Spain’s Jonas Souto Comino added to his growing haul of World Nineball Tour ranking titles at the Taom V10 Helsinki Open, denying Finland’s own Petri Makkonen success in his home country after a convincing 13-6 victory.
Souto Comino pocketed the $8,000 top prize, and it was the Spanish number three’s second ranking accolade in as many months following his dramatic deciding rack win over Skyler Woodward in last month’s Seattle Open final.
The Island Boy dropped a mere three racks on his way to the last 16, prior to beating Romania’s Cristian Surdea to book his place in the quarter-finals.
There, Souto Comino battled back from behind to overcome Albanian teenager Kledio Kaci in a 10-9 thriller, before narrowly edging past Dutchman Marc Bijsterbosch 11-10 in another come-from-behind victory in the semi-finals.
His emphatic 13-6 win in the title decider maintained his scintillating run of form, having now hoisted the trophy in two of his last five outings on the circuit.
Finland’s Makkonen, meanwhile, defeated the likes of Karl Gnadeberg, Mark Magi, Niels Feijen and Duong Quoc Hoang on his way to a second WNT ranking final but ultimately fell short of sealing success on home soil.
Elsewhere, British number two Elliott Sanderson achieved one of the biggest wins of his career, defeating former world number one Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 10-9 to reach the quarter-finals.
Former world snooker champion Stuart Bingham earned his biggest victory in the nineball arena, sealing a deciding rack win over Denis Grabe on his way to the last 16, where a spirited comeback was not enough to scupper David Alcaide.
Defending champion Naoyuki Oi survived the one-loss side following a defeat at the hands of Quinten Pongers but exited in the last 16 against Bijsterbosch, while last year’s semi-finalist Riku Romppanen was beaten in the last 32 by Kaci, having got the better of him earlier in the event.
The World Nineball Tour now returns to the United Kingdom for the Scottish Open from April 30-May 5 at McGoldrick’s in Glasgow, before the prestigious UK Open Championship takes place from May 6-11 in the Midlands.
