Joshua Filler
MEN’S POOL
Joshua Filler 11-3 Shane van Boening
Carlo Biado 11-7 Albin Ouschan
Joshua Filler out-broke Shane van Boening to inflict a painful 11-3 defeat on the reigning World Champion as the German progressed to the men’s pool semi-finals at The World Games with an ominous message for the rest of the field; he’s only interested in winning gold.
The German struck an immediate blow against Van Boening when he took the first game on the American’s break. Filler was soon 3-0 up but World Champion Van Boening, who turned 39 on Thursday, took the next two.
But that was the last real success Van Boening had in the match. A missed 4-ball in the seventh allowed Filler to move 5-2 ahead and an excellent runout in the 10th made if five consecutive racks for the German.
Up against the pressure of the scoreboard, Van Boening needed to take opportunities but a missed 6 when he desperately needed a runout was compounded when Filler cleared for a 9-2 lead.
When Filler arrived on the hill it was with his second break and run of the match. Fighting to stay in the contest, Van Boening came up dry on his break. Filler wasted no time in leaving his chair but with a roadmap to victory in sight a miscue meant he missed the 8. The crowd let out a collective gasp and Van Boening gratefully took the chance to get his third rack on the board.
But the American’s chances were slim with the alternate break format seeing Filler immediately back at the table and breaking for the match. A powerful strike took three balls from the table and left nothing that looked too difficult for the former World Champion, who this time made no mistake in completing an excellent 11-3 victory.
“It was a one-sided match because my break was really good and working and his break, most of the time he had to play push-out,” said Filler. “By 7-2 you could see he was very frustrated and not really trying any more, which was good for me and gave me more confidence.
“He played two bad safeties which helped me, because in an alternate break when that happens and my break works it is a good opportunity to win.
“I am happy with my positional play and my shot making and playing faster makes me feel better because I don’t need to think about anything else. I already know I am confident and you can see it in my game.
“I am here to win. I know we have a lot of World champions in the field but it would mean the world to me. It is just once every four years this event. I don’t want bronze, I don’t want silver, I want a gold medal.
Filler’s next opponent will be Carlo Biado, who beat Albin Ouschan 11-7 in their quarter-final clash.
“Carlo and myself played one World Championship final and I won that one, but we start from zero again tomorrow,” said Filler. “He beat Albin, and Albin is one of the most consistent players right now so it is going to be really tough, but if my break keeps going like that, it will be really tough for him.”
Biado applied the accelerator at the end of his match against 2021 World Champion Ouschan. The Austrian did lead 5-3 at one stage but much of the match was nip and tuck. However, from 8-8 Biado pulled ahead to reach the hill at 10-8 and he converted the 19th frame to advance to the semi-finals.
WOMEN’S POOL
Kelly Fisher 9-7 Brittany Bryant
Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Kelly Fisher took advantage of a handful of unforced errors by opponent – and, for this week, roommate – Brittany Bryant of Canada to come-from-behind and fend off the Canadian, 9-7.
After the two competitors split the first six racks, Bryant tacked on back-to-back wins to build a 5-3 advantage. Fisher won two of the next three racks to cut the deficit to 7-5 but Bryant faced a carom shot on the 9 ball in the 13th rack that would give her an 8-5 lead in a race-to-nine.
She didn’t, as Fisher cleared the table to pull to within a game, then used a safety exchange to tie the score again. The reigning women’s World 9-Ball champion Fisher took the lead for good in the 15th game when Bryant scratched on break.
Bryant had one final chance to tie the score when her opponent failed to pocket a ball on the break in the 16th game but was unable to clear the table, instead scratching while attempting to secure position on the 8 ball.
“I felt hopeful to be in that match because neither one of us could get the table speed,” said Bryant after the match. “I’m just happy that that I was in it given how the match went. I felt lucky that Kelly wasn’t playing her best either.”
Yuki Hiraguchi 9-6 Oliwia Zalewska 6
Yuki Hiraguchi jumped out to an early 5-1 advantage, only to watch the lead evaporate thanks to a handful of unforced errors. In the end, the young girl from Japan used a couple of well-executed combination shots while taking advantage of a couple of misplayed shots by her opponent to seal a 9-6 victory and a trip to the semifinals.
After winning five of the first six games, Hiraguchi started to struggle with her ball pocketing in the match’s middle stages, including a misplayed 9 ball in the 10th, as the young Pole won four straight to tie the match 5-5. After regaining the lead on a safety exchange and using a combination shot on the 9 ball to win the 12th game and build a 7-5 lead, but missed another 9 ball in the 13th game, which her opponent pocketed to cut the deficit to 7-6. Hiraguchi then closed out the set with another successful combination shot on the 9 ball in the 14th game and a victorious safety exchange on the 5 ball in the next rack to seal the victory.
“It wasn’t my best game for sure,” said Zalewska. “I couldn’t focus in the beginning of the match and then result of that was too many mistakes.”
Hiraguchi will now face Fisher in the semifinals Saturday.
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