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2024 UK Open Pool Championship – Rocky Start For Kaci In Title Defence

Eklent Kaci

Defending Champion Eklent Kaçi’s title defence kicked off with tough battle against Jose Alberto Delgado on the opening day of the BetVictor 2024 UK Open Pool Championship at the Telford International Centre, with the likes of Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Fedor Gorst, Shane Van Boening, and Duong Quoc Hoang amongst the list of top names to not fumble yet live on broadcasters worldwide, including DAZN, Viaplay, and Sky Sports in the UK.

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Kaçi faced a testing start on day one, locked in a neck-and-neck matchup with Spanish player Jose Alberto Delgado. Delgado took an early lead, but Kaçi rallied back after a series of rack wins exchanged between the two. Despite miscuing the 9-ball in rack 16, Kaçi managed to regain control after a scratch from break, securing his first win of the tournament.

Top-ranked players like No.1 WNT Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Shane Van Boening, Fedor Gorst, Joshua Filler, and Mario He had smooth victories in their opening matches. However, the Austrian, Max Lechner faced his first defeat against Cypriot Antonis Brabin, who finished the day with two consecutive wins.

Duong Quoc Hoang continued his winning streak from the Scottish Open, defeating Spencer Oliver from Great Britain and the American Danny Olsen with scores of 9-2 each. Meanwhile, last year’s World Cup of Pool winner, Johann Chua, dominated Vincent Facquet 9-0 and later secured a close 9-7 win against fellow Filipino Bernie Reglario.

The Ko brothers, Pin Yi and Ping Chung, sailed through their initial rounds in the UK Open, while Ko Ping Han made a remarkable comeback against Korean star Seo Seoa. However, Ping Han fell short against the Brit Imran Majid in his second match, losing 9-7.

2023 World Pool Championship finalist, Mohammad Soufi faced off against Lin Tsung Han from Chinese Taipei, narrowly clinching a 9-7 victory. However, Soufi struggled in his following match against the rising star Sam ‘Ryno’ Henderson, who capitalised on Soufi’s errors to secure a well-fought win.

Adding to the excitement, Kledio Kaçi, the younger brother of the defending UK Open champion, made a memorable impression on day one, with a decisive 9-1 victory against Ali Asgar Merchant, followed by a 9-5 win against the Estonian, Denis Grabe.

Pia Filler, the first signed woman WNT professional, delivered a strong performance against Chris Wattanawonna, winning 9-5 against the Thai player. However, Filler faced a challenging match against Dutch cueist, Marc Bijsterbosch, losing in a tense hill-hill battle.

Commentating duo Jeremy Jones and Karl Boyes had mixed results on day one; Jones lost to Babken Melkonyan in a hill-hill match, while ‘Box Office’ Boyes defeated Konrad Juszczyszyn with a commendable 9-6 win. However, Boyes failed to maintain his momentum against the Indonesian Alvin Anggito, who showcased his skill with a dominant 9-2 victory in the pair’s second match.

Live rack-by-rack scoring will be available throughout the event at www.wntlivescores.com.

Wherever you are in the world, you will be able to catch the action with broadcasters globally and live on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube channels in selected territories and on Matchroom.Live. UK-based fans can see the final two days on Sky Sports with the opening four on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom YouTube. Fans in the USA and Brazil will be able to watch all six days live on DAZN whilst those in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Poland, Netherlands, and Iceland can watch live on Viaplay.

See where to watch in your country here.

Spectators will be able to catch the action live from the Telford International Centre throughout the week, with day tickets available from £22 and weekend passes for fans to take in the final two days for just £50.
Secure your ticket here

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A diversified, skill-level talent pool completes Day One at the SBE

Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz

Featuring a range of Fargo Rates from 495 (Eric Martin) to 841 (Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz), the 30th Annual 2024 Diamond Open at the Super Billiards Expo in Oaks, PA got underway yesterday (Thurs., April 11). Of the 118 competitors, who (literally) got the ball(s) rolling on Thursday morning, 29 of them entered the event without a (reported) Fargo Rate, leaving 89 competitors with an average Fargo rate of just under 700. The ‘700’ range had the most players (49), with unrated (29), ‘600’ (25), ‘500’ (8) ‘800’ (4) and a lone ‘400.’ 

It made for a diversified field that blended upper-tier, regional tour players with some of the best in the world, like Sanchez-Ruiz, Jayson Shaw, David Alcaide, Thorsten Hohmann and Wiktor Zielinski (to name just a few). Though there weren’t a lot of surprises in the opening two rounds on the winners’ side of the bracket, there were a few compelling matches.

Earl Strickland (772) got by his first opponent, Gary Serrano (618) readily enough 11-5 in the opening round, but had a local competitor, Kevin Clark (716), who’d shut out his first opponent, throw him a double-hill scare in the second round. Joss Tour veteran and winner of the 2023 New England Pool & Billiards Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open, Jeremy Sossei, sent this year’s US 8-Ball Open and McDermott Classic Champion, Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski to the loss side 11-8.

US Open 9-Ball Champion (1992), Tommy Kennedy brought his (Corrected) 735  Fargo Rate to the table and defeated two ‘698’s in a row; Jimmy Rivera and Matt Krah. In a marquee match-up promoted on the SBE Web site, Darren “Dynamite” Appleton defeated Johnny “The Scorpion” Archer 11-8 in the opening round. Jeffrey DeLuna gave up just a single rack in his first two matches. Jason Shaw, who played his first match at 11:30 p.m. last night (Thursday), had his opponent open by dropping the 9-ball on the break, but recovered nicely to win 11-6.

Thorsten Hohmann, Jeremy Seaman fight representative battle for winners’ side advancement

Arguably, most indicative of the skill-level(s) caliber of play at this year’s Diamond Open, and the relative unpredictability of any handicapping system in the world of pool was a second round match between a journeyman competitor from Battle Creek, MI – Jeremy Seaman (762), who’s been cashing in events all over the US map since 2003, though, as far we know, has never won an event – and World Champion Thorsten Hohmann (789), whose career started two years earlier than Seaman’s.

Hohmann opened the race to 11 with a win off Seaman’s break and broke and ran his own rack for a quick 2-0 lead; ‘off to the races,’ you’d think, but not so fast. Seaman won a rack and Hohmann added two to make 4-1. Seaman won two to pull within one and Hohmann chalked up another to make it 5-3. At that point, Seaman stepped to the table and chalked up three in a row to tie and then take a lead at 6-5. It proved to be the longest run of racks in the match. The two traded racks, back and forth, to a 7-7 tie when, off his own break, Seaman ran to the 8-ball, which stubbornly rattled in a corner pocket and did not fall. Hohmann took the 8-7 lead.

Hohmann dropped two on his break in Rack 16, but scratched. Seaman ran the table to tie it up again and broke Rack 17. He did not, however, win it. Hohmann, at a critical juncture, took the lead 9-8 and on his break, reached the hill, ahead by two. Seaman came back to win the 19th rack, setting up the fateful last rack of the match at which Hohmann broke dry. They chased the 1-ball for what seemed like ages before Seaman broke through, advancing to the 6-ball, at which point he made a critical unforced error that cost him the game and the match, as Hohmann closed it out. 

And in so doing, provided a generalized answer to the question “Which of the upcoming matches should I watch, either in person, or via digitalpool streaming?” Answer: Any of them.    

All of the Diamond Open matches on Opening Day were winners’ side matches, allowing that side of the bracket to get through two rounds. As a result, the winners from yesterday will not be competing until this evening (Friday), beginning at around 9:15 p.m. 

The winners’ side 9:15 matches are:

Earl Strickland/Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz                     David Alcaide/Hunter Lombardo
Darren Appleton/Alex Osipov                                     Shane Wolford/Shaun Wilkie
Jonas Souto Comino/Eric Roberts                               Ralf Souquet/Brandon Shuff
Michael Feliciano/Dylan Spohr                                   Konrad Juszczyszyn/Mika Immonen
Rodney Morris/Moritz Neuhausen                              John Morra/Nicholas DeLeon
Thorsten Hohmann/Lukas Fracasso-Verner                Tyler Styer/Francesco Candela
Pijas Labutis/Jeffrey DeLuna                                       BJ Ussery, Jr./Sam Henderson
Jeremy Sossei/Jake Sollman                                        Jayson Shaw/Tommy Kennedy

Notable competitors currently on the loss side: Johnny Archer, Danny Olson, Jonathan Pinegar, Wiktor Zielinski, Robb Saez, Bucky Souvanthong, Donny Mills, Nathan Childress, Ray Linares, Oscar Dominguez.

Dependent on the timely advance of both sides of the bracket, there may be 11:30, winners’ side matches or they may just bring the 16 competitors looking to advance to single elimination back on Saturday.

If you have interest in streaming SBE’s Diamond Open 9-Ball Tournament, go to https://superbilliardsexpo.com/watch/ and to follow along with the online brackets, head to https://digitalpool.com/tournaments/2024-diamond-open-at-super-billiards-expo/viewer/stage-1.

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2024 Derby City Classic Bigfoot 10-Ball Challenge – Alex Pagulayan vs Konrad Juszczyszyn

2024 Derby City Classic Bigfoot 10-Ball Challenge – Konrad Juszczyszyn vs Naoyuki Oi

Defending Champion Zielinski Still Alive at Alfa Las Vegas Open

Wiktor ZIelinski

One year ago, Wiktor Zielinski became the first player from Poland to break through at a large-scale event, defeating Aloysius Yapp to win the Alfa Las Vegas Open.

Heading into the final day of this year’s Open, Zielinski’s hopes to repeat as champion remain firmly in tact, as the Pole defeated 2020 champion Jung-Lin Chang in straight sets Saturday night at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino. The Pole will now face Vietnam’s Duong Quoc Hoang, who came from behind to beat Shane Van Boening.

After Zielinski won the first set, 4-2, the two competitors split the first two games of the second frame until the Pole clawed ahead with a victorious safety exchange. He failed to pocket a ball on the break in the following game but forced Chang into fouling, allowing him to tack on another win and climb onto the hill. Chang, who reached the quarterfinals by defeating Albin Ouschan and Joshua Filler, cut the deficit to 3-2 when he forced Zielinski into a foul with a safety but lost the next game and the match when his opponent used the same strategy, finding an opening to run out after multiple safeties on the 2 ball.

On an adjacent table, Hoang was taking advantage of a handful of unforced errors by Van Boening to grind his way into the semifinals.

The American won the first two racks of the opening set then took advantage of a missed cut shot on the 2 ball by his opponent to build an early 3-0 advantage. Van Boening, who reached the quarterfinals with victories over Eklent Kaci and Konrad Juszczyszyn, closed out the set in the next game when he forced Hoang into a foul with a safety.

He drew first blood in the second set when his opponent missed the 1 ball but again failed to make a ball on the break, allowing Hoang to drill home a combination shot on the 10 ball. Hoang climbed ahead after Van Boening missed a soft 7 ball in the side pocket, then increased his lead when he pocketed another combination after forcing the American into committing another foul. Van Boening had a chance to pull to within a game of the lead but missed the 6 ball, allowing his opponent to sail to a 4-1 second set win.

In the deciding set, Van Boening took advantage of a Hoang miss in the opening game to take an early lead but both players continued to be plagued by breaking struggles, failing to land a ball on the opening shot. Hoang tied the score after trading safeties, gave away a chance at the lead when he scratched but recovered in the next game when Van Boening scratched on the break. With the score now knotted at two, Hoang closed out the set by taking advantage of a missed 3 ball by Van Boening in the fifth game then breaking and running.

Zielinski will have familiar company in the semifinals, with fellow countryman Daniel Maciol defeating Bader Alawadhi 4-3, 4-1 in the quarterfinals, meaning half of the event’s remaining four competitors are from Poland. Maciol will face Sanjin Pehlivanovic, who defeated Vitaliy Patsura in straight sets as well.

Semifinals are scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. local time and the finals are slated to start at 4 p.m.

Watch Live on World Billiard TV YouTube channel, Billiard TV and at tv.kozoom.com

Brackets and scores can be found at https://probilliardseries.com/2023-men/2023-alfa-las-vegas-open/

Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter.

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Polish Power and Fisher Back to Defend Crowns at Alfa Opens and World 10-Ball

For the past five years or so, competitors from Poland had been going deep in large professional pocket billiards tournaments and challenging the world’s best.

Polish competitors like Mieszko Fortunski, Wiktor Zielinski and Konrad Juszczyszyn would routinely reach the final 16 or quarterfinals of a major tournament or world championship – like in 2021, when eight Poles qualified for the 64-player, single-elimination phase of a world championship.

“Everyone is chasing after each other here and working on their game and it makes it very difficult for anyone to stand out,” said Wojciech Szewczyk. “We have a lot of passion for the game and we take it very seriously.”

Despite this passion, no one from the European nation had managed to earn a major victory –until last year, when Zielinski took home first place at Predator’s Pro Billiard Series Alfa Las Vegas Open and Szewczyk came from behind to win the Predator World 10-Ball Championship six days later. Both players along with women’s Alfa Las Vegas Open champion Kelly Fisher will be back to defend their titles beginning this week, with the Cue Sports International Expo kicking off this week. The 11-day event, which also includes the 3-Cushion World Cup, will begin Wednesday with the men’s Alfa Las Vegas Open and the women’s Open starting on Friday.

As Predator and CSI work to produce the toughest and fairest tests in professional pool, this year’s Pro Billiard Series events will see a format change. The single-elimination final stage of the Open tournaments will expand to three sets of a race-to-four from the two sets that it was previously. If the third set finishes in a 3-3 tie, a sudden-death shootout will occur. Competition in the double-elimination opening stage will remain a two-set race-to-four with ties decided by a shootout.

The format for the 128-player World 10-Ball Championship will remain unchanged, with players competing in race-to-eight double-elimination during the first half of the event before expanding to a race-to-10 during the single-elimination portion of the competition.

Zielinski survived a rollercoaster of a final day in last year’s Alfa Open, defeating Dimitri Jungo and Mika Immonen in shootouts to reach the finals where he took down Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp in straight sets. Six days later, Szewczyk trailed Edgie Geronimo 9-6 in the quarterfinals of the World 10-Ball Championships before taking advantage of a pair of open opportunities to come from behind and defeat his opponent. He then took down Albania’s Eklent Kaci and Christopher Tevez of Peru to earn Poland’s first world title. The weekend concluded with Fisher continuing a hot streak that would result in her earning a gold medal at the World Games later that summer and Player of the Year honors with Billiards Digest as AZBilliards, as the Hall of Famer posted an undefeated record and defeated Canada’s Britany Bryant in the finals of the women’s Alfa Las Vegas Open.

Professional events will be played on 18 nine-foot Predator Apex tables while over 6,000 competitors from the CSI Leagues will be competing on 276 of the seven-foot Apex table.

The prize fund for this year’s World 10-Ball Championship is also expanding to a total of $250,000 – up from $225,000 the previous year – with the winner’s share remaining $60,000. The two-week-long event kicks off third year of the Pro Billiard Series, which will include 21 total events this year that will pay out over $2 million in prize money.

Matches can be watched on Billiard.TV and on World Billiard TV, the official YouTube channel of CueSports International. A schedule of televised matches will be posted daily on the Pro Billiard Series and CSI Facebook and Instagram pages.

The Alfa Las Vegas Open starts at 9am local time tomorrow. Watch Live on World Billiard TV YouTube channel, Billiard TV and at tv.kozoom.com

Brackets and scores can be found at https://probilliardseries.com/2023-men/2023-alfa-las-vegas-open/

Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter.

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Earl Strickland Leads a Star-Studded Premier League Pool Field From March 6-13

Earl Strickland to compete in 16-player wild card Premier League Pool

Matchroom Pool is delighted to announce Premier League Pool return this March 6-13 at the Morningside Arena, Leicester with 16 wild cards set to compete for the $100,000 prize fund.

Premier League Pool pits 16 of the best against each other in an exhilarating league format that sees players guaranteed at least $2,500.

Newly crowned world champion and Nineball World No.1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz will lead the field alongside defending champion Albin Ouschan of Austria and current Nineball World No. 2 Shane Van Boening. Veteran USA legend Earl Strickland will also return to the UK for the first time since being cruelly ruled out of the 2021 Mosconi Cup and his first appearance in an invitational Matchroom event since the 2018 World Pool Masters.

The field will offer viewers a spectacle to behold with some of the sport’s most exciting names set to compete such as Alex Pagulayan, SVB Junior Open champion Khalid Alghamdi, two-time Mosconi Cup MVPs Jayson Shaw and Skyler Woodward,World Pool Championship semi-finalist Wu Kun Lin and Poland’s World Top 20 Konrad Juszczyszyn. South Korea’s female star Seo Seoa will make her Matchroom debut whilst further names are set to be announced in the coming weeks. A minimum of 12 countries will be represented in the field.

The final names to complete the field will be announced in the coming days. Fans can hear more on these names soon by following Matchroom Pool on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok here.

Fans will be able to enjoy both tables live globally with Table 1 live on broadcasters worldwide including DAZN in the USA and Spain, Viaplay in the UK, Scandinavia, Baltics, Netherlands, and Poland, SportKlub in the Balkan region as well as on Matchroom.Live. See where to watch in your country here.

Plus, Table 2 will be live to fans through Matchroom.Live worldwide, and the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel

Premier League Pool Format

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64 Remain In Poland At World Pool Championship 2023 Inbox

Joshua Filler (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)

Joshua Filler survived being knocked to the loser’s side by Alex Pagulayan on day two of the World Pool Championship 2023 in Kielce, Poland as only 64 remain after two days of action live on Sky Sports, Viaplay, DAZN, Matchroom.Live and TV networks worldwide.

Brackets / Scores

Filler faced Pagulayan early on for a spot in the Last 64 to avoid an extra match in Losers’ Qualification round this evening. The Killer fell to a 9-7 defeat, his second defeat to the Canadian in a matter of days after a loss at the Derby City Classic. It left Filler having to beat Daniele Corrieri to ensure his hunt for a second world title would continue and he did so in emphatic fashion in a 9-1 dismantling. Crucially, defeat to Pagulayan meant Filler lost his seeded position in the bracket ahead of the Last 64 redraw.

Other top seeds had less trouble as Shane Van Boening stepped past Mats Schjetne 9-2 whilst two-time winner Albin Ouschan put Khalid Alghamdi onto the losers side. Jayson Shaw meanwhile took out young German Tobias Bongers 9-5 and World Cup of Pool winner David Alcaide whitewashed Jani Uski to secure an afternoon off.

Last year’s semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef suffered a 9-3 defeat to USA hotshot Shane Wolford to be sent home at the first major hurdle whilst Oliver Szolnoki suffered the same fate in a hill-hill finish against Ajdin Piknjac. 2021 runner-up Omar Al-Shaheen struggled for his groove against Denis Grabe as the Estonian came good to knock the 2021 runner-up out the competition. There was frustration for 1996 champion Ralf Souquet also, the Kaiser well beaten by Pole Daniel Maciol in Winners’ Qualification before defeat at the hands of Dimitri Jungo. Home favourite Mieszko Fortunski was also knocked out with the World Pool Masters semi-finalist knocked out by Lars Kuckherm.

The 32 players who qualified through Winners’ Qualification were seeded in the Last 64 redraw against an unseeded player who came through the Losers Qualification matches with Karl Boyes completing the draw with Rachel Casey on the Matchroom Pool YouTube page. Pagulayan and Filler will have to dance again after being drawn against each other whilst defending champion Van Boening will come up against Uski.

Action returns from midday local time tomorrow on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, the Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA and Italy as well as on Matchroom.Live and broadcasters worldwide. Table 2 and Table 3 are on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube Channels respectively and Viaplay in above listed territories. See where to watch here.

Last 64 Draw

Shane Van Boening VS Jani Uski
Aloysius Yapp VS Chris Melling
David Alcaide VS Wojciech Szewczwk
Lo Ho Sum VS Duong Quoc Hoang
Max Lechner VS Ruben Bautista
Nick Van Den Berg VS Johann Chua
Naoyuki Oi VS Emil-Andre Gangflot
Alexander Kazakis VS Wu Kun Lin
Sebastian Batkowski VS Francesco Candela
Ali Nasser Al Obaidli VS James Aranas
Imran Majid VS Mika Immonen
Mariusz Skoneczny VS Mohammad Soufi
Gerson Martinez VS Lars Kukcherm
Mateusz Sniegocki VS Fabio Petroni
Daniel Maciol VS Dimitri Jungo
Albin Ouschan VS Tyler Styer
Alex Pagulayan VS Johshua Filler
Aleksa Pecelj VS Roman Hybler
Sanjin Pehlivanovic VS Petri Makkonen
Niels Feijen VS Adjn Piknjac
Eklent Kaci VS Mario He
Ko Ping Chung VS Shane Wolford
John Morra VS Luong Duc Thien
Jayson Shaw VS Besar Spahiu
Wiktor Zielinski VS Mickey Krause
Jose Alberto Delgado VS Moritz Neuhausen
Chang Jung-Lin VS Hunter Lombardo
Ko Pin Yi VS Jan Van Lierop
Konrad Juszczyszyn VS Nguyen Anh Tuan
Robbie Capito VS Denis Grabe
Thorsten Hohmann VS Khalid Alghamdi
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz VS Oscar Dominguez

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2023 Derby City Classic One Pocket Division – Josh Roberts vs Konrad Juszczyszyn

2023 Derby City Classic Bigfoot 10-Ball Challenge – John Morra vs Konrad Juszczysyzn