Spanish Open, June 2023, from Matchroom

Wu Wu Wu
What an incredible.comeback trailing 3-9.to win 10-9
He was all over the place in first of half missing number of balls , breaking poorly . Then when Aranas got on hill, Wu suddenly figured out break turned it on and it was off to the races . And this is against 800+player. Aranas did help with some blunders and was not able to close the match when he has many chances 😄
 
Wu Wu Wu
What an incredible.comeback trailing 3-9.to win 10-9
He was all over the place in first of half missing number of balls , breaking poorly . Then when Aranas got on hill, Wu suddenly figured out break turned it on and it was off to the races . And this is against 800+player. Aranas did help with some blunders and was not able to close the match when he has many chances 😄
He made two great shots on the 2 ball to keep his momentum going. The tight shot up the rail and the shot off the 6 ball in a very tight side pocket. Nerves of steel under do or die pressure and he made it look easy.
 
Poor Niels. Was down 3-9 to Kaci and staging big comeback like Wu
Got to 7-9 but got poor position on 9 and missed the 9
niels2.JPG


He made two great shots on the 2 ball to keep his momentum going. The tight shot up the rail and the shot off the 6 ball in a very tight side pocket. Nerves of steel under do or die pressure and he made it look easy.
Yes, was attacking even under huge pressure and made some gutsy shots. That shot of the 6 into side pocket was nuts. There was this nice bold 2-9 carom when he was down 3-9 that started his comeback

3-9.JPG
 
Last 32
SVB v Skyler- up next on TV Table
Duong Quoc Hoang v Konrad -Table 2

After that-
Eklent Kaci v Alcaide (TV Table)
Tyler v Kledio Kaci (Table 2)


16 will remain at end of today


last32 1h.JPG


last32 2h.JPG
 
Speaking of cinderella runs, who are some names in the final 64 that aren't too familiar with the veteran AZBians reading this? Or if you really know your stuff, who are the potential cinderellas even if you are familiar with them?
A guy who used to play at a super-high level but hasn't been seen that much in international play in recent years is Jin Hu Dang. If he can find his game of ten years ago, he'll be a very tough out in this event.
 
Sky looked determined and focused in the first game. I don't see it in his eyes now... I want to see him prevail. I think he could go all the way if he got his head in it.
 
Speaking of cinderella runs, who are some names in the final 64 that aren't too familiar with the veteran AZBians reading this? Or if you really know your stuff, who are the potential cinderellas even if you are familiar with them?
In my mind it's not all about familiarity but moreso there's some blockbuster players that Matchroom has turned into marquee household names. In terms of winning the full event, anyone that's not Wu, FSR, Filler, Fedor, Shaw, Albin, SVB, Big Kaci, or Big Ko would be a Cinderella to me. And while it's no surprise to see Konrad, Wiktor, Alcaide, Sanjjin, Oliver, Little Ko, Mario, Kazakis, Sky, or Oi win, I still view them as slight underdogs if not Cinderellas for this particular event. And to acknowledge my own bias, I haven't been able to really keep good tabs on the stronger Asian players. Like while Quoc has gotten SVBs number a couple times, I don't view him as a favorite to win it all but certainly others may know his game better. And I don't know Dang Jin Hu at all. So depending on who pushes through the storyline for me changes. And I appreciate that the story has different context for each viewer based on their own familiarities.

And there's certain players I just have no expectation of seeing them in the final, e.g. Bijsterbosch, Uski, Silva, Alyousef, Labutis, Grabe, Maciol, Majid, Abdulmajeed, and Gangflot. If they had a great run it would definitely be Cinderella to me.
 
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Ok so the shot clock...

I go back and forth on this. There are slow players I can't watch, but a lot in the drama department is lost with a short shot clock. With a clock none of the players ever even look nervous, but without one you can see them sometimes have to talk themselves into shooting. This increases the drama exponentially.

So what to do? Maybe just maybe, the solution is no clock but using referee discretion to move the matches along, and holding slow players accountable before and after the tournament.

Also the production can always move to a 2nd match with the focused match moved to a corner windowed view during timeouts.

Just throwing this out there, because if you lose the drama ultimately playing and non-playing fans will get bored with watching pool clinics.
 
Ok so the shot clock...

I go back and forth on this. There are slow players I can't watch, but a lot in the drama department is lost with a short shot clock. With a clock none of the players ever even look nervous, but without one you can see them sometimes have to talk themselves into shooting. This increases the drama exponentially.

So what to do? Maybe just maybe, the solution is no clock but using referee discretion to move the matches along, and holding slow players accountable before and after the tournament.

Also the production can always move to a 2nd match with the focused match moved to a corner windowed view during timeouts.

Just throwing this out there, because if you lose the drama ultimately playing and non-playing fans will get bored with watching pool clinics.

interesting take. but remember it's also a matter of increased races now. imagine morra, souquet, jungo or styer in a race to 13..
 
Ok so the shot clock...

I go back and forth on this. There are slow players I can't watch, but a lot in the drama department is lost with a short shot clock. With a clock none of the players ever even look nervous, but without one you can see them sometimes have to talk themselves into shooting. This increases the drama exponentially.

So what to do? Maybe just maybe, the solution is no clock but using referee discretion to move the matches along, and holding slow players accountable before and after the tournament.

Also the production can always move to a 2nd match with the focused match moved to a corner windowed view during timeouts.

Just throwing this out there, because if you lose the drama ultimately playing and non-playing fans will get bored with watching pool clinics.
I get what you are saying, but a shot clock is needed, otherwise it can really drag. Also, determining slow play without a shot clock is somewhat arbitrary- at least the shot clock means everybody has to play under the same rules
 
Big names going down. SVB and Wu are out. On the other hand, the last four at the UK Open (Kaci, Filler, Ko Pin Yi and Woodward) are all in good form again at the Spanish Open and are in with a chance to reach the final day once again.

Love the fact that Gorst seems under the radar. All that time away from competition at the game's highest level makes him hard to handicap, but we know what an in- form Fedor can accomplish.
 
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