GERMANY’S PIA FILLER is the 2022 Predator Slovenian Open champion following a 7-5 victory over fellow countrywoman Ina Kaplan in Lasko, Slovenia. Filler had come close before, losing the final last time out in Bulgaria but today was her day as she showed resolve and determination to close out a match that could have gone either way.
“It just feels incredible!” she said. “It’s the best feeling to win a tournament. It’s my first Euro Tour title and I’ve been working so hard and it’s always nice when you see that the work that you put in pays off.
“I got close last year and played a good season this year so I always knew that I was at the point where I was capable of winning the tournament but I’d just never done it.”
The FINAL｜©EPBF
Earlier, Filler had revenged her final defeat in Petrich to Eyllul Kibaroglu, beating her 7-2 in their semi-final match while Kaplan beat countrywoman Melanie Sussenguth by 7-5 to make the final.
There was a lot of back-and-forth in the opening rack which ultimately went to Kaplan but Filler took the second to level things before a tidy out from Kaplan restored her lead.
A dry break from Filler in the fourth game yielded no balls but it was also illegal so Kaplan, with the 1 ball blocked, handed the table back to her opponent. A safety from Kaplan forced Filler to jump and but with the table looking nice and open, Kaplan overran going from 4 to 5 and her safety attempt left the 5-ball on. Filler did well to clear the remaining five balls to level once again.
Pia Filler (Predator/Gabriels/Andy Cloth/HOW)｜©EPBF
Filler edged the next to take the lead for the first time. Despite a good break in the next, she couldn’t get it going and the opportunity fell to Kaplan. She composed herself well to run out and draw level at 3-3. Filler though, restored her lead in the next.
That soon became 5-3 as Filler, sensing that her time had come, stepped up for a focused run out. Kaplan wasn’t done though as she picked up the pace in the next with a fine break and run. A tight snooker from Filler in the next put Kaplan in a heap of trouble and she scratched with her escape attempt. Further snookers with ball-in-hand won Filler the rack on the three-foul rule and open up a two-rack lead and put her on the hill.
The pair exchanged safeties as the blue 2 seemed to have a mind of its own. Kaplan finally potted it and held herself together to clear the table and keep the match alive. A great break from Filler, her best of the match, saw two balls drop and the 1-ball available. With the winning line in sight, Filler held herself together superbly to run out and claim her first ever Predator Ladies Euro Tour title.
Pia Filler celebration｜©EPBF
Filler added, “The first one is always the toughest and this time I felt great; I won all my matches quite clearly so I felt confident and that today was going to be my day.”
“I want to win every possible tournament I play in but instead of looking at my results, I’m more looking at my development of my game and my improvement as that’s much more important because if I keep on working hard the results will come.”
Kaplan commented, “We both made some mistakes and it was back-and-forth for both of us. The break didn’t work out at all for both of us. But in the end, Pia got good breaks and she played really good so it’s OK to lose, kind of!”
Ina Kaplan (Mezz)｜©EPBF
All Predator Euro Tour Women tournaments are 9-ball and the field contest a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 16 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are a race to 7 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
Pia Filler (Predator/Gabriels/Andy Cloth/HOW)｜©EPBF
“美洲豹” 女子歐巡賽-斯洛維尼亞公開賽在 Lasko 順利落幕，最終 Pia Filler 以 7-5 擊敗同胞好手 Ina Kaplan 拿下優勝。
德國選手 Pia Filler 在上一站保加利亞公開賽決賽中以 4-7 落敗於土耳其好手 Eyllul Kibaroglu，與冠軍失之交臂。而在剛落幕的斯洛維尼亞公開賽上，Filler 在半決賽再度碰上 Kibaroglu，此次 Filler 成功復仇以 7-2 擊退 Kibaroglu 再度挺進決賽。而她在決賽中的對手則是同胞好手 Ina Kaplan；Kaplan 在半決賽上以 7-5 淘汰另一位德國選手 Melanie Sussenguth 晉級決賽。
而在決賽中前半段終 Filler 與 Kaplan 雙方比分緊咬，前六局結束 3-3 平手。不過，Filler 在接下來的比賽中很快地取得 5-3 領先優勢。第九局 Kaplan 衝球後清台，追回一局 (4-5)。第十局 Filler 連續三次的成功防守迫使 Kaplan 連續三次失誤而失去一局，也讓 Filler 取得 6-4 聽牌局面。 Kaplan 拿下第十一局，追回一局 (5-6)，但 Filler 在最後一個衝球局中開球有球進袋，沒有再讓 Kaplan 有機會上台，最終清光台面並奪下個人首座歐巡賽冠軍。
Filler 賽後表示: “贏得比賽的感覺實在太棒了! 這是我的第一座歐巡賽冠軍，我一直以來都很努力地在訓練，當你看到你所付出的努力終得回報時，你會感到很高興。今年的賽季我表現得很好，所以我知道自己已有能力能夠贏得比賽，只是我還從未攻克那最後一步。拿下第一座總是最艱難的，這次比賽我感覺很好，我贏得了所有的比賽，所以我有信心今天會是屬於我的一天。
“我想贏得我所參加並能力拿下的比賽，但我將不著重於我的成績，而是更多地關注在比賽的過程發展和我的進步，那些更為地重要，因為我相信指繼續努力，成果終會到來。 ” Filler 補充說道。