World Nineball Tour No. 1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz and defending champion Joshua Filler both sailed through to Winners Qualification at the second-ever UK Open Pool Championship taking place at the Copper Box Arena, London live on Sky Sports, DAZN, Viaplay, and broadcasters worldwide.
Sanchez Ruiz came into the tournament looking to go one better than defeat to Filler in last year’s final and the World Champion got off to the ideal start beating Bash Maqsood and Matthew Rigley by the same scoreline of 9-1 to progress through at a canter. The same can also be said for Filler who saw off Jaspal Bamotra 9-2 and then Kostas Koukiadakis in a whitewash win.
Albin Ouschan fell into the losers side yesterday and continued his ascent to find Losers Qualification with two wins and only one rack lost in the process. The likes of two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Skyler Woodward and Canadian great Alex Pagulayan were amongst those to join Ouschan on the wrong side of the draw after opening round defeats with the former missing out hill-hill to Vagelis Stefanopoulos whilst Pagulayan was well beaten by Liu Ri Teng of Chinese Taipei.
Jayson Shaw
Home hopes in Jayson Shaw and Imran Majid joined the likes of Chris Melling and Gary Wilson in Winners Qualification with straightforward days.
Recent SEA Games gold medalist Phone Myint Kyaw got his week off to a solid start neither Tom Emes nor Stefanopoulos was able to stop the Burmese cueist. Recent World Pool Masters winner Ko Pin Yi picked up from where he left off in the Matchroom arena with two Brits in Danny Johnson and Joe Prince who were swiftly dismantled. Jack Lisowski’s venture into Nineball will roll on into another day after a 8-4 win over Robert Hart in the losers bracket where he will be joined by all-time leading Mosconi Cup MVP Niels Feijen who suffered at the hands to Cyprus’ Anthony Brabin in a hill-hill loss. Karl Gnadeberg claimed one of the biggest scalps in his career to send WNT No. 18 Abdullah Alyousef to the losers side also.
Tomorrow is crunch day in England’s capital with Winners and Losers Qualification the key focus with only 64 set to reach single elimination by the close of play tomorrow. For some, a marathon awaits whilst others only face one hurdle with headline matches including Filler’s contest with Vietnam’s Nguyễn Anh Tuấn; 2021 US Open champion Carlo Biado’s meeting with Dimitri Jungo; James Aranas’ clash with Fedor Gorst and notable British stars such as Shaw’s winners match with Francesco Candela of Italy and WST’s Gary Wilson match up with former US Open runner-up Aloysius Yapp.
Live rack-by-rack scoring is available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com thanks to our partners 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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