Joshua Filler won eight consecutive racks to beat Fedor Gorst and become the Las Vegas Open champion, on the same night that saw Wei Tzu-Chien seal the women’s title with an impressive win over Chezka Centeno.
Filler sealed his second successive accolade in Predator Pro Billiard Series tournaments following on from his Jax Open title in December, while Wei added a Vegas victory to her Saigon Open triumph in September.
It was Gorst who claimed the opening stanza of the final in a deciding rack following two relatively uncharacteristic misses from Filler, although that unleashed a relentless two final sets from the eventual champion.
Filler won eight consecutive racks, compiling two break and runs and capitalising on a couple of errors to win set two, before pocketing after safety attempts from Gorst on three occasions to seal the $45,000 prize.
Filler won five of his eight matches in the tournament in straight sets, including a 4-2, 4-3 win over Carlo Biado in the last 16 and a 4-2, 4-1 victory over Max Lechner in the semi-finals, while he also beat Shane van Boening 2-1 in sets in the quarter-finals.
Gorst had come through six matches on his way to the final in straight sets, beating the likes of Wiktor Zielinski, Daniel Maciol and Wojciech Szewczyk, with Naoyuki Oi proving his sternest test in the last 16.
Defending champion and WPA number two Denis Grabe was beaten 1-4, 4-0, 2-4 in the first round of single elimination by Japan’s Oi, the two-time World 10-Ball Championship runner-up.
Meanwhile, Wei defeated Centeno 4-3, 4-3 in a closely-contested women’s final to seal the $27,000 cheque, receiving ball-in-hand after a failed safety escape from her opponent on five occasions, with a few too many ambitious shots proving unsuccessful for the Filipina cueist.
The women’s world number two’s safety play also proved pivotal in deciding set victories over Kristina Tkach and Chou Chieh-Yu in the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively, during a campaign which also included wins over Meng-Hsia Hung, Savannah Easton, Kennedy Meyman and snooker star Ng On-Yee.
Centeno comfortably defeated Bulgaria’s Kristina Zlateva 4-2, 4-1 at the penultimate hurdle, having battled through a tense shootout against women’s world number one Jasmin Ouschan in the quarter-finals.
Defending champion Rubilen Amit was unable to qualify for the last 16 after defeats to Hung and Chen Chia-Hua, while Seo Seoa experienced similar fate following losses against Margarita Fefilova and Argentina’s Soledad Ayala.
Next up in terms of open events on the Pro Billiard Series schedule is the Women’s St Louis Open from April 3-8, which takes place in Missouri alongside the lucrative Men’s World 8-Ball Championship.
