Wiktor Zielinski (File Photo Courtesy EPBF)
Day three at the Diamond Las Vegas Open is underway at the Rio All Suites Hotel and Casino.
Day Two was another day with very few real upsets to report on. The biggest upset may have been Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski’s match against BCA Hall of Famer Alex Pagulayan. Zielinski played great in the first set, while Pagulayan seemed to be struggling with cue at the table. Zielinski won that first set 4-0, but Pagulayan had a plan for the second set.
Pagulayan changed up his break, intentionally leaving more balls clustered together, apparently thinking that his experience at the table would allow him to out-move his younger Polish opponent. That strategy was enough to get Pagulayan a 4-2 win in the second set, and the spot shot shootout was on.
Zielinski had won the lag so he got to choose whether he wanted to shoot first or second in the race to 4 shootout. He chose to shoot first, hoping to put the pressure on Pagulayan to stay with him. That strategy worked perfectly. Both players made their first three shots, leaving them each needing one. Zielinski made his 4th shot, leaving Pagulayan in a position where he had to make his 4th shot or lose the match. Pagulayan missed the ball and Zielinski advanced. He will face Masato Yoshioka – who defeated Mika Immonen yesterday – in a match today at noon. Pagulayan will face Mario He on the left side of the board today.
Today’s match card is full of great matches. Fedor Gorst had already defeated Naoyuki Oi at the time of this writing and other matches on the schedule for today include Corey Deuel vs Joshua Filler, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz vs Edgie Geronimo, Roland Garcia vs Albin Ouschan, Dennis Orcollo vs Thorsten Hohmann, Shane Van Boening vs Chris Reinhold, Alex Kazakis vs Carlo Biado, and Omar Al Shaheen (on his birthday) will face Jayson Shaw.
Fans can follow this event online with online brackets at http://ctsondemand.com and free streaming coverage of select matches at https://streamstak.com/billiardtv/
