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
The draw has been made for the inaugural UK Open Pool Championship taking place at the Copper Box Arena, London from May 17-22 with tickets available from only £15 to enjoy the action as 256 players battle it out for a share of $200,000.
Nineball World No.1 Shane Van Boening heads into the tournament as the newly crowned World Champion and starts his bid to become the first-ever UK Open winner against James Channon of Great Britain. 2022 World Pool Masters champion Joshua Filler meets Robert Hart whilst British favourites Jayson Shaw and Chris Melling face Ali Hirji Kheraj and Petr Urban, respectively. Albin Ouschan will take on Sergio Lagunas whilst the World Snooker Tour’s duo of Martin Gould and Gary Wilson take on Tashunka Schultz and Blaine Barcus.
Players were seeded based on the combination of the 2022 Nineball World Ranking and 2023 Nineball World Ranking alongside the WPA Rankings.
Live rack-by-rack scoring will be available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com
From Tuesday, 17 May to Friday, 20 May fans will be able to enjoy the action globally on the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube pages as well as Matchroom.Live with two tables streamed. The tournament will also be live on betting websites around the world.
The final two days are available on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, as well as on Viaplay in Scandinavia and the Baltics and various other broadcasters worldwide including Matchroom.Live in relevant countries. See the full where to watch list here.
In the winner’s qualification round of the Dynamic Billard Italian Open, Ivo Aarts (NED) defeated his fellow countryman „The Terminator“ Niels Feijen (NED) in a heartbreaker by a whisker with 9:8.
Both players already had two victories under their belt today when they met on table 10 in the BHR Best Western Hotel in Treviso, Italy. Feijen, currently ranked nr.3 in the Euro-Tour after Gray and Alcaide, made short work with Sergio Lagunas Moreno (ESP) and Mustafa Alnar (TNC). He handed a doughnut to Moreno and only allowed three racks in the account of Alnar. His place in the winner’s qualification round was never in danger at all. Aarts however needed to struggle hard for his spot in that match. He took down Sebastian Staab (GER) 9:4 and then just made it with 9:8 in a fiercely fought over match against Sergey Lutsker (RUS). The odds for the match were pretty obvious: Feijen was the favourite player by a mile. But the course of the match did not follow the odds or the expectations of the audience. In the beginning, Feijen managed to take three consecutive racks against Aarts. But the young Dutch struck back and after eight racks the scoreboard showed 4:4, all square. After his timeout, Aarts seemed to be in the zone and pretty much focussed on his performance. He always allowed Feijen to go ahead with one rack but then pulled the next one back to even the score again. Feijen could try whatever he wanted, he never got an advantage over his teammate. After 12 racks at 6:6, Feijen took his timeout and probably hoped to somehow be able to turn the tide in the match. But the encounter continued as before. One for Feijen and one for Aarts. That led to the inevitable situation at 8:8 after 16 racks. The final rack had to decide the winner. It was Feijen’ break shot. He had two balls down and the break was good but he had no chance to pocket the 1-ball. To the contrary, the cue ball was hiding partly behind the 5-ball which made it almost impossible for Feijen to attack the table in that situation. Feijen tried a safety but left a possible shot for Aarts. However, it was not easy. The cue ball was at the head rail with the 1-ball close to the foot rail. A thin cut was needed for Aarts. Ivo Aarts pocketed the 1-ball and had position to continue. All balls were nicely spread open and Aarts kept his nerves under control and ran the rack, winning the thrilling match in the deciding rack with 9:8. He advanced to the single elimination round of the last 32 players while Feijen got one more chance on the loser’s side. He will have to deal with Sebastian Staab (GER) there.
Another interesting match from todays’s winner’s qualification round took place between „The Iceman“ Mika Immonen (FIN) and Marco Teutscher (NED). The young Dutch controlled the match from start to beginning and handed a painful defeat to Immonen with 9:6. Immonen went to the loser’s side and ousted local player Daniele Corrieri (ITA) 9:6 for his spot in the last 32. Teutscher avoided the detour and directly booked his seat in the same round.
Several „hot shots“ are still undefeated in the tournament and waiting for their opponents in the single elimination round. Among them are Joshua Filler (GER), Shane Van Boening (USA), Albin Ouschan (AUT), Denis Grabe (EST), Nick Van Den Berg (NED), Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (ESP) and Konstantin Stepanov (RUS), just to name a few. The single elimination round of the last 32 players will be played tonight at 21:00 CET.
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard Italian Open will continue at 10:00 CET with matches from the round of the last 16 player single elimination. At 09:00, the Dynamic Billard Italian Women Open will begin with first round matches.
The Euro-Tour is played on 20 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.eurotouronline.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
