QUARTER-FINALS
Denmark 5-9 Germany
Philippines 4-9 Estonia
Germany will meet Estonia in the World Cup of Pool semi-finals after beating Denmark and Philippines respectively at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes on Thursday evening.
After Great Britain and Slovakia had won through in the afternoon session, Germany saw off Denmark 9-5 with both Joshua Filler and Christof Reintjes performing strongly, and the story was the same for Estonia as Denis Grabe and Mark Magi eliminated Philippines 9-4.
There was nothing to split Denmark (Mickey Krause & Bahram Lotfy) and Germany (Joshua Filler & Christof Reintjes) after the first eight of a potential 17 racks. Germany took the ninth and then Filler delivered his second golden break of the tournament to put his country two ahead, the first time either of them had a lead of more than one.
Denmark pulled one back but Germany extended their lead again, and then made it 8-5 with a 7/9 combo left for Filler by Lotfy.
Germany didn’t have a shot after breaking on the hill but got the better of the safety exchange and once they had a chance, Filler and Reintjes didn’t allow Denmark back to the table.
“We made twice as many balls on the break as they did, I think that and our safety game was our big advantage in the match,” said Filler. “The focus is playing the best you can. In this format, with winner breaks, your opponent can make five or six runouts but you just have to focus on yourself.
“The golden break was a big 9-ball because it took us two ahead. In a long tournament you need to improve in every match and that’s what we will continue to do hopefully.”
Reintjes added: “To play with the best player in the world is amazing; every shot goes right into the heart of the pocket. We wanted to do better in this match because in the first two matches we had a lot of things to improve, but in this match we had better chemistry.”
Germany will meet Estonia in the semi-finals after Denis Grabe and Mark Magi completed a confident 9-4 win over Filipino duo Roberto Gomez and Jeff De Luna.
Estonia started off strong, leading 2-0 and 3-1. De Luna then pulled off a highlights reel jump to bank the 1 up table. However, Gomez then missed the four and Estonia were back to the table to lead 4-1. Grabe and Magi continued to turn the screw, extending the lead to 5-1.
At 6-1 up Estonia allowed Philippines a route back when Grabe lost control of the cue ball in making the 4. It left Magi with a difficult cut which he didn’t make, and Gomez and De Luna got out of their seats to steal the rack.
It wasn’t the start of a momentum swing, however, as Estonia took the next for a 7-2 lead. Philippines hit back with two racks to close the gap but a brilliant Grabe safety helped Estonia open up the table at 7-4 and he and Magi cleared to reach the hill.
Philippines had a great chance to cut the gap and make Estonia sweat, but De Luna missed the 8. Grabe then made it but Magi hit the 9 hard down table and it rattled out. The cue was tied to the bottom rail and Gomez couldn’t make it up table and Grabe cut the 9-ball home.
Both semi-finals will be played on Friday afternoon before the race-to-11 final in the evening session from 5:30pm. The World Cup of Pool is broadcast live globally including on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Full broadcast details can be found at matchroompool.com.
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