Joshua Filler and Si Ming Chen (Photo courtesy of Alison Chang)
Joshua Filler and Si Ming Chen are your 2017 China Open Champions.
Filler was the first champion to be crowned on Sunday, and he won the event in style. Facing a tough semi-final match against his countryman Thorsten Hohmann, the German youngster made it look easy with an 11-3 win. The other semi-final match saw Jung Lin Chang score an equally one sided 11-2 win over Yu-Hsuan Cheng in an all Chinese Taipei match.
The final match between Filler and Chang was another story of billiards youth facing off against an established player, and as has been the case all year, it was youth that won out. Filler scored an impressive 11-6 win over Chang for the biggest title of his young career.
The ladies final was an “all China” affair, as Si Ming Chen took on her rival Sha Sha Liu once again. The match started out looking like it might be another lopsided affair, but that quickly changed. Chen held an early 7-3 lead, but an unforced error by Chen was all the opportunity that Liu needed to make the match close. Liu fought back within one at 7-6, and tied the match at 8-8 to leave one game to determine a winner. In the end, Chen regained her composure and won the final game for the 9-8 and first place.
Joshua Filler pocketed $40,000 for his win, while Chen took home $36,000 for her win in the ladies division. Combined with her win earlier this year at the Amway Cup, this win sets Chen up as the early favorite for 2017 Ladies Player of the Year.
