Phoenix Open - August 18-22

sjm said:
Up to 7-7, Filler vs Neuhausen was one of the better WNT matches I've ever seen. Filler's defense was on and he played several good two-way shots but Moritz jumped in four balls and hit numerous good kicks.

Filler was the better man down the stretch, but I was super-impressed with the play of Neuhausen in this one, who made Josh summon his "A" game to win. Moritz has really become a well-rounded, full featured player and I suspect he's got several titles ahead of him.

Let's hope we get another match as exciting as this one before the session is over.
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I watched a different match. IMO poor playing overall by both players at the end. Watch game 7-7 again. One mistake after another!
 
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jay helfert said:
I watched a different match. IMO poor playing overall by both players at the end. Watch game 7-7 again. One mistake after another!
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Agreed, Jay. After 14 racks, the match fizzled.

A match that had been electrifying for 14 racks, and the commentators had said as much, got ugly in the latter stages, but in truth, Neuhausen's play was almost superhuman up to that point (TPA over .950 for sure) and it took a Filler to fade a performance like that one.

We've all been marveling at Neuhausen's development over the past 1 1/2 seasons, and I feel strongly that he offered even more reason to get excited about what he might achieve down the road. Especially in the areas of kicking and jumping, what we saw for fourteen racks was breathtaking. I always enjoy seeing the elite pushed to their limit and, given the game Filler was required to summon to find the finish line, I wasn't surprised in the least when he demolished Jeff Roda in the next match, taking a 7-0 lead on the way to a 10-4 win.

We often talk on the forum about how WNT rules disproportionately favor those who have the needed skills to beat opponents to the shot. It seems that Neuhausen, who has already won a WNT major this year at the European Open, has joined the ranks of the elite in the moves game (chiefly defense, kicking, jumping, and the use of two-way shots) and the possibilities, to me, are exciting because of it. If AJ Manas, whose runout skills are already top twenty in the world and who has finally begun to develop significantly in these complementary skills, can develop similarly, most of us feel he can join the ranks of the super-elite. Wish him well.

As you suggest, as the level of play found in this match wasn't sustained after rack 14, it cannot be counted as a classic, but it was for most of the way. For me personally, matches like this one are the reason I get excited about pool. It's not often that the loser of a match is the story, but this was one of those rare cases where what I saw from Neuhausen was the most memorable takeaway from the match.

These two German friends, who were each Mosconi Cup MVP within the last three years, are likely to give Team USA fits at the 2026 Mosconi a few months from now. We shall see.
 
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Tyler Styer's impressive summer continues. He was 9th at Vice City, 5th at the Florida Open, 17th at the Arizona Open, and will have a Top 5 finish today. That's the kind of consistency we have so rarely seen from an American player in recent years, and it is something to get excited about. Wish him well today.
 
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