the game to Van Boening and establish a lead of his own but a scratch on the break from the former Junior World Champion put him under the cosh and Van Boening in the commanding position to run out and amass an 8-5 lead. Van Boening broke dry in the next rack to allow Pehlivanović a chance to get back in it again at 8-6. Another scratch on the break later from Pehlivanović and Van Boening was on the hill.
On the hill, Van Boening and Pehlivanović faltered with varying degrees of opportunity to take it one way or another only for the former to have the final say on things and book a quarter-final date with Mateusz Sniegocki tonight. Sniegocki was rampant at times against Jonas Souto Comino who was playing in his first Matchroom Last 16 tie but the experience of Sniegocki made Souto Comino head home before the evening session.
Elsewhere, Mieszko Fortunski got the better of fellow Pole Tomasz Kaplan on Table 2 10-4 to meet Jose Alberto Delgado in the last eight who had overcome Ronald Regli in a spirited fightback where it looked like it would be Regli who would face Fortunski next only for Delgado to dig deep from behind to defeat the Swiss cueist 10-7. Mario He meanwhile made lightwork of Besar Spahiu of Albania to meet Filler next whilst Konrad Juszczyszyn became the third Polish player into the quarter-finals with a win against Canada’s John Morra.
Albin Ouschan (Taka Wu – Matchroom Multi Sport)
Albin Ouschan became the final name into the quarter-finals after the two-time World Champion got the better of Denis Grabe in a hill-hill thriller that saw him from behind on several occasions to dispatch the Estonian. Ouschan got to the hill first but it was Grabe who was breaking for the match only to scratch and leave the Austrian with a routine run out for victory.
Quarter-Finals from 18:00 (CEST)
Table 1
Joshua Filler (GER) vs Mario He (AUT)
Shane Van Boening (USA) vs Mateusz Sniegocki (POL)
Mieszko Fortunski (POL) vs José Alberto Delgado (ESP)
Albin Ouschan (AUT) vs Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL)
This evening and Sunday, Table 1 action is 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. Table 2 will be on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel this evening. See the full where to watch list here.
Joshua Filler passed the test of Mosconi Cup teammate Eklent Kaçi and the USA’s Oscar Dominguez to reach the Last 16 of the inaugural European Open Pool Championship at Hotel Esperanto, Fulda, Germany live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook/YouTube and Matchroom.Live.
Filler had a good day of it coming from behind to defeat Kaçi 9-8 when his goose had looked cooked when Kaçi had a 5-9 combo to seal victory at 8-7 only for the Albanian to offer the gift that the Killer needed to get back into it. Kaçi didn’t get a look in from then on as Filler broke in the final rack but it was far from easy with the 7, 8 and 9 all glued together and the rack penned underneath it. Filler kept his cool in the moment though despite the glaring problem to complete victory and set up a Last 32 tie with Oscar Dominguez of the USA.
Dominguez had came from 4-1 down against Tyler Styer to peg him back at 5-5 and 6-6 before pulling through to meet his old Mosconi Cup rival to reach the Last 16.
Filler came into the contest on the back of two hill-hill showings in his last three matches in the tournament and he was in no mood for a similar scenario. Filler hit the front early on but Dominguez was playing freely and causing the German a whole heap of problems. The home crowd were out for their star man and he delivered a 10-7 victory to book his spot in the Last 16 in what proved to be a successful day that also saw him become the first player on Team Europe for the 2022 Mosconi Cup off the Live Nineball World Rankings.
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz was the only player who could beat Filler to the first Mosconi Cup spot with $14,000 separating the pair heading into the tournament but his hopes were ended in the Last 32 at the hands of Albania’s Besar Spahiu who mounted an impressive comeback to steal it 10-8 and confirm Filler’s spot on Team Europe for the 2022 Mosconi Cup at Bally’s Las Vegas from November 30 to December 3.
Jayson Shaw (Taka Wu – Matchroom Multi Sport)
Jayson Shaw is next up for Filler after the two-time Mosconi Cup MVP saw off Petri Makkonen earlier on in the day before a grueling battle with Italy’s Daniele Corrieri to book his place in the Last 16. Corrieri took the game to Shaw and had the better of the opening exchanges with a 1-9 combo the pick of the bunch as he found his rhythm early doors with Shaw not doing too much wrong.
Eagle Eye found his mojo at the midway stage and he didn’t do too much wrong from then on as he led for the first time in the match at 7-6. Shaw from there was imperious as he set up a mouthwatering clash on Table 1 with Filler next.
Team USA‘s charge for glory on home soil will be led by Nineball World No.1 Shane Van Boening who came through his own tests against Germany’s Sebastian Staab in the Last 64 before Wojciech Szewczyk stood in his way of a weekend appearance. Szewczyk took the early initiative to lead 2-0 before Van Boening pulled back to 2-2. The pair were entertaining the crowd with some of the best safety play witnessed all week as Van Boening came back to lead only for Szewczyk to soon lead 5-4 and be at the halfway point. Van Boening was dominant to lead 9-5 only to break dry in the next and Szewczyk to bite back. The Pole was struggling for position on the 1 ball. and had to play safe and from there Van Boening played a kick and stick that would rival any in history to leave Szewczyk in knots. A short safety battled ensued for Van Boening to come on top and meet Sanjin Pehlivanovic in the Last 16 tomorrow.
Alexander Kazakis defeated David Alcaide 9-2 to reach the Last 32 and meet John Morra. The Greek had a battle on his hands against Morra who lead at various points and most importantly was 8-6 up in the Race to 10. The Canadian looked to have control but Kazakis has demonstrated in recent times his steely nature with some clutch pots to pull it back and looked to be in to level at 9-9. Kazakis lost position on the penultimate ball to leave it over the pocket and give Morra the easiest route into the Last 16 to meet Konrad Juszczyszyn next.
Tomorrow and Sunday, Table 1 action is 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. Table 2 will be on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel. See the full where to watch list 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
In recent months, Jonas Souto of Spain’s name has been popping up more and more on tournament flowcharts – especially in the later rounds.
With his aggressive stroke, demonstrative gestures and mop of blonde hair, Souto definitely makes an impression when he’s at the table. The Spaniard, who is the reigning U19 world 9-ball champion, turned in top 17 performances in last year’s International Open and World Pool Championship in England last year and also finished 49th at September’s United States Open Pool Championship.
All this said, when the young man matched up against reigning World Pool champion Albin Ouschan Friday night with a spot in the Arizona Open’s final 16 on the line most would have considered the Austrian a favorite to runaway with the match.
That is, however, until they started to play.
Ouschan cruised to an early advantage in the first set only to watch the young Spaniard battle back in the final frame, then match the Austrian move for move in the sudden death shootout before falling 7-6 at Casino Del Sol in Tucson. Ouschan, who robotically pocketed ball after ball in the spot shot shootout, now advances to the knockout phase of the event which is scheduled to begin Saturday at noon local time.
The Austrian appeared to be making quick work of his opponent in the early stages, taking advantage of a couple of Souto errors to build a 3-0 advantage. Ouschan had an opportunity to shut out his opponent in the opening set but missed a bank on the 8 ball into the side pocket. After Souto cleared the table and tacked on another rack to pull within 3-2, he pocketed the 10 ball on the break to tie the score. The Spaniard had a chance to claim the set after breaking the balls in the deciding seventh game but failed to pocket the 1 ball in the corner pocket, allowing Ouschan to regain control of the table and win the set, 4-3.
Souto jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the second set before scratching in the third rack, allowing Ouschan to tack on two games to tie the score before adding a break-and-run to climb onto the hill, 3-2. Much like the first set, Ouschan had a chance to close out the match but missed a 1 ball in the sixth game to allow his opponent back to the table. Souto cleared the table and then added a break-and-run of his own to earn a 4-3 victory and send the match to a shootout.
Each player pocketed their first six shots – 12 total – before Souto missed in the seventh inning. As his opponent stared at the floor in disappointment, Ouschan coolly deposited the 10 ball into the corner pocket to earn the victory and advance to the final day of play.
When it comes to shootouts, nothing came close to the contest between Naoyuki Oi and Jesus Atencio, who seemed to pocket as many balls in the extra frame as they did in the entire match.
After Oi earned a 4-2 first set win, Atencio forced a deciding third set by gutting out the second frame, 4-3. As a crowd of spectators grew, the spot shot competition became a test of who would blink first, as the two players landed six consecutive shots. Then seven. Then eight. The crowd that gathered began getting louder and more animated, so much that Roberto Gomez Jr. began paying more attention to the shootout that his opponent, Fedor Gorst, who was putting the finishing touches on a straight set victory on the adjacent table.
Finally, Atencio blinked, missing a cut shot in the 14th inning after the two competitors combined for 27 consecutive shots pocketed. Oi deposited the game winner, surviving the match and advancing to Saturday’s day of play.
Qualifiers from the winner’s side of the bracket include two-time Mosconi Cup team member Chris Reinhold, Mieszko Fortunski, Joven Bustamante, Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, who controlled his match with Gorst from start to finish, winning in straight sets 4-0. 4-1. Also advancing with undefeated records are Roland Garcia, World Pool Championship runner-up Omar Al Shaheen of Kuwait and Max Lechner of Austria. Competitors who earned entry from the one-loss side include Oi, Gorst, Ouschan, Kang Lee, Pijus Labutis, Michael Schnieder, Konrad Juszczyszyn of Poland and Denis Grabe of Estonia.
With the double-elimination portion of the tournament now completed, the event field will be redrawn and transition to single-elimination for the final day.
Live coverage of the Arcadia Arizona Open is streamed for free on any device with Billiard TV or the World Billiard TV YouTube channel throughout the week. Follow @probilliardseries on social media for up-to-date information, or visit probilliardseries.com for the latest results and live brackets.
Lee Vann Corteza, Raxx Owner Holden Chin and Mhet Vergara
Mhet Vergara went through a field of 42 players undefeated, including back to back wins over Filipino powerhouse Lee Vann Corteza, to notch his first career Joss NE 9-Ball Tour win at Raxx Pool Room & Grill in West Hempstead, NY on November 6th – 7th.
Vergara was on a roll on Saturday with wins over Nick Brucato 9-1, Dave Callaghan 9-2, Muhammad Ali 9-0 and Rick Motilal 9-1. Vergara was joined by Vann Corteza, Jonas Souto and Ryan Cullen. While Saturday play had its share of lopsided matches, things tightened up on Sunday. In Vergara’s 9-5 win over Cullen on Sunday, he lost more racks in one match than he lost all day on Saturday. Meanwhile, Vann Corteza defeated Souto 9-6 to set up a Vergara / Vann Corteza hot seat match. That hot seat match was even closer, with Vergara scoring a 9-7 win over Vann Corteza.
On the one loss side, Souto made quick work of Gregg McAndrews 7-1 and Frankie Hernandez made even quicker work of Cullen 7-0. The matchup between Souto and Hernandez went to hill-hill before Souto pocketed the case 9-ball. In the semi-final match though, Souto was on the wrong side of another hill-hill match, with Vann Corteza advancing to a rematch with Vergara in the finals.
With all of the close matches leading up to the finals, surprisingly it was a pretty lopsided final match with Vergara scoring a 9-3 win for his first career Joss Tour win.
Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Aaron Greenwood with an undefeated run through the field for the win. Greenwood’s run didn’t come without its challenges, as he scored three straight hill-hill wins over Mike Callaghan and then Ray Lee twice in the hot-seat and final matches.
