Albin Ouschan narrowly scraped through the opening phase of Premier League Pool in West Haven, Connecticut, while six players were eliminated following Friday’s action at US1 Billiards.
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Ouschan was one of the names situated on the bubble heading into the final session, with the Austrian needing to beat Dang Jinhu and hope that Nguyen Anh Tuan did not manage to win his two remaining matches.
The two-time world champion brushed aside Dang relatively comfortably, although Vietnam’s Nguyen pulled off an impressive victory over Mario He to keep his hopes of qualifying firmly intact.
Nguyen would encounter the winless David Alcaide to secure his place in the top ten, but the European Open champion ended Vietnamese hopes with a 5-3 victory and gifted Ouschan a lifeline.
Alcaide had lost 14 straight matches during a mystifying campaign, although the Spaniard proved his professionalism on the final day and was rewarded with a glimpse of light at the end of a strenuous tunnel.
Meanwhile, Shane van Boening has stole the show in the Premier League, only enduring two defeats, which came at the hands of Fedor Gorst and Ko Pin-Yi, and therefore sits comfortably at the top of the table with a two-point cushion.
Van Boening accumulated 13 points during the entirety of his Premier League campaign last year and has already matched that, with the American in pole position to qualify for Monday’s final day.
Brothers Ko Pin-Yi and Ko Ping-Chung both stand in a promising position on their Premier League debuts, while Fedor Gorst, Wiktor Zielinski and Mario He have matched their achievements in reaching the second phase in their maiden appearances.
Despite winning all three of his matches on Friday, home favourite Jayson Shaw was amongst the sextet to be eliminated, being joined by Nguyen, Michael Feliciano, Bernie Regalario, Dang Jinhu and David Alcaide in exiting the tournament.
The remaining ten players will face one another once more across Saturday and Sunday in an attempt to reach Monday’s final six, before the top four in the league standings contest the play-offs to decide the champion.
