Ko Ping Chung has won the 46th US Open Pool Championship at Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City, after beating Fedor Gorst live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom & Ireland and DAZN in the United States.
Ko Ping Chung 13-6 Fedor Gorst
Following the final four racks against Max Lechner, the 11-0 semi-final whitewash of Aloysius Yapp and the first rack of the final, Ko Ping Chung had recorded 16 consecutive racks – an incredible feat to help open proceedings. But Gorst wasn’t prepared to allow a repeat of the semi-finals, winning the next two to go ahead.
©Taka Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
The Ghost’s defence has grown in strength as the week advanced, with some brilliant safety play coercing Ko into mistakes, helping him establish a three-rack margin at 5-2. The 23-year-old maintained a 100% safety success throughout the opening 12 racks.
A ridiculous five-rail fluke on the 3-ball set a series of events that stopped the rut, eventually seeing the Chinese Taipei World Cup of Pool star come back to level the match at 6-6. A mistake from Gorst at 6-3 left the three over the pocket, then a fault on the same ball in the next rack invited Ko to clean up and level the match.
Ko Ping Chung knows how to control the momentum of a match, having produced a flawless display in the semi-finals. From 6-all, the match quickly became 10-6 as seven consecutive racks were accumulated to leave him three from home.
©Taka Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
There was a shocked gasp around the audience at the start of the 17th as Ko Ping Chung broke dry – such was the quality of his play across Saturday – having pocketed the one into the middle pocket on every break against Aloysius Yapp. It looked like this was Gorst’s chance to get back into the match after Ko hung the 6-ball over the pocket – however Gorst could only look on in disbelief after scratch off the rail to fall to 11-6.
When momentum is on his side, it’s very difficult to stop Ko Ping Chung, who finished with 10 consecutive racks to claim the biggest title of his career. Ping Chung follows brother Pin Yi in landing a Matchroom Major title in 2023 – having won the 2023 World Pool Masters in Brentwood, England earlier this year.
The $50,000 World Nineball Tour Ranking Points top prize sees the 28-year-old move from 10th to number four in the WNT Rankings.
©Taka Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
柯秉中生涯首夺美国公开赛冠军 台灣第二冠
2023年第46屆美國公開賽落幕。 冠亞軍決賽在兩位90後新生代天王之間進行。柯秉中在開局短暫低迷之後，一波 “十連鞭”，復仇世界冠軍 Fedor Gorst，終於在時隔四年再闖決賽後，奪得個人首個美國公開賽冠軍，也成為繼鄭喻軒 之後，第二位奪冠的台灣選手。
本屆美國公開賽，柯秉中晉級之路並非一路坦途。 他在勝部首輪便爆冷不敵 Corey Deuel，早早落入敗部。 不過好在及時調整，最終還是攜大哥柯秉逸，包括張榮麟、吳坤霖、張玉龍、謝佳臻，以及香港選手 Robbie Capito 等，挺進 64強單敗階段。
©Taka Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
來到單敗過後，衛冕冠軍 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 強戰便不敵波蘭新星 Daniel Maciol，退出爭奪。 另一位奪冠熱門 Albin Ouschan 遭 Ralf Souquet 淘汰。 而隨著包括柯秉逸在內的多位選手淘汰出局，柯秉中在單敗後期孤軍奮戰。 單敗階段，柯秉中先後擊敗 Alex Kazakis、Jeffrey de Luna、Joshua Filler 和 Max Lechner，挺進四強。 這其中，除 Jeffrey de Luna 外，其餘三人都是奪冠路上的重要競爭對手，而與 Filler 一戰 10-5 的大獲全勝，也是他本屆賽事上佳狀態的真實寫照。
柯秉中在四強賽中打出了一場完全碾壓性的勝利。 面對旗鼓相當的對手葉浚惟，柯秉中全場 99%的進攻成功率，而對手所有數據全線掛蛋，僅留下兩次進攻失誤失誤以及兩次防守失誤，最終柯秉中 11-0 橫掃，強勢挺進決賽 。
©Taka Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
另外一邊則是兩位歐洲好手的對話。 帶著阻擊 Jayson Shaw 的餘威，塞爾維亞黑馬 Aleksa Pecelj 取得完美開局，不過隨後出現簡單失誤，最終 Fedor Gorst 逆轉取勝，挺進決賽。 俄羅斯運動員在全面解禁後終於有所突破。
冠亞軍決賽在當地時間下午4:30開打。柯秉中在本場決賽上下半場判若兩人。 上半段，柯秉中出現多達6次攻防兩端的失誤，Gorst 在狀態也不十分理想的情況下依然取得 6-3 的領先優勢。 第10局成為轉折，柯秉中在又一次防守漏球過後，Gorst 反倒連續兩桿重大進攻失誤，柯秉中幸運迫近比分，並在休息歸來過後重拾半決賽的開掛狀態，最終在3-6 落後的情況下連勝10局，13-6 擊敗 Gorst，奪得個人職業生涯首個美國公開賽冠軍。
最後，恭喜 “天王殺手” 柯秉中於最享譽盛名之一的賽事中奪冠，並成為第二位贏得美國公開賽冠軍的台灣選手。
Ko Ping Chung with Original US Open promoter Barry Behrman’s son & daughter, Brady Behrman and Shannon Behrman Paschall｜©Taka Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
SVB Junior Open
Matchroom extends it’s congratulations to Lazaro Martinez, the winner of the 2nd annual SVB Junior Open on Saturday, following a 9-7 victory over Estonian prodigy Karl Gnaderberg.
Martinez, representing the United States, received a elated ovation from the home crowd and will look to build on his prospects down the line on the World Nineball Tour.
The 17-year-old follows in the steps of Khalid Alghamdi, who won the inaugural event in 2022.