Arseni Sevastyanov has admitted that his approach did not change despite facing the world number one after dumping Fedor Gorst out of the European Open Championship in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Sevastyanov had beaten Shane van Boening, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz and Jayson Shaw in open championships in the third quarter of last year, and added two-time world champion Gorst to his highly-regarded list of scalps.
Having beaten Elliott Sanderson earlier in the day, the Philippines Open runner-up quickly emerged into an unassailable 6-0 lead against Gorst, who was unable to claw back the deficit despite his best efforts.
“I feel happy with the win, but the job isn’t finished yet,” Finland’s Sevastyanov told WNT TV. “For me, Fedor is just another player in the draw – it’s just another match that I needed to win.
“I focused on playing my game and keeping a good rhythm at the table. I’m not surprised by the result. If I can beat one great player, I know I can beat anyone in this field. My goal is to win the title, and this week would be the perfect place to do it.”
Gorst was the most esteemed causality on a giant-killing day in the Bosnian capital, with Pijus Labutis, Jonas Souto and Albin Ouschan all being swept aside by Mark Foster, Ermal Dyli and Can Salim respectively in seismic shocks.
Duong Quoc Hoang produced a breathtaking performance to whitewash Salvador Garcia, compiling six break and runs in a clinic, before putting together another composed showing to beat Aleksa Pecelj and reach the last 16.
Duong, the recently-crowned Premier League champion, will lock horns with Sanchez Ruiz in a mouth-watering last 16 encounter, after FSR staved off Serbia’s Haris Trtovac 10-6 in a match that was locked at six apiece.
Defending champion Joshua Filler eased into the weekend’s action with routine victories over Ernesto Gjoni and Yannick Pongers, setting up a last 16 showdown with 19-year-old Mika van Berkel, who enters uncharted territory in a major event.
Seven major champions remain in the reckoning in Sarajevo, and two of them will collide in the last 16 in Robbie Capito and Moritz Neuhausen, with the latter having edged a hill-hill affair against Phuong Nam Pham.
