Phoenix Open - August 18-22

Lots of good stories out there on this Saturday at the Phoenix Open.

Yapp, whose WNT play has been pretty forgettable so far in 2026, appeared to find his "A" game against Januarta. If he shows similar form today, everybody could be in trouble.

Labutis, who won the 2025 Hanoi Open and performed admirably at the 2025 Mosconi Cup, has struggled a bit of late, appears to have found his form.

Pecelj, who wowed us in the Arizona with two "back from the dead" victories over Januarta and SVB, seems to have sustained his solid level of play.

Filler has a chance to become the first to win two WNT events this year.

YL Chang, hardly under the radar in Asia but not terribly well-known in America, is hard to overlook after a 10-1 drubbing of Arizona Open champion Grabe in the round of sixteen. He looks very dangerous.

Oliver Szolnocki, whose very straight shooting has given him some measure of success at Heyball, has always looked like someone ready to take the next step forward. He has been third in the World 9ball and he won the 2025 World Games. The pedigree seems to be there, so let's see if he can make some noise today.

Tyler Styer has been consistently solid of late. Though an unremarkable 17th at the UK Open, he demolished Neuhausen along the way, and it seems that it got his game jumpstarted. He has since been 9th at Vice City, 5th at the Florida Open, 17th at the Arizona Open and will have a Top 5 today. I reckon that he's a long shot today, but he has been sustaining a high level of play, so you never know. That said, to my recollection, no sub-800 Fargo player has beaten a field of this quality since Mickey Krause won the 2024 European Open.

Carlo Biado is an anomaly. His play in WNT ranking events since his WPC title a year ago has offered very little to get excited about, but we know what he can produce when he's going full-steam ahead, and maybe today is the day he finds his "A" game.

Saturday at the Phoenix Open should be a hoot! Good luck to the eight fine players that will vie for the title.
 
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sjm said:
Lots of good stories out there on this Saturday at the Phoenix Open.

Yapp, whose WNT play has been pretty forgettable so far in 2026, appeared to find his "A" game against Januarta. If he shows similar form today, everybody could be in trouble.

Labutis, who won the 2025 Hanoi Open and performed admirably at the 2025 Mosconi Cup, has struggled a bit of late, appears to have found his form.

Pecelj, who wowed us in the Arizona with two "back from the dead" victories over Januarta and SVB, seems to have sustained his solid level of play.

Filler has a chance to become the first to win two WNT events this year.

YL Chang, hardly under the radar in Asia but not terribly well-known in America, is hard to overlook after a 10-1 drubbing of Arizona Open champion Grabe in the round of sixteen. He looks very dangerous.

Oliver Szolnocki, whose very straight shooting has given him some measure of success at Heyball, has always looked like someone ready to take the next step forward. He has been third in the World 9ball and he won the 2025 World Games. The pedigree seems to be there, so let's see if he can make some noise today.

Tyler Styer has been consistently solid of late. Though an unremarkable 17th at the UK Open, he demolished Neuhausen along thew way, and it seems that it got his game jumpstarted. He has since been 9th at Vice City, 5th at the Florida Open, 17th at the Arizona Open and will have a Top 5 today. I reckon that he's a long shot today, but he has been sustaining a high level of play, so you never know.

Carlo Biado is an anomaly. His play in WNT ranking events since his WPC title a year ago has offered little to get excited about, but we know what he can produce when he's going full-steam ahead, s he's very dangerous in this spot.

Saturday at the Phoenix Open should be a hoot! Good luck to the eight fine players that will vie for the title.
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Nice wrap up Stu. I see four clear favorites but as you know anything can happen here.
 
jay helfert said:
Nice wrap up Stu. I see four clear favorites but as you know anything can happen here.
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I think Taiwanese player YL Chang may be the most interesting story out there. He always seemed to live in the shadow of Ko Pin Yi, Ko Ping Chung and JL Chang. As one who follows Asian pool more than most of us, can you (or any other forum member that follows Asian pool closely) tell us anything more about him?
 
sjm said:
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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maybe he's taking lessons from his wife :LOL:
 
skor said:
maybe he's taking lessons from his wife :LOL:
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LOL. Actually, it has been said that Tyler tends to play well when whenever Johan is watching, and Johan has followed the WNT play from Florida to Arizona and soon will follow them to Texas.
 
sjm said:
Januarta was impressive, but he got Yapp's "A" game and really had few chances down the stretch.

Nice to see Yapp back in stroke.
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Januarta thumped Yapp on Thursday, 9-2. I didn’t think Yapp would lose twice to the young man sharing a hotel room with him. Albert wasn’t quite as sharp in the rematch, but what a talent. His safety and tactical play are advanced for a 17-year-old. No doubt owing to Yapp being a mentor in part.
 
sjm said:
I think Taiwanese player YL Chang may be the most interesting story out there. He always seemed to live in the shadow of Ko Pin Yi, Ko Ping Chung and JL Chang. As one who follows Asian pool more than most of us, can you (or any other forum member that follows Asian pool closely) tell us anything more about him?
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I researched Chang last year after he got to the semifinals of the Florida Open. Who the hell is this guy, I thought.

Not much public info is available on him. He’s 45 now. Briefly was ranked the No. 1 player in the world about 10 years ago by the WPA. Won the World Cup of Pool with Ko Pin Yi around the same time, you probably recall.

He disappeared from the international scene when the pandemic broke out, and only stated hitting up events again in 2024-25.

I’ve seen him play 8-10 matches since then. Jumps out to me for his very aggressive play compared to most Taiwanese and Asian players. He’s like Chua in that regard, but sometimes he’s more reckless.

Always looks confident and expects to win. Uses every inch of the cue ball and is not afraid of extreme spin and other shots. He is good at the defensive side of the ball too.

He’s a momentum player, though, and is less adept at grinding out wins than the very best players. When his game is a touch off, he’s very beatable. While making a lot of deep runs the past few years, he has not seemed capable of going the distance.
 
jbart65 said:
I researched Chang last year after he got to the semifinals of the Florida Open. Who the hell is this guy, I thought.

Not much public info is available on him. He’s 45 now. Briefly was ranked the No. 1 player in the world about 10 years ago by the WPA. Won the World Cup of Pool with Ko Pin Yi around the same time, you probably recall.

He disappeared from the international scene when the pandemic broke out, and only stated hitting up events again in 2024-25.

I’ve seen him play 8-10 matches since then. Jumps out to me for his very aggressive play compared to most Taiwanese and Asian players. He’s like Chua in that regard, but sometimes he’s more reckless.

Always looks confident and expects to win. Uses every inch of the cue ball and is not afraid of extreme spin and other shots. He is good at the defensive side of the ball too.

He’s a momentum player, though, and is less adept at grinding out wins than the very best players. When his game is a touch off, he’s very beatable. While making a lot of deep runs the past few years, he has not seemed capable of going the distance.
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One thing Chang seems particularly good at is making very thin cuts and getting good position
 
jbart65 said:
I researched Chang last year after he got to the semifinals of the Florida Open. Who the hell is this guy, I thought.

Not much public info is available on him. He’s 45 now. Briefly was ranked the No. 1 player in the world about 10 years ago by the WPA. Won the World Cup of Pool with Ko Pin Yi around the same time, you probably recall.

He disappeared from the international scene when the pandemic broke out, and only stated hitting up events again in 2024-25.

I’ve seen him play 8-10 matches since then. Jumps out to me for his very aggressive play compared to most Taiwanese and Asian players. He’s like Chua in that regard, but sometimes he’s more reckless.

Always looks confident and expects to win. Uses every inch of the cue ball and is not afraid of extreme spin and other shots. He is good at the defensive side of the ball too.

He’s a momentum player, though, and is less adept at grinding out wins than the very best players. When his game is a touch off, he’s very beatable. While making a lot of deep runs the past few years, he has not seemed capable of going the distance.
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Thanks for that.

At the 2019 US Open 9ball, we got what I believe was the most memorable final of that event I've been present for when the still emerging Josh Filler met Wu Jiaqing, who is among the best that ever played the game. What few will remember is that Wu had to rally from behind against YL Chang in the semis in that event. The pandemic came about six months later, so I guess that's why YL Chang dropped off my radar. Glad he's back, for he is a player worth watching.
 
jbart65 said:
I researched Chang last year after he got to the semifinals of the Florida Open. Who the hell is this guy, I thought.

Not much public info is available on him. He’s 45 now. Briefly was ranked the No. 1 player in the world about 10 years ago by the WPA. Won the World Cup of Pool with Ko Pin Yi around the same time, you probably recall.

He disappeared from the international scene when the pandemic broke out, and only stated hitting up events again in 2024-25.

I’ve seen him play 8-10 matches since then. Jumps out to me for his very aggressive play compared to most Taiwanese and Asian players. He’s like Chua in that regard, but sometimes he’s more reckless.

Always looks confident and expects to win. Uses every inch of the cue ball and is not afraid of extreme spin and other shots. He is good at the defensive side of the ball too.

He’s a momentum player, though, and is less adept at grinding out wins than the very best players. When his game is a touch off, he’s very beatable. While making a lot of deep runs the past few years, he has not seemed capable of going the distance.
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he's facing the ultimate grinder now, but hopefully the shot clock will work in his favor. he's fun to watch. don't remember him ever winning a decent size int'l tournament. would be cool if he did at that age
 
insidesp.in said:

2026 Phoenix Open Results, Prize Money, Player Ratings & Statistics | Inside Spin

View 2026 Phoenix Open results, payouts, player ratings, match scores, field data, and professional pool tournament statistics.
www.insidesp.in www.insidesp.in
We posted some speculative payout amounts for the event, but we also added projections to all the matches recently.
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Love your website, the Head 2 Head analysis with the Rating Trends and the H2H Matches... For the Phoenix Open I kind of like Yu Lung Chang and Joshua Filler in the Final. Chang is playing 100+ Fargo pts over his Fargo and Filler 21 pts over his.
 
When is this supposed to start today? WNT live is only showing this:

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