World Pool Masters preview: bottom half of the draw
Second of three previews for the World Pool Masters. The bottom of the draw includes Derby City Classic 9-Ball winner Francisco Sánchez Ruíz, Jayson Shaw and Niels Feijen.
Switching attention to the other four matchups in the preliminary stage, we find a pair of Matchroom event winners from earlier in the year and another pair of players who made unlikely runs in the World Pool Championship last month.
If you missed my first preview covering the top half of the draw, you can find it here. And stay tuned tomorrow for my breakdown of the top-eight seeded players for the event, who all received a bye into the Last 16.
Also missed mentioning this in my last preview, but Matchroom is going back to four-inch pockets for this tournament, per Karl Boyes’ Twitter. That should hopefully force some more mistakes and ensure the best player wins. There were far too many balls sliding in off the rails at the World Pool Championship, especially on the slick TV tables, so this is a welcome change.
Late additions
Before the matchup breakdowns, I have to address a change Matchroom announced on Monday. Omar Al-Shaheen, who was drawn against Dimitri Jungo, and Yu Lung Chang, who would have played Francisco Sánchez Ruíz, withdrew from the tournament because of travel issues.
Mario He replaces Al-Shaheen against Jungo. The Austrian has won the World Cup of Pool for Austria twice before but is making his first appearance at the World Pool Masters. His steady year includes top-four finishes at the Derby City Classic 9-Ball and Cajun Coast Classic 9-Ball events. He reached the round of 32 at the World Pool Championship, and just over a week ago, the Austrian was a semifinalist at the Super Billiards Expo Open NineBall Pro Players Championship.
The Iceman, Mika Immonen, is Chang’s replacement. I cover his matchup against FSR below.
Francisco Sánchez Ruíz vs. Mika Immonen
Winner plays (3) Albin Ouschan
I had FSR as a heavy favorite against Chang, and even against Immonen I’d give him a slight advantage. He won the Derby City Classic 9-Ball event to start the year and followed up with an eighth place finish at the Premier League Pool and fifth at the Lasko Open. He did slow down at the World Pool Championship, managing just a round of 64 appearance, but he’ll be looking to bounce back to start May and earn his first ever match win at the World Pool Masters in his third appearance.
Immonen is in the twilight of his career at age 49, though his list of accomplishments means he’s no stranger to the Masters’ stage. He’s a former world champion in 9-ball and 10-ball. In 2008 and 2009, he won back-to-back US Open 9-Ball titles. He’s also a former multiple-time Mosconi Cup MVP. With his litany of titles, he earned Billiards Digest’s Player of the Decade for the 2000s.
His form is nowhere near as good as it once was, but he’s been a handy player the last few years. In 2022, he’s already had numerous deep runs including third at the DCC Bigfoot Challenge, sixth in the DCC 9-Ball event and third at the Alfa Las Vegas Open. The year also featured a golden missed opportunity when he had Shane Van Boening, 10-3, in a race to 11 in the World Pool Championship round of 32 before losing eight frames on the trot to the American who’d go on to win the world title. A late addition to the World Pool Masters, Immonen remains a threat for any who take him lightly.
Mieszko Fortuński vs. Jayson Shaw
Winner plays (6) Aloysius Yapp
Fortuński hasn’t had a shabby year by any means. He was third at the Arizona Open and a quarterfinalist at the World 10-Ball Championship. He’s struggled a little more in 9-ball events, only managing a round of 64 appearance at both the Lasko Open and World Pool Championship. But unfortunately for him, he’s facing arguably the hottest player in pool at the moment.
Maybe only SVB, who finally broke his world championship curse in April, will be feeling better coming into the World Pool Masters. Shaw is putting together a stellar year, which started with breaking the straight pool world record. He was fourth at the DCC 9-Ball competition and second in the DCC Master of the Table standings. Then, Shaw reached the semifinals of the Premier League Pool and World 10-Ball Championship. And after his only blip this year, a round of 64 exit at the World Pool Championship, Shaw went to Philadelphia a week-and-a-half ago and won the Super Billiards Expo Open NineBall Pro Players Championship, a Matchroom ranking event.
If anything, Shaw will be wondering how he’s not one of the eight seeded players for the World Pool Masters.
Abdullah Alyousef vs. Niels Feijen
Winner plays (7) Naoyuki Oi
Alyousef was the Cinderella story of the World Pool Championship, reaching the semifinals before finally losing to Albin Ouschan. In that one run, Alyousef earned more – $17,500 – than he’d made playing pool his entire career to that point. He’s got a smooth stroke and generates a lot of power and spin, but he was missing the odd routine ball, and it’s hard to know whether it was the occasion and TV lights or just the lapses in concentration that separate the top pros from really, really good amateurs.
He faces a stiff test in Feijen, who seems to have found the fountain of youth this year. He finished ninth at the Lasko Open and then won gold in the European Championships 9-Ball Division, beating Joshua Filler on the way. Feijen also made a run to the round of 32 in the World Pool Championship.
The Dutch, long-time pro is as fundamentally sound as they come. He carries a massive experience advantage on Alyousef on this sort of Masters stage having won the tournament twice before. He’s also no stranger to playing on TV tables and amassed a record four Mosconi Cup MVPs in his trophy-filled career. Feijen is trying to become the oldest ever winner of the World Pool Masters at age 45. Ralf Souquet currently holds that record by winning it as a 42-year-old.
Lo Ho Sum vs. Denis Grabe
Winner plays (2) Shane Van Boening
Grabe will be the favorite, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t cheering on Sum in this one. He won my admiration with his play at the World Pool Championship. He was put in a tough spot, opening that tournament against the defending champion Albin Ouschan on the TV table, but he fought hard and showed his fundamentals are solid despite losing 9-3. Sum then bounced back, again put on the TV table, with a 9-5 upset of David Alcaide. His surprise run continued with an upset of Eklent Kaçi, before he finally lost to Darren Appleton in the round of 32.
The Estonian Grabe, meanwhile, struggled in 9-ball tournaments this year, bowing out in the round of 64 of the World Pool Championship and finishing 22nd in the DCC 9-Ball event. But he showed his class with a round of 16 appearance in the World 10-Ball Championship and also strung together good results early in the year with fifth places at the Arizona Open and Wisconsin Open, both 10-ball competitions. Grabe also reached the quarterfinals of last year’s World Pool Masters.