UK Open 2025 Telford, UK, May 6-11

Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
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Players... No SVB but Barry Hearn is entered. Also, we have both Nile and Neil Wilson -- one of them is an Olympic gymnast.
  1. Ramazan Akdag -- Turkey
  2. Bader Alawadhi -- Kuwait
  3. David Alcaide -- Spain
  4. Abdullah Alenzi -- Kuwait
  5. Khalid Alghamdi -- Saudi Arabia
  6. Mustafa Alnar -- Turkey
  7. Abdullah Alshammari -- Saudi Arabia
  8. Abdullah Alyousef -- Kuwait
  9. Alvin Anggito -- Indonesia
  10. George Antonakis -- Greece
  11. James Aranas -- Philippines
  12. Marvin Asis -- Philippines
  13. Radoslaw Babica -- Poland
  14. Michael Baoanan -- Philippines
  15. Carlo Biado -- Philippines
  16. Marc Bijsterbosch -- Netherlands
  17. Carlo Blasi -- United Kingdom
  18. Tobias Bongers -- Germany
  19. Antonis Brabin -- Cyprus
  20. Benji Buckley -- United Kingdom
  21. Francesco Candela -- Italy
  22. Robbie Capito -- Hong Kong
  23. Chang Jung-Lin -- Chinese Taipei
  24. Chang Yu Lung -- Chinese Taipei
  25. Ioannis Charlaftis -- Greece
  26. Nathan Childress -- United States
  27. Johann Chua -- Philippines (rumored to have withdrawn)
  28. Sullivan Clark -- New Zealand
  29. Martin Daigle -- Canada
  30. Dang Thanh Kien -- Viet Nam
  31. Do The Kien -- Viet Nam
  32. Niklas Dohr -- Germany
  33. Duong Quoc Hoang -- Viet Nam
  34. Nikos Ekonomopoulos -- Greece
  35. Jj Faul -- South Africa
  36. Niels Feijen -- Netherlands
  37. Joshua Filler -- Germany
  38. Andy Finnigan -- United Kingdom
  39. Mieszko Fortunski -- Poland
  40. Lukas Fracasso-Verner -- United States
  41. Emil Gangfløt -- Norway
  42. Pierfrancesco Garzia -- Italy
  43. Georgi Georgiev -- Bulgaria
  44. Karl Gnadeberg -- Estonia
  45. Patric Gonzales -- Philippines
  46. Joao Grilo -- Portugal
  47. Daniel Guttenberger -- Austria
  48. Fitim Haradinaj -- Kosovo
  49. Mario He -- Austria
  50. Sam Henderson -- United States
  51. Lo Ho Sum -- Hong Kong
  52. Thorsten Hohmann -- Germany
  53. Landon Hollingsworth -- United States
  54. Hsieh Chia Chen -- Chinese Taipei
  55. Boris Ivanovski -- Germany
  56. Andri Januarta -- Indonesia
  57. Konrad Juszczyszyn -- Poland
  58. Eklent Kaci -- Albania
  59. Kledio Kaci -- Albania
  60. Antonios Kakaris -- Greece
  61. Alexander Kazakis -- Greece
  62. Alim Khan -- Bangladesh
  63. Danny King -- United Kingdom
  64. Jonas Kornmesser -- Austria
  65. Kostas Koukiadakis -- Greece
  66. Edward Koyongian -- Indonesia
  67. Mickey Krause -- Denmark
  68. Kuo Po Cheng -- Chinese Taipei
  69. Szymon Kural -- Poland
  70. Pijus Labutis -- Lithuania
  71. Sergio Lagunas -- Moreno Spain
  72. Hai Long Le -- Viet Nam
  73. Max Lechner -- Austria
  74. Lin Ta Li -- Chinese Taipei
  75. Raymond Linares -- United States
  76. Liu Ri Teng -- Chinese Taipei
  77. Hunter Lombardo -- United States
  78. Hubert Lopotko -- Poland
  79. Dimitris Loukatos -- Greece
  80. Lu Hui Chan -- Chinese Taipei
  81. Luong Duc Thien -- Viet Nam
  82. Daniel Maciol -- Poland
  83. Imran Majid -- United Kingdom
  84. Petri Makkonen -- Finland
  85. Nikolaos Malai -- Albania
  86. AJManas -- Philippines
  87. Damian Massey -- United Kingdom
  88. John Morra -- Canada
  89. Moritz Neuhausen -- Germany
  90. Nguyen Anh Tuan -- Viet Nam
  91. Nguyen Baylatry -- France
  92. Naoyuki Oi -- Japan
  93. Christos Papageorgiou -- Greece
  94. Aleksa Pecelj -- Serbia
  95. Sanjin Pehlivanovic -- Bosnia and Herzegovina
  96. Phuong Nam Pham -- Viet Nam
  97. Quinten Pongers -- Netherlands
  98. Yannick Pongers -- Netherlands
  99. Marcel Price -- United Kingdom
  100. Anton Raga -- Philippines
  101. Bernie Regalario -- Philippines
  102. Matthew Rigley -- United Kingdom
  103. Jefrey Roda -- Philippines
  104. Riku Romppanen -- Finland
  105. Can Salim -- Germany
  106. Elliott Sanderson -- United Kingdom
  107. Michael Schneider -- Switzerland
  108. Arseni Sevastyanov -- Finland
  109. Jayson Shaw -- United Kingdom
  110. Dean Shields -- United Kingdom
  111. Jani Siekkinen -- Finland
  112. Miguel Silva -- Portugal
  113. Mateusz Sniegocki -- Poland
  114. Paul Song -- United States
  115. Jeremy Sossei -- United States
  116. Jonás Souto Comino -- Spain
  117. Besar Spahiu -- Albania
  118. Spasian Spasov -- Bulgaria
  119. Adam Stankiewicz -- Poland
  120. Tom Staveley -- United Kingdom
  121. Tyler Styer -- United States
  122. Cristian Surdea -- Romania
  123. Wojciech Szewczyk -- Poland
  124. Nicholas Tan -- Singapore
  125. Tang Ching Ting -- Chinese Taipei
  126. Ahmad Taufiq -- Brunei Darussalam
  127. Marco Teutscher -- Netherlands
  128. Billy Thorpe -- United States
  129. Toh Lian Han -- Singapore
  130. Tommy Tokoph -- United States
  131. Jani Uski -- Finland
  132. Mika Van Berkel -- Netherlands
  133. Jan Van Lierop -- Netherlands
  134. Gabriel Vasilache -- Romania
  135. Harry Vergara -- Philippines
  136. Holger Vier -- Germany
  137. Jere Virtaranta -- Finland
  138. Wang Hung Hsiang -- Chinese Taipei
  139. Phillip Wildman -- United Kingdom
  140. Shane Wolford -- United States
  141. Skyler Woodward -- United States
  142. Wu Kun Lin -- Chinese Taipei
  143. Aloysius Yapp -- Singapore
  144. Masato Yoshioka -- Japan
  145. Wiktor Zielinski -- Poland
  146. Roberto Bartol -- Croatia
  147. Nick Chatoupis -- Greece
  148. Juan Carlos Expósito -- Spain
  149. Robert Hart -- United States
  150. Roman Hybler -- Czech Republic
  151. Adam Smith -- United Kingdom
  152. Petr Urban -- Czech Republic
  153. Hamza Al Awaidi -- Oman
  154. Meshaal Alali -- Qatar
  155. Ahmed Aldulaimi -- Kuwait
  156. Abdulla Alfadalah -- Bahrain
  157. Simon Ayers -- United Kingdom
  158. Mohammed Baabad -- Saudi Arabia
  159. Jaspal Bamotra -- India
  160. Benjamin Belhassen -- France
  161. Andrew Betts -- United Kingdom
  162. David Black -- United Kingdom
  163. Steve Boyle -- United Kingdom
  164. Craig Brown -- United Kingdom
  165. Tony Burton -- United Kingdom
  166. Stephen Capaldi -- United Kingdom
  167. Mark Capito -- Philippines
  168. Ariel Casto -- Argentina
  169. Lauro Catapang -- Philippines
  170. Terry Challenger -- United Kingdom
  171. Chang Yi -- Chinese Taipei
  172. Emilio Alejandro Chiodin -- Argentina
  173. Thanasis Chronis -- Greece
  174. Adam Clarke -- United Kingdom
  175. Martinho Correia -- United Kingdom
  176. Lyndsey Davies -- United Kingdom
  177. Jack Dean -- United Kingdom
  178. Steven Della Pietra -- United Kingdom
  179. Dell Ding -- China
  180. Ruben Docampo -- Argentina
  181. Dorin Iusan -- Romania
  182. Omar Fidalgo -- Spain
  183. Aidan Finch -- United Kingdom
  184. Simon Flaxman -- United Kingdom
  185. Martin Forman -- Czech Republic
  186. Mark Foster -- United Kingdom
  187. Richard Fulwell -- United Kingdom
  188. Salvador Garcia -- Spain
  189. Pablo García Lagar -- Spain
  190. Saman Gholami -- United Kingdom
  191. Anthony Ginn -- United Kingdom
  192. James Githuku Mugacha -- Kenya
  193. Flavian Glont -- Romania
  194. Ramesh Gokhul -- Guyana
  195. Andy Goldstein -- United Kingdom
  196. Felipe Gonzalez -- Spain
  197. Rolando Gonzalez -- Spain
  198. Duy Hai Dinh -- Germany
  199. Graeme Hamilton -- United Kingdom
  200. Barry Hearn OBE -- United Kingdom
  201. Barry Hetherington -- Canada
  202. Michael Hope -- United Kingdom
  203. David Hopkin -- United Kingdom
  204. Hermann Hoyh -- Germany
  205. Frank Hughes -- United Kingdom
  206. Matthew Hyden -- United Kingdom
  207. Kostiantyn Ivanov -- Ukraine
  208. James Jack -- United Kingdom
  209. Tomasz Jedlecki -- Poland
  210. Dan Jenkins -- United Kingdom
  211. Nils Johanning -- Germany
  212. Kisavi John Chalo -- Kenya
  213. Abdulrahman Khalid Alghanam -- Saudi Arabia
  214. Benson Kimari Mugacha -- Kenya
  215. Kevin Lannoye -- Belgium
  216. Oliver Lawrence -- United Kingdom
  217. Hector Iván Luna Iglesias -- Spain
  218. Rafael Martinez -- Mexico
  219. Jack McDermott -- United Kingdom
  220. Cristian Medina -- Argentina
  221. Rick Miller -- United States
  222. Jamie Mocock -- United Kingdom
  223. Liam Monk -- United Kingdom
  224. Kristián Mrva -- Slovakia
  225. Patrick Mungiuri -- Romania
  226. Ashik Nathwani -- India
  227. Gj Oyangoren -- United Kingdom
  228. John Parke -- United Kingdom
  229. Fraser Patrick -- United Kingdom
  230. Andrew Phan -- United Kingdom
  231. Adrian Pollard -- United Kingdom
  232. Dawud Qadir -- United Kingdom
  233. Salem Rashid Alkhaldi -- Saudi Arabia
  234. Sebastian Fidel Rodriguez -- Argentina
  235. Fernando Romero Martinez -- Spain
  236. Eero Romppanen -- Finland
  237. Matei Rosca -- Romania
  238. Teruhiko Sakamoto -- Japan
  239. Osman Şanlısoy -- United Kingdom
  240. Julian Serradilla -- Switzerland
  241. Hasan Shahid -- Pakistan
  242. Dimitris Siampanis -- Greece
  243. Nigel Smith -- United Kingdom
  244. Anthony Stevens -- United Kingdom
  245. Sam Storey -- United Kingdom
  246. Dan Suh -- United Kingdom
  247. Paul Taylor -- United Kingdom
  248. Dmitrijus Teriajevas -- Lithuania
  249. Thomas Theurer -- Germany
  250. Garry Whelan -- Ireland
  251. Paul Williams -- United Kingdom
  252. Neil Wilson -- United Kingdom
  253. Nile Wilson -- United Kingdom
  254. Tashunka Witko -- Spain
  255. Nikos Xenopanagos -- Greece
  256. Michael Yednak -- United States
 
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And the entries by country. Note the much lower representation of the Balkan counties compared to the European Open.
Five players from Argentina? A total of 55 countries.

61 United Kingdom
16 United States
13 Philippines
12 Greece
12 Germany
12 Spain
11 Poland
11 Chinese Taipei
7 Viet Nam
7 Netherlands
7 Finland
6 Romania
5 Saudi Arabia
5 Argentina
4 Kuwait
4 Austria
4 Albania
3 Singapore
3 Kenya
3 Japan
3 Indonesia
3 Czech Republic
3 Canada
2 Turkey
2 Switzerland
2 Portugal
2 Lithuania
2 Italy
2 India
2 Hong Kong
2 France
2 Bulgaria
1 Ukraine
1 South Africa
1 Slovakia
1 Serbia
1 Qatar
1 Pakistan
1 Oman
1 Norway
1 New Zealand
1 Mexico
1 Kosovo
1 Ireland
1 Guyana
1 Estonia
1 Denmark
1 Cyprus
1 Croatia
1 China
1 Brunei Darussalam
1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
1 Belgium
1 Bangladesh
1 Bahrain
 
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Albin Ouschan is a noticeable absentee, and where are the Ko brothers? It seems as if Souquet hasn't missed a 9ball major in 25 years, but he's not in this field.

For a Matchroom major, this is a pretty soft field. If the Chua absence noted in post #4 is accurate, just three of the top ten players in the world based on Fargo are present in Filler, Biado and JL Chang. Filler will have at least a 24-point Fargo advantage over every other player in the field, but it's hard to imagine anyone, Josh included, winning consecutive big field Matchroom majors. I do not think it has ever been done (I cannot remember whether World 9ball and US Open 9ball in 2024 were consecutive, but if they were, Fedor has done it).

To me, the stage is set for a Cinderella story and youthful Mosconi hopefuls such as Neuhausen, Labutis, Krause, and Souto will have a chance to make a statement early in the Matchroom season.

The UK Open should make for some great viewing and I'm looking forward to watching on WNT.TV.

Good luck to all of these fine players. Nobody puts on a show like Matchroom!
 
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sjm said:
I'll resist the temptation to pick Filler and go with Daniel Maciol to win his first Matchroom major.
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Very easy to want to pick Josh, even with the bad press he picked up over the last year. Hard to imagine being in your 20’s being a professional pool player and getting caught up in politics and getting on the bad side of the press. I still really like Josh and love watching him play. Truly wish him the best, but glad you resisted and picked a “dark horse” for the fun of it !
 
Smutzc said:
Let’s pick a winner, bragging rights at stake. I’m picking Pijus Labutis ! I think he has the game and it’s his time
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Whenever I see his name I can’t get earl’s voice out of my head from when he commentated old matches for the Billiard Network during the pandemic “Pijus to break!”

 
AJ Manas wins!

edit/
if there are visa troubles
i’ll go with Wiktor Zielinsk
(or Hunter Lombardo)
 
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One of my closest child hood friends got invited to play in the open. He’s played in quite a few events including last years uk open. The invited him of course because they need to fill the field and d they know he can afford to and is willing to cross the pond to get beat by Jason Shaw in the first round 😂 I think last year he went 2-2 . Still I would love to be able to do things like this. He plays pool and then enjoys an amazing trip at the same time. him and his wife loved it last year in London.
 

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jtompilot said:
Nice large field but seems low on pay outs. You’d need to be top 16 to make any money with travel expenses.
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True, but 70% of the field is "deader than dead" money when it comes to reaching Stage 2, so the other 75 or so will share $200,000, so it is not as bad as it looks. Like you, I wish it were better for the players and agree that Top 32 breaks about even and only the Top 16 make a good profit.

Still, prize fund growth MUST track revenue growth if pool is to remain a sensible investment for event producers. As all of us old timers remember well, when the IPT let prize funds run far ahead of revenues in 2006, that tour crumbled under its own weight.

Matchroom has been disciplined about prize money growth. Last year, the prize fund went way up at the World 9ball. This year, the US Open will have a $500,000 prize fund with $100,000 to the winner. Matchroom also just created a new big-field major with big prize money called the Florida Open, to be played this summer in Orlando. Things are moving ahead nicely from this fan's vantage point.

Perhaps I'll live to see the day when all 64 who qualify for Stage 2 at the majors make a profit and perhaps I won't, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and the revitalization of pool, which is in full flight due to the fine efforts of both Matchroom and Predator, won't happen overnight.

To sum, payouts are not low. They are right where they should be, at a level reconcilable with the revenue that tournaments generate.
 
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AtLarge said:
Don't count out Mickey Krause. In the last two days he beat Zielinski (twice), FSR, E. Kaçi, and Yapp, with a combined score in those 5 matches of 50-21.
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Yes, Mickey's a hot player right now, but his win at the Scottish Open was not on the super-tight pockets he will face at the UK Open. A year ago, Duong shone at the Scottish Open, but came just 33rd at the UK Open a week later. Similarly, 2023 Scottish Open Champion Shaw came just 17th at the UK Open a week later.

We'll see if excellence at the Scottish Open brings excellence at the UK Open in 2025. Mickey is certainly one of many capable of a very deep run this week and I wish him well.
 
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