Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz
Play continued today in Treviso as 181 starters were reduced down to 16 players in the final Euro Tour event on the 2021 schedule. With a very strong field in attendance, there were some big names who left the event prematurely.
Joshua Filler was beaten in the losers’ qualification round, a victim of Spain’s Jose Luis Delgado. Likewise, veteran Niels Feijen fell by the wayside in the last 32 at the hands of Germany’s up-and-coming Tobias Bongers. Other stars on their way home include 2019 WPA World Champion Fedor Gorst, Dennis Grabe and two-time WPA World Champion Thorsten Hohmann.
Euro Tour No.1 ranked player, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (Spain) is enjoying another terrific run here in Italy as he goes for his third consecutive ET championship, a feat not achieved since Oliver Ortmann took down four consecutive titles 27 years ago. The Spaniard has breezed through the winners’ side and now faces a very strong Max Lechner in the last 16.
There are three Poles in the top half of the draw; Mieszko Fortunski faces the ever-dangerous Swiss/Filipino Ronnie Regli while the fast-improving Daniel Maciol faces compatriot Wiktor Zielinski. It’s been well over two years since a Polish player won a Euro Tour championship – Konrad Juszczyszyn at this same venue – which could be some sort of omen.
Two stand-out matches in the bottom half of the drawer are David Alcaide, preparing for the Mosconi Cup in a couple of weeks, against Austria’s Mario He and two of the brightest young talents on the tour.
Hungary’s Oliver Szolnoki has had a real break-out year and he faces young Serbian Aleksa Pecelj who is coming off a terrific run of form, having finished runner-up to Sanchez Ruiz last time out in Turkey and then winning the gold in the Men’s Under 23 division at the recent European Championships.
Play resumes on Saturday 26th November at 12 midday local time with the final getting underway at 17.30.
Starting tomorrow is the third and final event of the Predator Ladies Euro Tour. An outstanding field of 50 players has assembled including the likes of Kristina Tkach, Margareta Fefilova, Bojana Sarac, who made it through to the 33-48 round in the men’s event this week, as well as No.1 ranked player Olivia Zalewska of Poland. The ladies’ event concludes on Sunday.
The matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
