Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH)
With many ace players already in the loser’s bracket yesterday, the matches were obviously getting intenser. As an old saying goes: when two tigers fight, one is sure to lose. Matches today definitely illustrated it.
Gareth Potts (GBR) met his Waterloo in the match against Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH). The 18-year-old youngster got a flying start by 5-1. Under the pressure, Gareth won the next 3 racks, but the miracle comeback didn’t happen for Potts. Sanjin got an earned victory by 13-7 and became the first international player to knock Gareth out in Grand Finals. Acclaimed player Jeffrey Ignacio (PHI) survived in the loser’s bracket smoothly by winning two matches. Another fierce match took place between Zhang Kunpeng, top of the ICEA World Rankings and Zhao Ruliang, champion of Xiushui Station. Zhao eliminated Kunpeng in the semi-finals of the Xiushui Station event. Surprisingly, Kunpeng got this revenge over Zhao by a score of 13-2 in this event.
Winning or going home, Sanjin then met Kunpeng in a battle on the one loss side. Kunpeng was definitely in form and broke and ran continuously. The scoreline of 13-5 showed his excellent form. Shane Van Boening played against Tang Chunxiao, a strong female player. Shane struggled to build any lead against Tang, and the score seesawed to stand at 6-5. At this point in the match, Shane took control and won the following 5 racks. Shane won by the final score of 13-6.
Zheng Yubo and Liu Chuang battled in another close match. They were neck and neck at the beginning. In the third rack, Yubo missed an easy shot, which allowed Liu Chuang to take the lead. Yubo bounced back after that missed shot and fought back to take a 7-5 lead. Liu Chuang did all he could to catch up, but Yubo didn’t allow that to happen as he won the match 13-10. Johann Chua (PHI) got a victory over Moh Keen Hoe (MYS) by the narrowest margin. With the match tied at 11-11 it went to a shootout. Although Moh Keen Hoe made one shot, the cue ball dropped into the pocket as he fell short against Chua.
There will be more exciting matches tomorrow. Fans can follow ICEA Chinese Pool on Facebook for more information from the 7th World Chinese Pool Masters Grand Finals.
