madmartigan
Active member
I saw Moritz play a couple tournaments in the northeast 3-4 years ago; I knew then he was a future world beater. This kid will be a top 5 Fargo eventually.
EUROPEAN OPEN 2026, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 10-15
- Thread starter jbart65
- Start date
Some aggregate stats for the matches played on the feature table for the last 4 days are now available here: https://forums.azbilliards.com/thre...n-pool-championship-9-ball-march-2026.585524/
I used to have a "world clock" site bookmarked, but now a simple search on "current time in Sarajevo" works. Future times are still a problem. And there's Arizona.
Moritz showed some serious nerves the last couple of racks, but got through on fundamentals. He seemed to be waiting for the beeps to trigger his shot on nearly every shot at the end. The missed 5 ball in the last rack on the beeps was purely from pressure.
I’ll have to go back and look. But I don’t think Neuhausen did that most of the match. I remember Jeremy Jones at one point talking about how he had picked up his pace.
As you know. Bob, when the pressure is on, that is the whole point of training and fundamentals! (-:
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If someone asked me, is Joshua Filler a tidy player, I would say yes. But I never think about him that way. For some time now, I have referred to Neuhausen as a neat and tidy player. Perhaps the most neat and tidy on the circuit. Quite a distinct game he has.
Moritz has now won the PLP, Peri Open and European Open in the last year. He was also the runner up in 2025 Hanoi Open. You could argue he is one of the top five players in the world now. Joining Filler, Yapp, Gorst and a number of others you could also slot in the final spot in the group.
Moritz has now won the PLP, Peri Open and European Open in the last year. He was also the runner up in 2025 Hanoi Open. You could argue he is one of the top five players in the world now. Joining Filler, Yapp, Gorst and a number of others you could also slot in the final spot in the group.
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Well said. Perhaps the tidiest player I have ever watched was prime Ralf Souquet. Ralf was methodical, rarely lost an offensive pattern or missed a defensive angle, and he kept his errors to a minimum. Ralf, who almost never beat himself, had the better break of the two, but the play of Moritz at the European Open started to remind me of him.
Perhaps this will be the year when Moritz joins the ranks of the super-elite, the ones who win against the toughest fields of the year and, especially, the ones who win world championships by beating the superstars of the game in the biggest spots. We'll see. So far this year, his play was nothing special at Turning Stone, it was substandard at the PLP and he didn't play well at the World Teams Championship. Perhaps the European Open will be his launching point.
We'll see what's next for Moritz. Perhaps he is capable of walking in the giant steps of German legends Ortmann, Souquet, Hohmann and Filler. Wishing him the best.
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T
Thanks for the clarification. I looked it up on Google, and Dr. Google was wrong. Guess the link I clicked did not move to EDT from EST
Thanks. I looked it up on Google, and the site I went to must have not converted to EDT from EST. Not sure why it said 1:30 unless, of course, it's a Google typo on my end.
I actually did this on Google, and the time I got was 1:30, not 2:30. I asked for Sarajevo time at 1730 converted Eastern USA time. It said 2:30.
Now that my time corrections have been made, congratulations to Moritz Neuhausen. At 22 years old, he is a rising star. Like Joshua Filler, he puts in the time to practice and has good fundaments. Something about those Germans that exudes greatness. It's nice to see.
I reviewed the final last night to check on something. When Neuhausen was down 7-2 to He, he finally won a game after a safety error by Mario. The score was then 7-3.
Neuhausen would then win 10 games in a row (11 straight overall), and a huge reason was his break.
Moritz actually broke dry in the 4th and 5th games that he won. Mario did not get a clean look at the 1 ball in first of those two dry Neuhausen breaks.
In the second of the two dry breaks, Mario had a partial look at the 1 ball. He tried to swerve the CB into the 1 to pocket the ball in the top right corner pocket. Mario narrowly missed and left the 1 open for Moritz, who ran out. It turned out to be Mario's last chance to stem the tide.
After that, Neuhausen had an incredible string of breaks. He pocketed the 1 ball eight games in a row, and in every one of them, he had a clean look at the 2 ball.
Most of those games turned into break and runs, but when they didn’t, Moritz was able to control the table by playing excellent safeties on the 2 ball.
He did not have to push out a single time.
This was not a fluke. I have seen Neuhausen do this before. His break has been a big part of his recent success.
Moritz doesn’t have one of he biggest breaks on the tour, but he does have one of the most successful ones. Look no further than that to figure out why he, and not Filler, was the German who won the European Open.
Neuhausen would then win 10 games in a row (11 straight overall), and a huge reason was his break.
Moritz actually broke dry in the 4th and 5th games that he won. Mario did not get a clean look at the 1 ball in first of those two dry Neuhausen breaks.
In the second of the two dry breaks, Mario had a partial look at the 1 ball. He tried to swerve the CB into the 1 to pocket the ball in the top right corner pocket. Mario narrowly missed and left the 1 open for Moritz, who ran out. It turned out to be Mario's last chance to stem the tide.
After that, Neuhausen had an incredible string of breaks. He pocketed the 1 ball eight games in a row, and in every one of them, he had a clean look at the 2 ball.
Most of those games turned into break and runs, but when they didn’t, Moritz was able to control the table by playing excellent safeties on the 2 ball.
He did not have to push out a single time.
This was not a fluke. I have seen Neuhausen do this before. His break has been a big part of his recent success.
Moritz doesn’t have one of he biggest breaks on the tour, but he does have one of the most successful ones. Look no further than that to figure out why he, and not Filler, was the German who won the European Open.
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Excellent post. Well said! Nobody will forget Neuhausen's Sunday at the 2026 European Open anytime soon.
I watched a handful of games and noticed Filler rolling his cue ball on some straight-ish shots. Maybe nothing more than taking extra caution in pocketing the ball, but have to wonder if he's not as confident in his stroke.
Much was made by Jeremy Jones about Moritz struggling because of an equipment change. Clearly it's what Neuhausen told him. It's impossible for fans to know how much it really affected him, though.
Moritz switched his cue sponsor from Cuetec to Triple Sixty in mid-January. Triple Sixty produces the Whyte Carbon shafts. It's also the sponsor of Fedor Gorst.
The way Jones told it, Moritz wasn't happy with the shaft he was using. Triple Sixty sent him some new ones right before the European Open, and Mortiz claims it made a big difference. We'll see if his consistency improves going forward.
I bet a lot of player slumps are due to issues with sponsor-driven equipment changes. You see it in pro golf all the time.
Thanks for this. It's certainly possible that equipment issues were holding him back. I didn't see that much of the PLP, but I attended both Turning Stone and the World Teams Championship and saw his play up close. I only reacted to what I witnessed firsthand. I think you and I will both be pleased if the European Open proves the launching point for Neuhausen's rise to super-elite level. He's a quality guy who could represent our sport well.
I've gotten to know Moritz fairly well and can attest to the fact that he is not only dedicated to the development and refinement of his skill set but that he enjoys studying the play of the most elite. He is a very serious student of the game with an unswerving commitment to becoming a complete player. In short, he is exactly the kind of guy you WANT to see succeed.
Go, Moritz, go!
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I have a Whyte Carbon shaft, but it doesn’t work as well for me as it just did for Moritz. Clearly I need the new shaft they sent him!