Moritz Neuhausen breezed past the in form and firing Ko Ping-Chung to win his third World Nineball Tour ranking title in Da Nang, Vietnam and earn himself the $40,000 champion’s cheque.
Neuhausen, who was crowned Premier League Pool champion in March, strengthened his hopes of Mosconi Cup and Reyes Cup debuts as the German youngster ended an eight-tournament spell of Asian dominance on the WNT circuit.
The 21-year-old mounted an unassailable 4-0 ascendancy and eventually beat Ko 13-4 in what was an evidently one-sided final, having beaten the Taiwanese star’s older brother Ko Pin-Yi in an 11-9 thriller in the semi-finals.
He received a stroke of fortune in that closely-contested semi-final, auspiciously fluking the six ball in what proved to be the final rack, having fought back from behind in a real gripping battle.
Having endured defeat in his opening match of the tournament at the hands of China’s Zeng Zhaodong, Neuhausen needed to come through ten straight matches to emerge victorious, beginning with resounding one-loss side wins over Li Zih-Min, Ryosuke Maruoka, Marvin Asis and Georgi Georgiev.
More strenuous victories over Filipinos Harry Vergara and Lee Van Corteza followed for Neuhausen, before he resumed his run of commanding victories with 9-2 and 10-2 wins over Mario He and Skyler Woodward, compiling six break and runs in the later.
In similar fashion, Ko was banished onto the one-loss side during the double elimination phase against Chinese opposition in Zhu Xihe, recovering well with wins over Anton Raga, Niels Feijen, Lu Hui-Chan, Billy Thorpe and Wu Kun-Lin.
Taiwan’s Wu had taken down Aloysius Yapp, Wiktor Zielinski and Eklent Kaci in successive rounds during an incredible run to the semi-finals, while Thorpe followed his hill-hill win over Jeffrey de Luna by beating Aleksa Pecelj 9-6 to make the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere, world number one Fedor Gorst was knocked out in the last 32 at the hands of Robbie Capito, battling back from 8-0 behind in spirited style before ultimately departing Da Nang following a 9-7 loss.
Defending champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz recovered from a second round defeat to Filipino teenager AJ Manas, notably knocking out world champion Carlo Biado, only to lose 9-7 to Kaci in the last 16.
The Peri Open, held at the stunning Peri Pool Arena in Da Nang, assembled one of the season’s strongest fields, with some players now heading to the Hanoi Open Championship and others travelling to Bali, Indonesia for the World 8-Ball Championship.
