Joshua Filler, Moritz Neuhausen, and Thorsten Hohmann all progressed on day one of the 2023 European Open Pool Championship at Hotel Esperanto, Fulda, Germany, live on DAZN in the USA and networks worldwide.
As the World Nineball Tour arrived in central Europe for the second time in as many months, all eyes were on defending champion Albin Ouschan as the Austrian tried to set alight his Mosconi Cup hopes on a week where Francisco Sanchez Ruiz bagged the first automatic spot for Team Europe before a ball had even been hit. Ouschan stepped up with an opening win over Daniel Brzeziński before stepping past Panagiotis Ksipoliteas to reach the Winners' Qualification at a canter.
Neuhausen, on the back of reaching the World Cup of Pool final with Filler, got past JS Junior Open finalist Mika Van Berkel in the opening match and then knocked fellow German Ricardo Gutjahr to the loser's side. Hohmann took down Bernd Jahnke before the Hitman did a number on So Shaw to book his place in Winners' Qualification unscathed.
World Cup of Pool winners James Aranas and Johann Chua ensured a day off tomorrow with back-to-back victories, with the latter making hard work of a contest with Czechia's Roman Hybler that went the distance. Hybler had amassed an 8-4 advantage before Chua hit back with five racks on the spin for victory despite Hybler having two opportunities with ball in hand to close it out.
Shane Van Boening heads into the week needing a big performance to steady up his hopes of an automatic Mosconi Cup pick, with it looking likely Skyler Woodward will take the first spot this week. The South Dakota Kid saw off Rainer Scheffke and compatriot Marc Vidal Claramunt to do his part of the bargain early on.
The action continues from 10 am tomorrow morning with the battle of Duong Quoc Hoang and Vietnamese compatriot Cong Than Nguyen live on Table 1 worldwide. 2015 World Snooker champion Stuart Bingham makes his Nineball debut against former World Pool Masters finalist Lo Ho Sum from 11:30 am on Table 1.
Table 2 sees recent Sharks International 9-Ball Open champion Ko Ping Chung take on Frank Ossmann before Jani Siekkinen of Finland faces off with World Nineball Tour number one Francisco Sanchez Ruiz.
Other headlines
World Snooker Tour number 14 Gary Wilson claimed another big scalp in US Open quarter-finalist Hsieh Chia Chen
Georgi Georgiev of Bulgaria knocked Mika Immonen to the losers' side
Max Lechner dropped only one rack from two matches to reach the Winners' Qualification
Session Times
The European Open Championship will take place from August 8-13.
All times are local (CEST)
8-11 August – from 10 am daily
12 August – 12 pm – 4:30 pm / 6:30 pm – 11:00 pm
13 August – 12 pm – 4:30 pm / 6 pm – 9 pm
The top 128 players in the field were seeded based on the 2023 World Nineball Tour Rankings, with Round 1 matches taking place over the opening two days.
Outright betting markets priced up Filler as the odds-on favourite at 8/1 alongside Van Boening, with Sanchez Ruiz at 10/1 and World Pool Masters champion Ko Pin Yi at 14/1 Full odds are available on various online gaming websites.
Live rack-by-rack scoring will be available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com, thanks to our partners PRP.
Wherever you are in the world, you will be able to sweat the action with broadcasters globally and live on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube channels in selected territories and on Matchroom.Live. UK and Ireland-based fans can see the final two days on Sky Sports, with the opening four on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom YouTube.
Fans in the USA will be able to watch all six days live on DAZN, whilst those in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Poland, and Netherlands can watch live on Viaplay. Fans in the Philippines, meanwhile, will be able to sweat the action on TAP Go and those in Vietnam on VietContent channels. Those in Germany can see the final two days on Sport1.
Matt Lynch— Matchroom Multi Sport