Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz
Only 64 players remain after day three of the 2023 UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena, London with the likes of Albin Ouschan, Alexander Kazakis, and Sanjin Pehlivanovic all knocked out ahead of the single elimination stage live on Sky Sports, DAZN, Viaplay, and networks worldwide.
Ouschan always had work to do if he was to make the single elimination stage but his losers side run was swiftly halted by Vietnam’s Nguyễn Anh Tuấn 9-5 who himself had fallen into the losers bracket after a tight defeat earlier in the day to defending champion Joshua Filler 9-7. Pehlivanovic fell to Finland’s former national champion Jani Uski in the losers qualification stage whilst Kazakis’ run was ended by Fedor Gorst.
WNT No. 1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz was handed a shock defeat by Germany’s Fitim Haradinaj 9-8 but bounced back to knock out Sullivan Clark 9-4 in one of the notable defeats in the winners qualification stage. Gorst also ended up there after coming across an imperious World Pool Masters semi-finalist in James Aranas but recovered with a win over Kazakis as mentioned earlier. Former World Pool Masters runner-up Lo Ho Sum meanwhile got a markable win over Chang Jung-Lin to send the Chinese Taipei star to the other side of the draw and lose his seed number.
Niels Feijen, Skyler Woodward, Alex Pagulayan, David Alcaide, and Mario He were among some of the big names to pull through in the losers qualification round to avoid an early flight home before crunch time. Feijen saw off 2012 World Pool Masters winner Karol Skowerski comfortably whilst it was the same fate for Alcaide beating Ashik Nathwani 9-4. Tyler Styer made it through the same stage despite being knocked to the losers side by 14-year-old prodigy Walter Laikre of Sweden. It was Woodward who then got revenge for his compatriot by beating Laikre in a high-quality contest 9-7 to book his own place in the Last 64.
The journey of Jack Lisowski on his Nineball debut was ended in a hill-hill thriller by Adam Stankiewicz of Poland but his WST stablemate in Gary Wilson has reached the Last 64. Wilson survived a comeback from JJ Faul to reach the single elimination stage for the first time.
Shane Van Boening and Carlo Biado came through scare-free in the winners qualification much like Ko Pin Yi who moved at a canter to seal a 9-2 win. Great Britain will have plenty of runners and riders in the Last 64 with the likes of Jayson Shaw, Chris Melling, Imran Majid, Tom Staveley, and Marcel Price amongst the hopefuls going into the final three days.
Last 64 Draw
The Last 64 draw was done at the completion of play with the pick of the round including a huge match up between Gorst and Ko Ping Chung. Other stand out ties include Wiktor Zielinski against Sanchez Ruiz and Duong Quoc Hoang’s meet up with Mosconi Cup winner David Alcaide.
Betting Markets
Match odds are available daily through online gaming websites with outright odds for the 2023 UK Open Pool Championship also available. At the start of this week, Sanchez Ruiz was priced up at 8/1 with those odds remaining with Filler available at 8/1 alongside Van Boening. Shaw is at 16/1 with fellow Brit Melling at 40/1.
Live rack-by-rack scoring is available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com thanks to our partner PRP.
Wherever you are in the world, you will be able to sweat the action with broadcasters globally and live on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube channels in selected territories and on Matchroom.Live. UK and Ireland-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 will be able to watch all six days live on DAZN whilst those in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Poland, and Netherlands can watch live on Viaplay. Fans in the Philippines meanwhile will be able to sweat the action on TAP Go and those in Vietnam on VietContent channels.
See where to watch in your country here.
Tickets are available from £15 a day to enjoy the action inside one of London’s most historic sporting venues. A season pass is available for £95 with access to all six days whilst a weekend pass giving access to Saturday and Sunday for only £40. Tickets are limited for the weekend sessions. Buy tickets here.
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