OKBET European Open Pool | DAY 4 AND LAST 16 ARE LEFT WITH FILLER THROUGH

The Last 16 of the first European Open Pool Championship

Joshua Filler defeated Mosconi Cup partner Eklent Kaçi and Oscar Dominguez of the United States to go to the Last 16 of the first European Open Pool Championship at Hotel Esperanto in Fulda, Germany.

Filler had a terrific day, going from behind to overcome Kaçi 9-8 after Kaçi had a 5-9 combo to seal win at 8-7 only for the Albanian to provide the gift that the Killer needed to get back into it. Kaçi didn’t get much of a chance after that as Filler broke in the last rack, which wasn’t easy with the 7, 8, and 9 all bonded together with the rack penned behind them. Despite the obvious difficulty, Filler held his calm to complete the match and set up a Last 32 tie with Oscar Dominguez of the United States.

Dominguez had come back from a 4-1 deficit against Tyler Styer to tie him at 5-5 and 6-6 before going on to play his old Mosconi Cup foe in the Last 16.

Filler came into the match after two hill-hill performances in his previous three tournament bouts, and he was not in the mood for another. Filler took the lead early on, but Dominguez was playing freely and caused issues for the German. The home audience was cheering for their star player, and he produced a 10-7 victory to seal his position in the Last 16 on a fantastic day that also saw him become the first player on Team Europe for the 2022 Mosconi Cup based on the Live Nineball World Rankings.

With $14,000 separating the pair heading into the tournament, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz was the only player who could beat Filler to the first Mosconi Cup spot, but his hopes were dashed in the Last 32 by Albania’s Besar Spahiu, who mounted an impressive comeback to steal it 10-8 and confirm Filler’s spot on Team Europe for the 2022 Mosconi Cup at Bally’s Las Vegas from November 30 to December 3.

Filler will face Jayson Shaw in the last 16 after the two-time Mosconi Cup MVP defeated Petri Makkonen earlier in the day before a hard struggle with Italy’s Daniele Corrieri. Corrieri took the game to Shaw and got the best of the early exchanges, with a 1-9 combination being the finest of the lot as he established his flow early on with Shaw not doing much wrong.

Eagle Eye regained his groove about the halfway point and didn’t do much wrong after that, leading for the first time in the match at 7-6. Shaw was imperious from there, setting up an intriguing duel with Filler on Table 1 next.

Team USA will be captained by Nineball World No.1 Shane Van Boening, who came through his individual tests against Germany’s Sebastian Staab in the Last 64 before being denied a weekend appearance by Wojciech Szewczyk. Szewczyk seized the early lead, leading 2-0 until Van Boening equalized at 2-2. The duo was delighting the fans with some of the finest safety play seen all week as Van Boening battled back to lead, only for Szewczyk to quickly lead 5-4 and take the lead at the midway point.

Van Boening was overpowering in the first game, leading 9-5, only to run out of gas in the second for Szewczyk to come back. The Pole was battling for position on the one ball and had to play conservative, and from there Van Boening played a kick and stick to leave Szewczyk in knots. Van Boening won a short safety struggle and will face Sanjin Pehlivanovic in the Last 16 tomorrow.

Alexander Kazakis beat David Alcaide 9-2 to advance to the Last 32, where he will face John Morra. The Greek was up against Morra, who led at different stages and, most crucially, was 8-6 up in the Race to 10. The Canadian appeared to be in charge, but Kazakis has recently shown his steely grit with some clutch pots to draw it back and equal at 9-9. Kazakis missed position on the last ball, allowing it to fall past the pocket and provide Morra the quickest path into the Last 16, where he will face Konrad Juszczyszyn.

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