Eklent Kaci🇦🇱 denies Joshua Filler🇩🇪 for repeat UK Open title
Filler's play was subpar in the final against the Albanian pro.
THE U.K. OPEN JUST CONCLUDED and proved to be a major prestigious tournament even only if in its second incarnation. In last year’s final Joshua Filler defeated Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 13-7. It’s a very different ending this year as the German lost 4-13 to Eklent Kaci of Albania to the shock of many — more so of the nine game deficit. After all, Filler steamrolled Ko Pin-Yi, who had won the World Pool Masters in May, by a score of 11-1 in their semifinal match.
Again it shows how difficult it is for bookmakers to lay odds in pro pool.
Of the three snooker pros who entered this tournament, Gary Wilson advanced the furthest and impressively won over Naoyuki Oi (10-6) and Anthony Brabin (10-4) until he faced FSR (5-10).
Four Americans fought their way into the last 64 single-elimination stage: SVB, Shane Wolford, Billy Thorpe, and Skyler Woodward. The story here has to be Wolford’s run: defeating Mario He 10-5 and losing to Mieszko Fortunski hill-hill. The young Shane would’ve faced Filler had he continued the extraordinary performance. Sky got to the semifinals but was unable to stop Kaci, 5-11.
The inaugural J.S. Junior Open ran alongside the U.K. Open and saw some top level performance by 64 young pool players. Maks Benko and Mika Van Berkel faced off in a thrilling hill-hill final match, but it was Benko who prevailed to capture the title. The success of this junior tournament and the quality of play from these young athletes should quiet any doubts and criticisms about the future of the sport.
WPBA ADDS IRON CITY BILLIARDS TO TOURNAMENT CALENDAR. Sixty-four female pros from around the world will battle in Birmingham, AL starting June 8 in this new WPBA event.
SPANISH OPEN FOLLOWS U.K. OPEN. Matchroom World Nineball Tour fans will have another major tournament to look forward to soon: the inaugural Spanish Open starting June 20 in Lugo, Spain. The city is surrounded by ancient Roman walls, a U.N. World Heritage landmark.
SPAIN ALSO HOSTS WORLD CUP OF POOL. Right after the Spanish Open, Matchroom will mix things up a bit with the team-format World Cup of Pool. As per tradition the host nation gets two teams: Spain A are FSR and David Alcaide, Spain B are Jose Alberto Delgado and Jonas Souto Comino. They will compete against 30 other teams from around the globe.
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