Standing in the arena at the conclusion of the women’s Alfa Las Vegas Open, South Korea’s Seo Seoa didn’t hold the championship trophy as much as she cradled it.
“I am really happy,” she said. “This is my first champion title.”
The 21-year-old has reason to be excited, having endured a final two days of play that included taking down reigning World Women’s 9-Ball champion Chieh-Yu Chou in straight sets in the quarterfinals, then surviving the semifinals against Indonesia’s Silviana Lu. Seoa may have saved some of her best play for last, coming from behind to defeat Australia’s Meng-Hsia Hung in three sets at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino Monday night.
The Australian drew first blood in the opening set, taking advantage of a scratch and missed 1 ball by her opponent to build a 2-0 lead. The South Korean was able to climb onto the board in the third rack after her opponent scratched on the break but Hung stole the next game thanks to a successful jump shot on the 1 ball after a push out to increase the lead back to two games. Hung allowed Seoa to hang around tie the set when she fouled in the fifth game while attempting to tie up two object balls then missed a combination shot in the following rack but was able to use a sharp cut shot on the 2 ball and a table-length shot on the 3 ball to clear the table and secure the first set, 4-3.
“She played very good in the first set but I was thinking, it’s okay because it’s three sets,” said Seo. “I was thinking to try hard and stay focused.”
After Hung again won the opening rack in the second set, Seoa tacked on two wins of her own thanks to her opponent failing to land a ball on the break in the second game then leaving an opening after a safety attempt on the 8 ball in the following game. Hung tied the match at two games each after Seoa scratched but the South Korean capitalized on another misplayed safety and a missed 3 ball by her opponent to secure the set, 4-2, and tie the match.
“That’s the turning point,” said Hung of the missed shot. “I didn’t take my time to think about how to run out the table.”
The wheels really started to come off for Hung in the deciding set. After Seoa failed to pocket a ball on the break in the first rack, the Australian appeared to be in position to secure the win but missed the 5 ball in the corner pocket, allowing Seoa to return to the table and climb onto the scoreboard. Hung experienced a similar fate in the next rack when she missed the 6 ball and in the third game when she pushed the 2 ball wide of the mark. Each time, Seoa cleared the table and increased her lead.
“I lost a little bit of concentration and I wasn’t so sure,” said Hung. “And she played really well.”
Hung had one last chance in the fourth game but missed the 4 ball. With the object ball at one side of the table and the next shot at the opposite end, Seoa cleanly pocketed the ball and drew the cue ball backwards between the 6 and 7 balls for a shot on the 5 ball, then closed out the rack for the win and let out a joyous shriek in triumph.
Seoa reached the finals by taking advantage of a handful of safeties and unforced errors to edge past Yu in straight sets in the semifinals, 4-1, 4-2.
Hung had a bit more of a fight against Bulgaria’s Kristina Zlateva. After losing the opening set, 4-2, the Australian held a 3-1 advantage in the second set until her opponent snagged a win then used a table length one rail kick in of the 7 ball and a long cut of the 9 ball to tie the set. After Hung missed the 4 ball in the set-deciding game, Zlateva had an open table but overplayed position on the 5 ball. While she tried to pocket the object ball and hold cue ball positioning for a shot at the 6 ball that was at the same end of the table, the Bulgarian missed and handed her opponent the 4-3 win.
Hung was dominant in the deciding match, winning four straight racks to seal the victory and a spot in the championship game.
While the women completed the final day of their 64-player event, the men were preparing for the start of the WPA World 10-Ball Championships which are scheduled to begin Tuesday at 11 a.m. local time.
This 128-player event, which was won last year by Poland’s Wojciech Szewczyk, will begin with 17 matches, including a battle of fellow Filipinos Roberto Gomez and Lee Vann Corteza. Other notable matches of the day include two-time Alfa Las Vegas Open champion Wiktor Zielinski taking on Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Alex Pagulayan and American Skyler Woodward facing 2019 World 10-Ball champion Ko Ping-Chung. Reigning World Pool champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz will face Denmark’s Mickey Krause while Szewczyk meets Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Alghamdi.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Diamond Derby City Classic XXIV, January 20-28, 2023
Caesars Southern Indiana, Elizabeth, IN
By David Thomson
Diamond BIG Foot Challenge
LIVE from the Accu-Stats TV Arena.
Format: Race to 11, single elimination, alternate break, foul on all balls, no jump cues. 10-Ball does not win on the break tho’ beware, caroms and combos do.
Mosconi Cup captains Jeremy Jones and Mark Wilson are mostly in the Accu-Stats’ commentary booth. Occasionally they have guests.
Reminder: when you see the balls bobbling or bursting out of the jaws, remember that BIG Foot’s biting, pro-cut pockets are now tighter – 4 1/8” tight!
Shane’s and Roberto’s Accu-Stats TPAs of .930 & .895 say a lot. You would say that both players pocketed well and didn’t make too many errors.
Then, when you see the final score of 11-3, you’d realize that Shane was doing all the shooting. And , that Roberto wasn’t making any errors because…Shane was doing all the shooting!
The world-class .933 TPA says it all – even on a 9 foot. But this was BIG Foot…about 50 square feet of Simonis with 2 1/4” Aramith Balls squeezing into Diamond, dare we say, “superpro-cut” 4 1/8” pocket openings.
Roberto wasn’t shot into submission. If he didn’t get a shot after the break that meant that Shane was in control of the table. And, when Shane is in control of the table, you don’t get to shoot at much.
Konrad Juszczyszyn’s .943 says a lot more. It says that he shot lights out!
Now sadly, Lee Vann Corteza’s .698 says that he had opportunity and didn’t capitalize on it.
“I scratched two times on the break. With the balls wide open, it cost me 4 games right there.”
It’s true; With ball-in-hand, Konrad cleaned up Corteza’s open racks plus, his own break was working for him. With rolls like that, it’s easy to streak ahead.
Slumped a little in his seat, it was obvious that Lee Vann wasn’t feeling it today. He was playing from memory: not able to summon in the moment the passion required to truly get in stroke.
Compassion be-damned! Konrad was taking no prisoners. He was feeling it. And loving it!
Finals: Shane Vann Boening vs. Konrad Juszczyszyn: 11-7
It looked like he was off to a fearsome start when strategy won Shane the opening rack and followed that with a break-and-run.
The third rack should have been his too, only he took a straight-in 9 for granted that bobbled and was left sitting on the shallow shelf of the pocket.
That focused him. He knew that he had to take Konrad seriously: Look at the damage he’d wreaked on his road to the final: Morra, Filler, Corteza – three DCC champions swept aside with the stroke of his cue.
Juszczyszyn, the 2017 American Straight-Pool Champion, was hungry. And his appetite for victory was strong. He could taste it. He knew he should have been down 3-0. Revitalized, he took the 4th game and they were tied at 2.
He then committed the ultimate sin; He scratched on his break. Shane devoured that rack then broke-and-ran, again: 4-2.
In fact, Shane had averaged 4 break-and-runs in his last three matches.
The gap continued to widen: 6-2. It’s hard to make a 4-game comeback with an alternate break format, especially against the big break of SVB.
Konrad’s fate had turned…and he felt it. Shane was missing, too. When he did, he left nothing. When Konrad missed, he left the rack.
The articulate Grady Mathews used to say, “The balls know who’s winning.”
Konrad later confessed, “I played terrible. When I began to miss balls I was making earlier in the tournament, I lost confidence. Then, when I made that long combo on the 10, I got it back for a minute.”
But, it was only for a minute.
In the next rack, Van Boening, with one of those “anything-you-can-do” moments, slammed home a similar length-of-the-table, 10-ball combo.
He later stated that he hadn’t played so well either. Not only had he slept thru that aforementioned 9 in the 3rd game, he actually missed a 10-ball later in the match.
Their respective TPAs were .843 and .730: That said it all.
Now Shane has 3 BIG Foot titles; tied with Jayson.
Watch out for fireworks in 2024, not just with their rivalry, it’s DCC XXV.
Shane van Boening: $16,000
Konrad Juszczyszyn: $8,000
Roberto Gomez: $4,000
Lee Vann Cortez: $4,000
No Master of the Table points are accredited for the 10-Ball event.
Their accumulation is generated by the Banks, One Pocket, and 9-Ball divisions.
And Diamond generously delivers an additional $25,000 in prize money.
More on that later.
The Accu-Stats PPV OnDemand service has all of the above entertainment available for your viewing pleasure thru. Feb.28, 2023.
.
Diamond BANK POOL CHAMPIONSHIP
Short Rack. Race to 3, Round 10
There were a record 497, now there are 14
Play begins at 11am.
With the DCC one-time Buy-Back formula, after every round, entrant’s names are reshuffled then redrawn. As DCC events are not seeded means that you could run into anyone.
But the most exciting encounter for him was his first time playing America’s number 1 player, Shane van Boening.
A crowd had gathered around the table. The word was out that Shabib was on the hill and Shane needed 2.
Now he felt he’d made it as a contender.
Of course, Shane won the 4th rack and they were all tied up…until Raed had 4 balls in the decider and, Shane only 2.
Then Shane got another, then another, then, they were both fighting over the last ball.
It took 20 minutes of serious safety strategy until Shane figured out Raed’s weak spot: Leave him long on the short rail.
Now all Raed has to do is figure out Shane’s.
Interestingly, Raed is still in and Shane isn’t. He’d dodged another bullet.
Meanwhile, Fedor got Shane, De Marco crimped Corey, Shane shot Justin Hall, Evan Lunda laid Josh Roberts to rest, Roland Garcia showed Tony Chohan the door, Pagulayan pickled Shannon Daulton, Fortunski had the misfortune of encountering Jayson, and Billy Thorpe get’s the credit for eliminating Efren.
The event entries were increased to 429 entries. Stay tuned!
The action-packed week continues:
Diamond Derby City Classic BANK POOLChampionship: Semis and Finals in the Accu-Stats TV Arena: Tuesday evening, Jan 25.
Diamond Derby City Classic ONE-POCKETChampionship: Sun Jan. 22 -Wed. Jan. 25. Semis and Finals in the Accu-Stats TV Arena, Thursday evening, Jan 26.
Diamond Derby City Classic 9-BALL Championship: Wed. Jan 25 – Sat. 28.
Friday Night Ring Game: Jan 27.
The captured match-ups are available via the Accu-Stats Pay-Per-View OnDemand, 4-camera HD production. Approximately, 60 action-packed hours of pro-pool are projected, PLUS reruns. After each match concludes, it is uploaded and available for your viewing pleasure. With PPV OnDemand, you choose when you watch, no matter what you’re timezone.
Diamond Derby City Classic XXIV, January 20-28, 2023
Caesars Southern Indiana, Elizabeth, IN
There are 29 more competitors than was considered feasible to complete the One Pocket division; 429 – A new DCC record!
Wait-listed 9-Ball players are hoping for a similar increase. They’ll know by Wednesday.
Diamond BIG Foot Challenge
$32k prize fund. 1st: $16,000. 2nd; $8k, 3rd/4th; $4k each
LIVE from the Accu-Stats TV Arena.
Format: Race to 11, single elimination, alternate break, foul on all balls, no jump cues. 10-Ball does not win on the break tho’ beware, caroms and combos do.
Mosconi Cup captains Jeremy Jones and Mark Wilson are mostly in the Accu-Stats’ commentary booth. Occasionally they have guests.
Reminder: when you see the balls bobbling or bursting out of the jaws, remember that BIG Foot’s biting, pro-cut pockets are now tighter – 4 1/8” tight!
Quarter Finals
4 past BIG Foot winners, all shooting well, began Sunday’s action. Now there are two. Read on for more details.
Even Eagle Eye had trouble with BIG Foot’s brutal pocket dimension. The damage it did to his TPA was unprecedented. When have you ever seen his average nosedive from near .900 to .770…within 2 racks!
Shane wasn’t happy either. Altho,’ the match commenced with his break-and-run to a 3-0 lead. Jayson quickly tied it up. Then, he couldn’t get much action on the break.
Shane sped ahead again and, to cut to the chase, had Jayson 10-6 when Van Boening’s cue ball wasn’t on a string, it was haywire: 10-7.
Jayson’s dry break plague continued.
Shane, again, lost the cue ball and had to resort to a safety that froze the cue ball to the top rail.
Far, far away, about a foot off the bottom rail, lay the 8. Whammo! Shaw drove it home. Sadly, his cue ball rested straight in on the 9…which was nowhere near the 10.
Then came his most miraculous shot of the tournament.
There was only one solution. He had to cheat the 4 1/8” pocket and draw whitey about 8 feet to the bottom rail then another four feet to the long rail where the 10-ball inconveniently lay.
Whammo! Part 2! His cue-ball screams back to land about 4” away tho,’ it’s an awkward angle demanding running back and forth to swap out which cue extension would work best.
The shot clock was about to explode. “Extension!”
So was his heart, pumping like an oil rig:
He pounded it into the back of the pocket: 10-8.
It was SVB’s turn at bat. It looked dry…until the last ball rolling trickled in. And snookered!
Now it was Shane’s shot of the tournament.
He had a kick-shot off the top rail on the dangling one ball with the trickiest 3-rail shape: long rail, short rail, long rail, through a minefield to the two.
Perfect! And he finished the match as he began it – break-and-run.
Shaw, gracious as always, approached Shane and commenced a post-mortem to dissect the action.
Fedor was not off to his ferocious formula of forging ahead to leave his opponents in his wake. In fact, it was nip-and-tuck until, at 4-3, Gomez reversed the score with back-to-back wins.
Gorst’s struggle continued as Gomez at 7-4 with every opportunity for a 4-game lead, fumbled and allowed Fedor to gain one back to 7-5.
Gorst, usually, when sensing weakness, his killer instinct would come alive: Not today.
Down 9-10, his break got him again.
There is a reason they call Roberto Superman. The out wasn’t a walk in the park. He made shots that would have been kryptonite to normal men.
He didn’t rush. He knew his cue ball had to be finite.
He also knew the punishment that Fedor was capable of administering.
Not today. The robot was in need of a reboot. Gorst’s loss, a replay of their 2018 BIG Foot final, is probably the motivation Fedor needs to keep moving forward.
He still has 2 lives in the Banks.
Gomez now faces the other surviving BIG Foot Champ, SVB.
Behind 4-6, Konrad began to miss makeable balls. A lucky kiss coming out of a snooker kicked in the 10.
He then put his mettle to the pedal and, with 5 in a row, got to 9-6 ahead. With Joshua’s break-and-run, he retrieved one and it’s 9-7.
At 9-8, it’s snooker time. Josh, after a multi-shot kick-safe exchange, rattled the 3 to leave it deep in the jaws.
Konrad, more focused than ever, is on the hill…and breaking!
His one hung in the hole, and it’s 10-9.
Joshua’s break is a carbon copy of Konrad’s; it’s dry, with his one-ball resting on the lip of the pocket!
More good news, nothing is tied up. All that is needed is some sweet negotiation to keep on the correct side of the object balls.
Cool, calm, and deliberate he plotted his way through the rack: Flawless execution…of Filler.
This surely is one of the most memorable matches in Konrad’s career. He raised ho cue in jubilation like he’d just won the tournament. Perhaps he will.
He’s in the semis facing Corteza.
Jayson Shaw vs, Shane Van Boening, 8-11
Roberto Gomez vs. Fedor Gorst, 11-9
Mieszko Fortunski vs. Lee Vann Corteza, 10-11
Konrad Juszczyszyn vs. Joshua Filler, 11-9
BIG Foot Schedule for Monday, Jan 23: Semis, 2.00 & 4:30 PM.Finals, 9:00 PM
Shane Van Boening vs. Roberto Gomez.
Lee Vann Cortez vs. Konrad Juszczyszyn
The Accu-Stats PPV OnDemand service has all of the above entertainment available for your viewing pleasure.
Diamond BANK POOL CHAMPIONSHIP
Short Rack. Race to 3, Round 6.
497 entrants stormed the Derby City battlements. In this territory, Bank Pool’s popularity knows no bounds.
With the DCC one-time Buy-Back formula, after every round, entrant’s names are reshuffled then redrawn. As DCC events are not seeded means that you could run into anyone.
Visit results.derbycityclassic.com for more updates.
Diamond Derby City Classic ONE-POCKET
The event entries were increased to 429 entries. Stay tuned!
The action-packed week continues:
DIAMOND BIG FOOT 10-BALL CHALLENGE: Semis and FINALS on MONDAY the 24th at 2 pm.
Diamond Derby City Classic BANK POOLChampionship: Semis and Finals in the Accu-Stats TV Arena: Tuesday evening, Jan 25.
Diamond Derby City Classic ONE-POCKETChampionship: Sun Jan. 22 -Wed. Jan. 25. Semis and Finals in the Accu-Stats TV Arena, Thursday evening, Jan 26.
Diamond Derby City Classic 9-BALL Championship: Wed. Jan 25 – Sat. 28.
Friday Night Ring Game: Jan 27.
The captured match-ups are available via the Accu-Stats Pay-Per-View OnDemand, 4-camera HD production. Approximately, 60 action-packed hours of pro-pool are projected, PLUS reruns. After each match concludes, it is uploaded and available for your viewing pleasure. With PPV OnDemand, you choose when you watch, no matter what you’re timezone.
The legendary JOB Billiards Club in Madison, TN – a suburb of Nashville – presented the $7,000 added 35th Annual Music City Open this past week. Featuring multiple minis as well as the Open and Ladies Nine Ball events, there was action galore!
Joining JOB’s owner Ricky Gamble in special sponsorship was PoolActionTV.com as well as Aramith, Simonis and Diamond Billiard Products.
All events were played on seven foot Diamonds and play kicked off with on Wednesday evening with a single elimination race to seven nine ball mini tournament. The field was whittled down to Jesus Atencio & Mickey Krause – they split the pot. There was another mini tournament on Saturday night – these two split the pot again!
Players were back on Thursday night for the players auction, meeting & draw. A full field of 128 players entered this race to eleven winner breaks tournament.
Roberto Gomez began his march to the hot seat match after defeating Matt Moore (11-4), Jaime Mitchell (11-3), Rich McDonald (11-1), Johnathan (“Hennessee”) Pinegar (11-9), Jeffrey de Luna (11-9) and Billy Young (11-10).
The hot seat match was close but it was Gomez who locked up his seat in the finals 11-7. Mason would have to await an opponent on the one loss side.
Jeffrey de Luna edged out Mickey Krause (11-10) and then faced Koch to see who would advance to the finals. Jeff defeated Mason 11-4 and moved on to the finals. Mason finished in third place.
Since this was true double elimination, de Luna would have to defeat Gomez twice to win the tournament. However, it was not to be as Roberto won 11-9 to add the Music City Open title to his resume! Congratulations, Roberto! Good event, Jeff!
April Larson and Tina Malm
The Ladies Nine Ball division began on Friday night with 49 players playing in this race to seven winner breaks tournament.
Tina Malm advanced to the hot seat with wins over Casey Baldridge (7-4), Elizabeth Shilliam (7-2), Amanda Wilder (7-0), the always tough April Larson (7-5) and Janeen Lee (7-1).
The hot seat match was close but Malm closed it out with a 7-5 victory over Lovely. Liz headed west to await an opponent.
After losing a nailbiter to Heather Middleton in the fourth round 7-6, Kelly Isaac then edged out Amy Theriault (7-6) and beat Melissa Young (7-2) and Janeen Lee (7-0) until she was eliminated by April Larson (7-2). Kelly finished in fourth place.
Larson then defeated Lovely (7-4) to move into the finals. Liz finished in third place.
Again, since this was true double elimination, April had to defeat Tina twice to take the title. April won the first set 7-4 but Tina took the decider and the title with a 7- 4 win!Congratulations, Tina! Great effort, April!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Ricky Gamble and his staff for their exemplary efforts in taking care of all the players and fans.
We’d also like to thank Tournament Director Jason Hill for doing an excellent job in running all the different events.
PoolActionTV.com would also like to thank our sponsors and fans. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Simonis, Aramith, Lomax Custom Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Durbin Custom Cues, Savage Billiards, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH and the Fort Worth Superstore of Fort Worth, TX.
And on to the Derby City Classic! Be sure to stop by our Aramith Action Room! The dates are January 20th-28th! Hope to see you there!
The Predator Germany Open has reached the single elimination stage after players battled through the last double elimination rounds of the Pro Billiard Series event on Thursday.
Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan had to win through three rounds and will now face two-time Pro Billiard Series champion Kelly Fisher in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Division.
The Open division moves to single elimination for the last 32 and Germany’s World Junior Champion Moritz Neuhausen won 4-3, 4-1 against Hong Kong’s Ip Tung Pong to make it five players from the home country to reach the second stage. Ralf Souquet had won through the winners’ side of the bracket and will now face Mahmut Sami Koylu of Turkey. Can Salim also came from the winners’ side and will face German countryman Tobias Bongers, who scored a win against Vincent Gomez to reach the single elimination phase. Yuma Dorner is the fifth German into the last 32 and will play Mateusz Sniegocki.
Both divisions of the Predator Germany Open have added money of €45,400 and both champions will earn €20,000, along with a spot at the 2023 World 10-Ball Championship for the Open winner and a spot in the 2022 World Women’s 10-Ball Championship for the Women’s Division winner.
In the Women’s Division, Ouschan won a shootout against Kim Witzel and then defeated Angeline Magdalena Ticoalu to meet Amalia Matas for a place in the quarter-finals. Matas already has a Women’s EuroTour title this year but her run in Germany was ended with a straight-sets defeat to Ouschan. Germany’s Veronika Ivanovskaia is drawn against Bojana Sarac.
Among the players to reach the final 32 of the Open division is Finland’s Petri Makkonen, a winner on the EuroTour in 2015. He had been defeated on the first day of play by Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Alghamdi and the Finn then had to battle through three rounds on the losers’ side, which culminated in a shootout against Alex Montpellier of France.
Makkonen won the first set 4-2 but France’s Montpellier, who came to the losers’ qualification round after a shootout defeat against Pijus Labutis, took advantage of Makkonen’s struggles in the second set to win 4-1. That was the end of the tournament for Montpellier, as Makkonen regrouped and didn’t miss in the shootout while his French opponent missed on each of his last two innings.
Play resumes at 9am local time in Bremen, Germany, and Friday’s play on the TV table will commence with Nick van den Berg facing Mickey Krause.
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
Janni Siekkinen, Casper Matikainen, Jani Uski and Petri Makkonen
In the penultimate day at the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships in Lasko, Slovenia, it was an evening of drama and excitement as the destination of the medals in the men’s and women’s team events was determined. And it was Finland in the men’s and Germany in the ladies’ who took the gold medals in a pair of thrilling finals.
In the men’s event, there were three matches playing simultaneously with the first team to achieve two wins carrying off the gold medals and the trophy. The featured match was on the TV table and involved Casper Matikainen (Finland) facing off against Daniel Maciol of Poland in 9-Ball.
The willowy Finn was always ahead of the game with some quality shot-making while his opponent never quite got to grips with the match. Matikainen had led 3-1 and 4-2, while the other two tables saw it at 3-3 in the 10-ball match between Petri Makkonen and Sebastian Batkowski, with the 8-ball encounter between Jani Uski and Wojciech Szewczyk also tied up at 3-3.
Always staying ahead of his opponent, Matikainen maintained his two-rack margin before leaping into a 6-3 lead. The Finn enjoyed some beneficial fortune as that became 7-3 and victory was in his grasp. At that same juncture, the other two games were in Poland’s favour as they led 6-4 in the 10-Ball encounter and 4-3 in the 8-Ball.
A fruitless break from Maciol gave the table back to Matikainen and with the balls spread nicely, he cleared up to reach the hill with a five-game cushion. Maciol relaxed a little as he won the next for 8-4 but in what was the final rack, Matikainen made an excellent bank on the 2 ball, leaving a difficult 3/9 combo but with a comfortable lead, he took it on and made it, giving the first of the three available points to Finland.
The focus now shifted to tables two and three as Petri Makkonen moved to the hill in the 10-ball match, having overcome a two-rack deficit to leave Finland within a rack of the gold medals. Makkonen, with the break, delivered an enormous shot to down three balls. Sucking down deep breaths to keep himself calm, Makkonen rattled the jaws with the 1 ball to give the table back to Batkowski as the 8-ball match moved to five racks each.
Makkonen though got back to the table and had a terrific opportunity to bring home the gold. The balls were all there for the Finn as he pocketed the orange 5 into the centre pocket. The 6 was down the rail and the 8, 9 and 10 all out in the open. The seasoned Finn composed himself and took them down as his two jubilant team mates ran into the arena to celebrate their first ever team gold medal.
Commented Matikainen, “It feels great! I have a really nice team with me and we all trust each other. We didn’t really think it was going to be this time but this feels really good. It was a good match for me in the final but throughout the tournament I think everybody played good.”
For Petri Makkonen it was a nerve-racking affair but potting the championship 10 ball was a supreme moment; “I was one rack down all the way until I was 6-4 down but I dug deep. I had a few hiccups but I overcame them. I saw Casper was winning and Uski was playing good so it was easy to play and I relaxed a little bit when I saw we were one up and Uski was 6-5 up.
“I played good, we played good and here’s the result. Watching your team mates winning and at the table really gives you energy and it’s much easier to overcome things in your own match. Relieved is the word and we got the result we wanted,” he added.
Final
Finland 2 – 0 Poland
Casper Matikainen 9 – 4 Daniel Maciol (9 Ball)
Petri Makkonen 8 – 7 Sebastian Batkowski (10 Ball)
Jani Uski v Wojciech Szewczyk (8 Ball) Did not complete
Semi Finals
Finland 2 – 0 Poland
Jani Uski 8 – 5 Diego Pedro Simon (8 Ball)
Casper Matikainen 9 – 7 Jonas Souto (9 Ball)
Petri Makkonen 8 – 1 Francisco Diaz Pizarro (10 Ball)
Poland 2 – 1 Denmark
Wojciech Szewczyk 8 – 5 Jeppe Thyde (8 Ball)
Daniel Maciol 9 – 3 Mickey Krause (9 Ball)
Sebastian Batkowski 5 – 8 Andreas Madsen (10 Ball)
Veronika Ivanovskaia, Melanie Subenguth, Tina Vogelmann and Pia Filler and German National Coach Tom Damm
In the women’s event it was Germany who prevailed with the winning duo of Pia Filler and Tina Vogelmann who defeated the Norwegian pairing of Line Kjorsvik and Nina Torvund via a deciding shootout after the two teams couldn’t be separated in regulation play. The format of the Dynamic Billards Women’s Team event saw two matches in 8 ball and 9 ball, with a shootout in operation should the two teams be tied at one match apiece.
After defeating Switzerland 2-0 in their semi-final, the German pair had a tougher proposition against Norway. The first match to finish was Pia Filler’s 7-1 9-ball win over Torvund, leaving the medal destination resting on the other game of 8 ball. With a big lead though, Kjorsvik closed out a 6-2 victory over Vogelmann to leave a shoot-out decider, where the black ball rests on the spot, with and the cue ball positioned at the centre of the head-string.
It took 16 shots to separate the pair as Norway missed with the score at 7-7 and the Germans converted to give themselves team gold, breaking a run of two consecutive silver medals. As well as Vogelmann and Filler, who collected her second gold of the Championships, medals also went to team members Veronika Ivanovskaia and Melanie Suβenguth who had won the team’s winners’ qualification match, also against Norway.
Commented Vogelmann, “It’s amazing, I can’t believe it at this moment. I was sure we were well-prepared; we’re a good team and we have so many good players in Germany at the moment, many more than the four playing in this tournament. You have pressure because you know you want to win it and you can win it but I think we are a shoot-out monster team!”
Suβenguth added, “I’m very proud of the team and of course the final was very exciting to watch and I’m very happy we got the win.”
For Ivanovskaia who had played her part in the earlier rounds, it wasn’t an easy experience; “It was very nervy watching. There’s a lot of support between each other and a lot of belief in ourselves and they both played very good in the final.”
Finally, for Pia Filler, who is still alive in the 9-ball event which concludes on Saturday, it was another great day at the ECs; “It was my first time playing in the team event and I’m very proud of us, I think we did a really good job. I know the job for today was done very well but there’s another gold medal to be won and of course I’ll be trying my very best to win that too.”
Final
Germany 2 – 1 Norway
Pia Filler 7 – 1 Nina Torvund (9 Ball)
Tina Vogelmann 2 – 6 Line Kjorsvik (8 Ball)
Germany 8 – 7 Norway (Shoot Out)
Semi Finals
Germany 2 – 0 Switzerland
Tina Vogelmann 6 – 2 Claudia Von Rohr (8 Ball)
Pia Filler 7 – 2 Christine Feldmann (9 Ball)
The 2022 Dynamic Billards European Championship sees 15 separate events
across four disciplines – 8, 9 and 10 ball as well as straight pool –
plus the men’s and women’s team competitions. In total there are four
divisions; men, women, under 23 men and wheelchair users.
