Joshua Filler
Joshua Filler kept hopes of a maiden European Open Pool Championship title on home soil alive at Hotel Esperanto, Fulda, Germany live on Sky Sports in the UK, DAZN in the USA, Sport1 in Germany, and networks worldwide.
Filler headed into the Last 16 in red hot form after cantering through the Last 64 and Last 32 on Friday and the former World Pool Masters winner continued on that hot streak against Mieszko Fortunski 10-8. The Killer struggled to shake off Fortunski early doors with the WNT No. 25 proving a nuisance to shake off as he took a 5-4 lead.
The turning point came with Fortunski at the table looking for 6-4 but an errant effort on the eight led Filler in to level up at 5-5 and soon run towards the finish line at 9-5. Fortunski was given a lifeline at 9-7 as Filler scratched when clearing up for victory to allow at least one more rack only for the Pole to break dry in the following rack and allow Filler in to complete victory. Fedor Gorst awaits next for the German.
Tyler Styer headed into what could be said as an unchartered territory in recent times as he faced off with Mario He for a spot in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, He was looking to match or go better than last year in Fulda where his journey ended to eventual winner Albin Ouschan in the semi-finals. He took the opening two racks with Styer left in his chair as the Austrian started to gather pace.
He, a two-time World Cup of Pool winner managed to keep Styer at arm’s length for much of the contest as he went 5-2 in front. Styer did bite back with back-to-back racks for 5-4 after laying a tough safety on the five ball that brought the He foul. He got back on top of things for 7-4 before a 3-9 combo allowed Styer back for 7-5. Styer played a deliberate foul at 7-5 but was caught on the hop as he committed the three-foul rule to put He two away from victory. From there on, He picked his moment to pull through in the end convincingly 10-5. Shane Van Boening awaits next.
Van Boening was up against Tim De Ruyter with the Dutchman one of the last players into the tournament from the reserve list and he took full advantage as he made the deepest run at a Matchroom event in his career. De Ruyter took the game to Van Boening as he free wheeled his way through the contest to lead at various points before the American turned the game on its head at 8-7. From there, the South Dakota Kid had the run of the balls despite an awful position leaving him tucked up on the nine. Van Boening made it and cleared from there for a 10-8 win despite De Ruyter’s disbelief and best efforts.
World Nineball Tour number one Francisco Sanchez Ruiz got sweet revenge on Hungary’s Oliver Szolnoki who knocked him out of the Spanish Open just a few weeks ago to set up arguably the tie of the round with his World Cup of Pool winning partner and closest friend David Alcaide. Sanchez Ruiz took a stranglehold on the game from 4-3 down with Szolnoki looking to do a number on his counterpart once again to deal a huge victory 10-4. It was vintage from the world champion.
Alcaide put pay to Jani Uski’s tournament in the final Last 16 match to wrap up with the 2019 World Pool Masters champion showing some of his best stuff for sometime as he downed the Fin 10-7 to set up a crunch clash with his training partner Sanchez Ruiz.
Gorst came through a battle with Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp to reach the final eight 10-4. Nothing could separate the pair early on but it was Yapp, the former US Open finalist, who blinked first to allow Gorst in for an impressive victory and set up a huge match up with Filler.
The 2019 World Champion said: “I was fortunate with my breaks and the layouts I had. I didn’t miss many balls. I feel good. Hopefully, I can continue that. I feel I am very close to winning a Matchroom major. It’s my second quarter-final in a row. It’s a sweaters delight, everyone is looking forward to that match. Neither of us have come here to lose.”
Wojciech Szewczyk got the better of fellow Polish star Daniel Maciol to make the quarter-finals 10-7.
It was a match that Szewczyk didn’t take too much pleasure in with the WNT number 19 close friends with Maciol but he knew there was a job at hand to set up an evening clash with Anton Raga: “I am thrilled to have won I am not proud the way I played. It’s never easy to play your fellow countryman especially when he’s one of your closest. We travel together and it did get to my head. I was fortunate. It’s a difficult win for me, and I hope I can improve after that. I tried to accept, well Wojciech you are nervous, try and deal with it. I managed to clear a few racks and I tried my best. Don’t give up even if you feel you will mess it up.”
John Morra stood between Raga and a maiden quarter-final appearance and he proved no match for the Canadian. Raga, fresh off the back of a whitewash win over Ko Pin Yi on Friday evening, came in bang in stroke and made Morra pay for any small error that was left at the table as he sealed an impressive 10-4 win in just over an hour.
Session Times
All times are local (CEST)
12 August – 6:30 pm – 11:00 pm
13 August – 12 pm – 4:30 pm / 6 pm – 9 pm
Outright betting markets priced up Joshua Filler as the odds-on favourite at 8/1 alongside Van Boening with Sanchez Ruiz at 10/1. Full odds are available on various online gaming websites.
Live rack-by-rack scoring is available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com
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. Those in Germany can see the final two days on Sport1.
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