The 2019 14:1 Straight Pool Championships has come down to its final 16 players. Eight matches that got underway at 11 a.m. were completed just in time for the 2 p.m. second round of the tournament’s single elimination phase.
As this was being written, Lee Van Corteza and Petri Makkonen were still trying to complete their match to determine who would face the undefeated (thus far) Max Lechner from Austria. John Schmidt advanced to meet Ruslan Chinakhov with a 150-54 win, while Thorsten Hohmann and Marc Vidal competed in what turned out to be the closest contest of the single elimination phase’s opening round; a 150-129 victory for Hohmann.
Johnny Archer was eliminated 150-44 by Albin Ouschan, who advanced to meet Neils Feijen. Darren Appleton advanced to meet one of the other undefeated competitors, Jani Siekkinen, with a 150-21 victory over Shaun Wilkie, who spent a good deal of the early part of the match in negative numbers.
“I had my opportunities, but couldn’t get anything done with them,” Wilkie said. “I didn’t get back to the table for five racks. He ran, like 70 on me.”
Ralf Souquet recorded the opening round’s largest margin of victory, eliminating Reymart Lim 150-12. Souquet moved into a match against Alex Pagulayan. Marco Teuscher eliminated Ralph Eckert 150-57 and moved into a meetup with Mika Immonen. David Alcaide downed Max Eberle 150-66 and prepared to meet the last of the round robin’s undefeated players, Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz.
Lee Van Corteza moved right into his match against Lechner, once he had completed his 150-98 victory over Petri Makkonen.
Straight pool fans who can’t attend the event in person can watch free streaming coverage online at Billiard Sports Network.
