The first players to reach the globally-televised last-16 stage of the partypoker US Open 9-Ball Championship are now known after matches on the winners’ side of the tournament completed at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Convention Center early on Wednesday afternoon.
Spain’s Francisco Sanchez Ruiz was the first through to the straight knockout stage as he defeated Ko-Pin Yi 11-4 in just 90 minutes, and moments later Ko’s brother Ko-Pin Chung fell to 2005 US Open champion Alex Pagulayan. There was better news for the Chinese contingent as Hsu Kai-Lun overpowered Wu Jiaqing 11-3 and Hsu Jai-An beat Billy Thorpe to book their places in the last 16, while Chang Yu-Lung got the better of Imran Majid 11-9.
Defending champion Jayson Shaw was pushed hard by Finland’s Petri Makkonen but eventually came out as 11-8 winner and Jeff De Luna of the Philippines is also into the last 16 after an 11-5 win over World Cup of Pool champion Liu Haitao.
Finally, Shane van Boening survived an early scare when he fell 3-1 down to Dennis Hatch, but the five-time US Open champion bounced back for an 11-3 victory to move into the last 16.
Players defeated in their winners’ qualification match have one more opportunity to qualify via the losers’ qualification round. On that side of the brackets Filipino star James Aranas came back from 8-2 down to win a hill-hill thriller over Thorsten Hohmann on the TV table to keep his US Open dream. Singapore’s Aloysuis Yapp dumped out Niels Feijen and Joshua Filler saw off Albin Ouschan.
Players progressing to the last 16 from the winners’ side will be drawn at random against those who battle through the losers’ side of the tournament. Matches continue this evening and live scoring is available on CueScore via www.matchroompool.com. The last 16 stage commences at 9am (local time) on Thursday with live TV coverage around the world including on Sky Sports and DAZN.
The partypoker US Open is split into two stages with the full field playing double elimination down to the final 16 from Sunday, April 21 until Tuesday April 23. From Wednesday April 24 until Friday April 26 the final 16 players will play straight knockout in the Diamond Arena with global television coverage.
All matches at the partypoker US Open 9-Ball Championship are race to 11, winner breaks, except the final which is race to 13. The draw and match schedule for the first stage of the tournament is available now at www.matchroompool.com.
Players are playing for their share of a $300,000 tournament purse. The winner will take home $50,000, the famous US Open green jacket and the newly-commissioned Barry Behrman trophy.