US Open 8-Ball Championships down to final three; Van Boening, Szolnoki and Patsura

Vitaly Patsura

Hot seat match at 5 p.m., semifinals at 7:30 p.m., finals at 10 p.m. (all EDT)

The winner and runner-up of the US Open 10-Ball Championships (Shane Van Boening and Jesus Atencio) have not and will not meet during the US Open 8-Ball Championships, which, last night (Fri., March 7), came down to its last three competitors from its original field of 35 entrants. We previewed the winners’ side semifinals yesterday (“US Open 8-Ball at Griff’s moves into winners’ side semifinals”) and are here to tell you how the remaining three – Shane Van Boening, Oliver Szolnoki and Vitaliy Patsura – got to where they are.

The semifinal matches that we previewed yesterday featured Van Boening against Jeffrey De Luna and Vitaliy Patsura battling Oliver Szolnoki. Though Van Boening would start out slowly, and get behind by three racks, he worked it out, got to double hill and ultimately defeated De Luna. Szolnoki, in the meantime, downed Patsura 8-4 to join Van Boening in the hot seat match, scheduled to get underway at 5 p.m. (EDT).

The loss side, which by 3 p.m. yesterday was down to the battles that would determine 9^th/12^th place finishes, featured eight competitors, any one of whom had the potential to act as ‘spoilers,’ going forward. Jesus Atencio was among them. Alex Pagulayan prevented him from advancing, downing him 8-2, moving on to another 8-2 victory, over Jordan Nile Holman (who’d just eliminated Billy Thorpe 8-5), and picking up Jeffrey De Luna. 

Robert Gomez defeated Tony Chohan 8-2, and by a score of 8-4, Oliver Ruuger, who’d just finished eliminating John Morra 8-6. Gomez drew Patsura in the other 5^th/6^th match.

Patsura got into the quarterfinals 8-5 over Gomez and was joined by “The Lion” (Pagulayan), who’d defeated De Luna 8-3. At noon today (Saturday), Patsura and Pagulayan engaged in a double-hill battle that eventually advanced Patsura to today’s semifinals, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (EDT).

That match will be preceded by the hot seat match, scheduled for 5 p.m. (EDT), with the finals set for 10 p.m. (EDT)

All matches will be available on GriffTV’s YouTube channel –  https://www.youtube.com/@GriffsTV

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