Jayson Shaw celebrates with his daughter Liana (Erwin Dionisio)
Jayson Shaw held off multiple runs by Austrian newcomer Maximilian Lechner to capture first place at the International 9-Ball Open on November 2nd at the Sheraton Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia.
Lechner came into the finals via the winner’s side, after thrilling the fans in attendance with notable wins over Skyler Woodward, Shane Van Boening, Dennis Orcollo, Ko Ping-Chung and World #1 ranked Joshua Filler.
Shaw had one blemish on this record, an 11-5 loss to Ko on day four of the event. He recovered from that loss with wins over Franciso Sanchez-Ruiz, James Aranas, Alex Kazakis, Justin Bergman and Joshua Filler to earn his place in the finals.
Shaw got off to a slow start in the finals, as he missed a 4-ball in the first rack and didn’t get back to the table until rack three. As would be expected though, Shaw’s “big game” experience soon gave him an edge. Shaw came back to 2-2 and 3-3 with keen defensive play, “out-moving” Lechner in multiple safety battles.
Shaw took his first lead at 4-3 and he quickly extended that lead to 6-3 and looked to be in control of the match. Lechner took advantage of a rare bad safety from Shaw in rack ten to get back to 6-4 and then had back to back early 9-balls to tie things back up at 6-6.
Nerves seemed to get the better of Lechner at this point in the match, as a poor safety in rack thirteen and a missed ball in rack fourteen turned control back to Shaw. He then extended his lead back to three at 9-6 with his first break and run in rack fifteen.
Lechner had another run in him though, as he drew back to within one rack at 9-8 down. The players exchanged racks for a 10-9 scoreline and then nerves once again reared their ugly head as Lechner missed a long 2-ball with a wide open table and Shaw cleared the rack for an 11-9 lead. Lechner would come to the table again in rack twenty one with a wide open table, but a miscue led to a 12-9 Shaw lead.
Lechner came with yet another run, taking racks twenty two and twenty three for a 12-11 scoreline.
Rack twenty four would be one for Shaw’s highlight reel. Shaw jumped out of a Lechner safety to pocket the 1-ball and followed that up with another jumpshot to make the 2-ball. Shaw then navigated a difficult table to run out for the 13-11 victory.
The win was worth $30,000 for Shaw, while Lechner took $18,000 for second place. Joshua Filler finished in 3rd and earned $12,000 in prize money.
