Aloysius Yapp defeated Moritz Neuhausen 13-6 in a one-sided final to become the first-ever player to successfully defend their International Open title at the Renaissance Resort in St Augustine, Florida.
Singapore’s Yapp created history as he landed his third World Nineball Tour ranking accolade, scooping the lucrative $40,000 top prize in the process and gaining immediate headway in the race towards next year’s Reyes Cup in the Philippines.
The world number 12 beat the likes of Corey Deuel and Wiktor Zielinski as well as Sanjin Pehlivanovic in a hill-hill thriller on his way to the last 16, where he staved off Albanian teenager Kledio Kaci and Bulgaria’s Georgi Georgiev to reach the semi-finals.
Yapp would encounter the legendary Niels Feijen in the last four, who had provided further indication that he remains a force to be reckoned with as he stunned both Fedor Gorst and Joshua Filler, but the Singaporean won four straight racks from 7-6 down to reach the final.
In contrasting fashion to Yapp, Neuhausen was beaten on his way to the last 16 at the hands of Joshua Filler, although the young German made amends with a 10-8 win over Billy Thorpe, who had beaten Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura in the previous round.
Former Connecticut Open champion Neuhausen would then battle through a hill-hill affair against Alex Kazakis to reach the quarter-finals, before convincing victories over both Carlo Biado and Pijus Labutis saw his safe passage into the final.
It was a title decider between the champion and the challenger, and Neuhausen would hold his own during the early exchanges, winning three of the initial five racks. However, a crucial juncture in the contest would then see Yapp reel off five racks in succession and obtain an unassailable advantage.
Germany’s Neuhausen would reduce the arrears to 9-6 as he sought the richest payday of his young career, although his hopes were imminently dashed as Yapp won four straight racks to successfully retain his crown.
The World Nineball Tour remains in Florida for next week’s Mosconi Cup in Orlando, while the next ranking events will be the inaugural Marboys Cup in Manila from December 10-14 and the Buffalo Pro Classic from December 10-15 in Louisiana.
