European Open runner-up Anton Raga’s US Open Pool Championship campaign has come to an abrupt ending following a disappointing defeat at the hands of the unseeded Manuel Montejo Fernandez.
Raga, who was also a WPA China Open runner-up shortly after his Fulda run, had already been banished onto the one-loss side following a second round defeat against former semi-finalist Chang Yu-Lung.
The Filipino cueist restored parity from 7-3 behind against Chang in that match and received his chances during the business end, although a missed bank shot on the seven ball as well as a dry break at hill-hill proved costly.
Raga needed to battle his way through the one-loss side during his remarkable European Open campaign last month, but there was no fortune for the Filipino this time around as Spain’s Fernandez pulled off the biggest win of his career.
The 43-year-old from Mallorca had world number one and defending champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz in his corner and became the latest Spanish player to make strides on the World Nineball Tour.
Elsewhere, British World Cup of Pool star Elliott Sanderson was also dumped out of the tournament following losses against Marco Teutscher and Jani Siekkinen.
Abdullah Al-Enzi transformed his Michigan Open 10-ball form into the US Open as the Kuwaiti dampened Shane Wolford’s hopes of a Mosconi Cup debut, while Jeremy Seaman was amongst the other American names to depart.
There was also further drama on the outside tables as Hunter Lombardo accused Scott Frost of touching the six ball with his shirt in the penultimate rack of their close affair.
Referee Desislava Bozhilova explained to Scott that his opponent acts as the referee whilst he’s at the table as members of the audience surrounding the table became involved.
