Marco Teutscher’s vehicle was rear-ended two days ago after a late-night practice session right before the US Open. He went to the hospital, but didn’t suffer any major injuries – just muscle pain and general soreness.
He didn’t let it stand in the way of one of the biggest wins of his career on the third day of the event. With a berth in the Last 64 on the line, he downed five-time US Open champion and No. 2 player in the world Shane van Boening, 9-5.
“I wouldn’t say it was the best match,” Teutscher told Matchroom Pool after the win. “I’m just happy with the win. We both didn’t play great, but that’s the way it is sometimes.”
Teutscher wasn’t the only successful Dutchman on moving day at Matchroom’s final blue ribbon event of the year. Niels Feijen, Marc Bijsterbosch and Jan van Lierop join him as the US Open switches to a single-elimination format from Thursday onward.
Despite the 256-player field, most of the favorites remain unscathed. Of the top-20 players in the world rankings who entered the event, only one, Konrad Juszczyszyn, didn’t reach the Last 64. The past two champions of the event, Francisco Sánchez Ruíz and Carlo Biado, cruised through the opening three days without losing a match.
REVITALIYZED
Young Ukrainian Vitaliy Patsura trailed Danny Hewitt, 7-0, in a race-to-nine, loser-goes-home matchup on Wednesday afternoon. He rallied and won the hill-hill thriller to book his place in the Last 64. He won another tight contest earlier in the day, scraping by Luong Duc Thien, 8-6.
Patsura has slowly climbed his way up the pool ranks in the last few years. His breakthrough came at the 49th Texas Open last year when he downed Alex Pagulayan in the final. He reached the finals at the Texas Open again this year, losing to Tyler Styler. That was part of a run of four-straight tournaments where he reached at least the semifinals. All of those results came in the last four months.
RECORD-HOLDERS STILL ALIVE
Van Boening and Earl Strickland jointly hold the record for most US Open titles with five each. Both are through to the Last 64. Van Boening bounced back from his loss to Teutscher with a 9-5 win against Pierfrancesco Garzia in a match SVB never really looked troubled in. He’s aiming to win this tournament for the first time since 2016.
It’s been a little longer for Strickland. ‘The Pearl’ won his fifth and last US Open in 2000. Now, at age 62, he’s contending for another. He almost pulled off a stunning comeback against Ralf Souquet on Tuesday but fell just short.
He needed to win three matches after that on the losers’ side of the double-elimination bracket and did just that. The final win came with some fireworks at the end against Toh Lian Han. A skid on a potential match-winning nine-ball for Strickland left Han an opportunity to come back with the American audibly grumbling in his seat. But a scratch on the ensuing break left Strickland ball-in-hand to run the table and ensure he’d be playing again on Thursday.
LION HUNTER
Losses to Sky Woodward and Daniel Guttenberger back-to-back on Wednesday crashed Alex Pagulayan out of this year’s US Open. The Canadian looked on his way to a hill-hill finish with Woodward before falling short on position for the five-ball. Though he was able to cut the ball in, the cue-ball kissed off the nine-ball and flew into the side pocket. With ball-in-hand, Woodward sealed the match.
Against Guttenberger, Pagulayan did get to the hill-hill rack. But the Austrian found a way to finish the upset against the 2005-winner of this event.
ON THE HILL
Six matches in the loser’s qualification round came down to a hill-hill finish on Wednesday. Another six contests finished 9-7. It speaks to the growing parity that’s come about since Matchroom launched its World Nineball Tour. For the most part, the favorites still came out on top, like John Morra and Ko Ping-Chung, but it was far from comfortable.
In the last two months, Matchroom saw three new ranking event winners – Teutscher, Moritz Neuhausen and Aleksa Pecelj. Another newcomer to the tour, Anton Raga, reached the final at the European Open and China Open. As the Last 64 at the US Open gets under way tomorrow, it’s an opportunity for more players to find a breakthrough on pool’s biggest stage.
