THERE WAS DRAMA galore as the two semi-finals of the LITTLE MONSTER Mixed Doubles Open played out this evening. Both matches went to a shoot-out and it was Oliver Szolnoki (Hungary) and Zhang Mu-Yan of China who took the first semi, edging out Alexander Kazakis (Greece) and the UK’s Kelly Fisher from the spot. The second semi-final ended in similar style as Marco Teutscher (Netherlands) and Wang Wan-Ling of Chinese Taipei broke the Ouschan siblings hearts after a gruelling three-setter.
Szolnoki and Zhang took their first set by 4-0 and looked well-set in the second before the Greek/British pairing mounted a comeback. Kazakis and Fisher even looked best placed as the deciding set unfolded. However, it ended all-square at 3-3 and went to the spot shots. Misses from Kelly and Alex sealed their fate as Oliver and Mu-Yan held their nerve.
Commented Szolnoki, “She’s amazing! She pockets very well and there are some situations where I’m thinking how to play safe and she just goes and smashes the ball in and gives me perfect position so it’s a lot of fun playing with her; I really like it. She has a fantastic table IQ.
“I saw her in China playing heyball, where she’s really successful and a top three player, so I asked her. It’s our first time playing together and so far, it’s working out pretty well! The day before the event we practiced together for one or two hours but Mu-Yan lives in China, I live in Hungary so it would be hard to co-ordinate practice!”
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Joining them in the final will be shoot-out experts Marco Teutscher and Wang Wan-Ling who once again prevailed off the spot. It brings their tally of shoot-out successes to three with neither player yet to miss a ball.
Clearly the match could have gone either way as both teams had bursts of momentum before falling back. In the end it was determined by the shoot-out.
Commented Marco, “I’m not going to tell the secret that I’m using in the shoot-outs! But I treat it the same way as every other shot. I don’t really have to aim either – just stay down and don’t do anything stupid under the pressure. It’s been really good; we haven’t missed one shot so far. It’s good that I make the first two every time and then Wan-Ling just has to follow with one. We showed a lot of heart today.”
Wan-Ling added, “I think Marco is a great partner, he always makes the perfect shot for me so I just have to stop the cueball. I think we can play good tomorrow and have a real chance.”
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The final promises to be another epic encounter and is scheduled for 19.00 on Sunday evening.
Play continued in the Predator WPA Junior World Championships and half of the quarter final line-ups have been determined while the other four spots will come from two rounds of matches on the one-loss side in the Girls and U17s and just one losers side round in the U19. Semi-finals are slated for Monday with the gold medal deciders on Tuesday.
The Little Monster Men’s International Open is at the last 32 stage and continues in earnest at 10.00 on Sunday morning.
Streaming of Tables 1 and 2 for all events can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel – https://www.youtube.com/@
For all results, live scoring and draw visit the events’ homepage https://