Day one of the inaugural Spanish Open Pool Championship is complete with Spaniards David Alcaide, Jonas Souto Comino, and Jose Alberto Delgado picking up two wins to progress to Winners’ Qualification live on DAZN in Spain, the USA, Italy, and Brazil, Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Baltics and Poland as well as live on Sky Sports from Saturday and Sunday.
The opening contest of the tournament saw two-time World Pool Masters champion Alcaide get off to a comfortable start with a victory over Paul Florin Mandroiu 9-1 before easing into Thursday’s matches to reach the Last 64 beating Talal Ablooshi by the same scoreline. Souto Comino saw off Nguyen Hoang Phong to reach the same stage live on the Matchroom Pool TikTok whilst Alberto Delgado came through against Dimitrios Siampanis and Australia’s James Georgiadis.
©Taka G. Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
Wu Jia Qing made his long-awaited return to the international stage and it was like the former champion of the world had never been away with the Chinese star brushing off Óliver Rodríguez Roa early on before a statement performance against Wojciech Szewczyk 9-4. Compatriot and World Cup of Pool partner Wang Can suffered at the hands of Fedor Gorst meanwhile in Winners Round 1. Gorst putting on a pool clinic to set up a big tie with Lo Ho Sum on Thursday.
USA legend Shane Van Boening got his campaign off to the best of starts with victories over Gareth Esprit and Miguel Silva with the South Dakota Kid barely breaking stride. Ko Pin Yi and Ping Chung meanwhile ensured a straightforward passage to the Winners’ Qualification stage and it was the same story for Niels Feijen and Albin Ouschan.
©Taka G. Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
Mika Immonen will have to fight his way through the losers side to keep his tournament going after defeat to Ali Nasser Alobadili and he’s joined by JS Junior Open runner-up Mika Van Berkel who lost out to Switzerland’s Michael Schneider.
WNT No.1 and local favourite Francisco Sanchez Ruiz kicks off his mission on home soil tomorrow morning from 10am live worldwide.
Sanchez Ruiz heads into the tournament as the hot tournament favourite with the bookies pricing the current world champion up at 13/2. Joshua Filler, Skyler Woodward and recent UK Open winner Eklent Kaçi are also amongst a string of big names set to start their weeks tomorrow. Match odds can be found online through various online gaming websites.
©Taka G. Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
Outright Odds – Selected
- Joshua Filler – 7/1
- Shane Van Boening 9/1
- Eklent Kaçi 9/1
- Albin Ouschan 12/1
- Ko Pin Yi 14/1
- Jayson Shaw 16/1
- Fedor Gorst 16/1
- Wu Jia Qing 18/1
- David Alcaide 22/1
Live rack-by-rack scoring will be available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com
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.
See where to watch in your country here.
The Spanish Open Pool Championship is one of five 256-player field tournaments promoted by Matchroom on the World Nineball Tour in partnership with The Asociación Gallega de Billar Pool (AGP), with players set to fight through a seeded double elimination stage led by the top 128 on the World Nineball Tour Rankings before only 64 make it to the single elimination rounds.