DANIEL MACIOL IS the 2024 DYNAMIC BILLARD Tallinn Open champion as he edged out 16-year-old Felix Vogel by 9-7 in an exciting finale to a terrific season-opener on the Euro Tour. Germany’s Vogel became the youngest-ever finalist in the long and storied history of the Tour, managing to break Wiktor Zielinski’s record which had stood since December 2017.
Vogel had led most of the way at the Kalevi Sports Hall in Tallinn but faltered down the home stretch as the 23-year-old Pole came on strong for his maiden Dynamic Billard Euro Tour title. Vogel, from Marburg Germany, who is just 16 years and a couple of months old, was playing in his sixth Euro Tour event and can take great pride in his performances this week.
But the day belonged to Daniel Maciol, who also moved from #3 to #1 on the ranking; “I’m over the moon to be honest! I remember when I was 15 years of age and I played in my first Euro Tour at the time and my goal was to get to the last 32 round. So, after eight years, I finally reached a final and won it. I’m really, really happy about this.”
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A scratch from Maciol gave his opponent ball-in-hand and Vogel looked completely confident as he ran out to take the lead. That became 3-1 after Vogel got the better of a safety battle as Maciol had a bash at the 5-ball but left it in the open. A push-out in the next from Maciol ended up working against him and Vogel negotiated a tricky table to sit pretty at 4-1.
An illegal break from Vogel, despite two balls going down, gave Maciol a good opportunity to eat into the deficit. He lost shape though and needed to play a safety on the 5-ball. Vogel nearly fluked the 9 in, kicking out of the safety but a table-length bank effectively secured the rack for Maciol.
That soon turned to 4-3 after a tidy runout from Maciol but a successful break from Vogel gave him an opportunity to restore a two-rack lead and he executed it well. Stroking the cueball around like a seasoned pro, Vogel looked set to take the next rack but he lost some position going from the 8 to the 9-ball and his tight cut was underpowered and left the 9-ball hanging for Maciol.
Vogel though, kept the pressure up as he won the next game for a 6-4 lead. In the 11th game, Maciol had the first good look at the table after a kicked safety from Vogel left the 1-ball on and he duly ran out to very much stay in the match at 6-5. A dry break from Vogel was a gift for his opponent at a critical point in the match and Maciol, full of composure, cleared up to level the scores.
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With two balls off the break, Maciol went all-in on a combo on the 2-ball and successfully set himself up for a runout as he took the lead for the first time since the opening rack as the score moved to 7-6 in his favour.
They went back and forth with safeties in the next before a huge fluke from Maciol saw the 2-ball drop into the centre pocket and the rangy Pole was on his way as he reached the hill first at 8-6. A dry break in the next from Maciol got Vogel jumping out of his chair. Vogel played safe on the 3-ball and with so much at stake, both players became a little cagey as the safeties went back and forth. Seizing the moment, Vogel speared home a long 3-ball to set up a rack-winning opportunity and take the match to 8-7.
An illegal break from Vogel was the last thing he needed but a missed bank on the 1-ball from Maciol returned the table to the German who played a containing safety. Both players were feeling the pressure as they swapped safeties on the blue 2. A great snooker from Maciol saw Vogel fail to connect with the 2-ball with his kick shot and with ball-in-hand, it was the chance the Pole was dreaming of. He left himself a real pressure shot on the 6-ball with just two left on the table but he made it and left himself a very makeable 9 -ball which he deposited for a marvellous win.
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Maciol said, “Also, I’ve never been first in the rankings so it’s something additional for me so I’m thrilled. I was struggling with the break the whole match and Felix just played awesome. He made a couple of great shots and he’s just 16 years of age and it’s hard to not think about that.
“But I was trying to stay focused and wait for my chances and I played a couple of good racks in a row at the end and the last rack was very emotional for me. I missed position on that 6-ball and had a difficult shot which I made and then made the 9 so there were a lot of emotions,” he added.
For Vogel, despite the obvious disappointment, it was a stunning achievement: ”I was really comfortable with my performances this week but it’s back to the practice table and try and improve on the small things. In this tournament, I think I found my confidence. After the first few matches, which were close, I was very confident and knew I could win against all of these guys but I need to improve but I’m really glad with my performances and hope I can continue.”
This week’s semi-finalists were Spain’s Jose Alberto Delgado and Radoslaw Babica (Poland) who has now finished 3rd, 2nd and 3rd in his last three Euro Tour starts.
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The pool continues tomorrow with the Predator Women’s Tallinn Open. The event is down to the final 32 and play gets underway at 9.00. The semi-finals are at 14.00 and 15.30 followed by the final at 17.00. For viewers at home, Tables 1 & 2 will be streamed throughout on YouTube. Table 1 will be on the Kozoom channel, who are back handling the production for 2024. Table 2 will be available throughout on the EPBF platform.
All other tables can be viewed on the Kozoom.com website, where there are a variety of subscription options.
LINKS
Table 1 link = https://www.youtube.com/@KozoomTV/streams
Table 2 link = https://www.youtube.com/@theepbf/streams
Tables 1-20 = https://home.kozoom.com/en/all-cue-sports