Twenty-one years ago, 150 of the world’s best pool players descended on Chesapeake, Virginia to compete for what had become one of the world’s biggest paydays in the sport at the time, the US Open. Jeremy Jones, then 32 years old, finished ahead of them all, beating Jose Parica in the finals.
This week, now 53 years old and best known around the pool community for being the captain of the American Mosconi Cup team, Jones found a little bit of his old magic on the table. In the US Open’s new venue at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where it’s been held since 2021, Jones went undefeated through the first three days to secure a spot in the last 64.
“I feel good,” Jones said to Matchroom on Wednesday. “I made a few little fumbles but that’s just part of it when you don’t play as much. But I was able to leave it behind, even when the match got close.”
He wasn’t the only one turning back the clock this week at the 2024 US Open. Alex Pagulayan, 46, downed world number 17 Albin Ouschan in the winner’s qualification round, 9-2, to book a place in the last 64. Joining him as undefeated qualifiers are 47-year-old Jonathan Pinegar, 45-year-old Chris Melling and 47-year-old Niels Feijen.
From the losers’ side qualification, 45-year-old BJ Ussery and 51-year-old Imran Majid also survived Wednesday at the 2024 US Open. The third day of the event concluded the double-elimination phase and finalized the final 64 who’ll contend for the second-to-last Matchroom signature individual event of the year.
Though most of the favorites survived ‘Judgement Day’ to reach the last 64, only three of the world’s top-10 ranked players did so unscathed.
Reigning US Open champion and world number four Ko Ping Chung cruised through the winners’ side, dropping just seven total racks over the first three days. World number seven David Alcaide edged over the winners’ side qualification round but remained unbeaten with a hill-hill win against Emil-Andre Gangflot. Finally, five-time US Open champ Shane Van Boening, fresh off a massive long-race match win against world number one Fedor Gorst, clinched a spot in the last 64 with wins versus Eric Roberts and Imran Majid.
Many of the other top-ranked players coming into the event needed to come through the one-loss side, including Gorst. The current world champion fell to good friend Vitaliy Patsura in the winners’ qualification round. He snuck past Payne McBride, 9-6, to ensure an appearance in the second half of the tournament.
2022 US-Open champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz lost on the hill to Jan Van Lierop in the winners’ side qualification but battled back to beat Georgi Georgiev on the losers’ side. World number five and world number six, Jayson Shaw and Joshua Filler respectively, also found a path to the last 64 through the losers’ side. Shaw downed Hunter Lombardo, 9-7, in the loser’s qualification, and Filler shutout ‘Giant Killer’ Jeremy Sossei.
Two others in the top-10, Aloysius Yapp and Wiktor Zielinski, suffered shock losses in the winners’ side but still made the cut. Zielinski lost his first match after a bye to Pinegar, then won three-straight on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yapp couldn’t get past Karl Gnadeberg in the winners’ qualification round but did enough to slide past Darren Appleton for a spot in the last 64.
Notably missing from the single-elimination portion of the event are Sanjin Pehlivanovic, Mieszko Fortunski and Tyler Styer. Pehlivanovic crashed out in the second losers’ side round, 8-3, to Michael Feliciano. Fortunski fell prey to Feliciano in the losers’ qualification round, 9-3. Denis Grabe knocked out Styer, who’s been a mainstay on the Mosconi Cup team in the past.
Two other former American Mosconi Cup players – Shane Wolford, Billy Thorpe – also couldn’t secure places in the last 64.
Last year’s semi-finalist, Aleksa Pecelj, looks poised for another deep run. He ran through the first three days unbeaten, though needing to win a hill-hill thriller against Ralj Souquet. Another young up-and-comer who made the final eight in last year’s edition, UK Open champion Robbie Capito, reserved a spot in the last 64 on Wednesday with a shutout of Nicholas De Leon in losers’ qualification.
Another young player to watch is Mickey Krause. The Dane edged past Ko Ping Han in the winners’ qualification to stay unbeaten into the single-elimination stage. He’s snapped off two World Nineball Tour events in the last two months – the Mezz Bucharest Open and the European Open, which is also a signature Matchroom event.
