Cruise control: Joshua Filler's World Pool Masters run was most dominant ever
Filler won 75% of the racks he played in his run to the World Pool Masters title this year, the highest percentage for any of the event's past winners.
Joshua Filler pursed his lips while staring up at the ceiling from his seated perch in one corner of the TV arena constructed for the World Pool Masters. He trailed Lo Ho Sum, 6-4, in the final and had just missed a carom shot to add to his woes. It was an unusual spot for Filler to be in given how his weekend had been going.
After receiving a bye into the round of 16 as the No. 8-seed, he cruised into the final dropping just four total racks across three matches. He beat Skyler Woodward, 7-1, then shutout Dennis Orcollo before downing Pin-Yi Ko, 7-3 in the semifinal.
Going back to 2002, the last round-by-round results I could find online, the four racks Filler lost this year were the least by any player en route to a World Pool Masters final. Alex Kazakis was closest in 2019 when he lost five racks, but he lost in the final to David Alcaide.
Filler finished the job last Sunday. Sum couldn’t capitalize at 6-4, missing the three-ball, and Filler once more showed his comeback prowess as he did multiple times at the World Pool Championship last month. He strung together the next five racks in a row to complete the most dominant run in World Pool Masters history.
The event began in 1993 as the European Pool Masters. In 1995, the competition expanded to inviting players from around the world and appropriately changed its name. For the first five years, it was played in sets with the final being a best of three sets. In 1998, it switched to a longer race, originally to 11 racks in the final, but that’s since been shortened, too.
Thanks to a website called Billiard Walker, round-by-round results back to 2002 are available online. In the two decades of play recorded on the website, Filler’s 10 total lost racks this year were the lowest ever for a tournament winner. His 75% winning percentage on racks he played was also an all-time high amongst World Pool Masters winners.
Filler became the third player in the history of the tournament to win 70% or more of racks played. Kazakis did so last year and Shane Van Boening performed the feat in 2015, which was the second of his back-to-back Masters titles. Filler also became the fourth player in the competition to drop fewer than 15 racks. Kazakis and SVB did so in the same years they won more than 70% of their racks played, and Niels Feijen accomplished the feat during both of his Masters title runs.
It wasn’t all easy for Filler in the last five racks of the final last Sunday to get the job done. Along the way, he had to knock in what was arguably the shot of the tournament. With the six-ball blocking the three-ball’s pocket, Filler pulled off the combo to knock in the six despite there being five diamonds (more than half the table) separating the two balls. He also played perfect position on the shot to go on to complete the run-out. As Karl Boyes on commentary said after the shot, it was “the shot of a champion.”
That is the most accurate word to describe Filler, especially after Sunday. At just 24-years-old, he’s collected trophies from every major tournament in the world – the World Nine-ball Championship, World Cup of Pool, Mosconi Cup, US Open and Derby City Classic. The Masters crown was the only remaining piece to round out a resume which already points to him as one of the greatest players to ever play the sport. And to do it in such a crushing manner further confirms his status as the best player in the world at the moment.