After five days of thrilling action in the Sunshine State, the stage is set for the Final Four of the Florida Open Pool Championship, featuring Shane Van Boening, Eklent Kaci, Alexander Kazakis and Jesus Atencio.
Shane Van Boening headlined Day Five with the mouth-watering Last 16 matchup against Joshua Filler.
The Killer initially pulled ahead 7-4 after an hour of play, but SVB staged a masterclass comeback, reeling off six consecutive racks, aided by an uncharacteristic miss on the 7-ball from Filler in rack 15, to book his quarterfinal spot.
That victory set up another clash of World Champions against Francisco Sánchez Ruiz.
This time around, Van Boening jumped out to a 7-4 lead over El Ferrari but held his ground and closed out the game with a clutch break-and-run to book a ticket to his second consecutive Florida Open semifinals.
Awaiting America’s finest is Eklent Kaci, who has had a phenomenal run at the Caribe Royale, redeeming himself after a subpar Vice City Classic to his standards.
He dismantled Germany’s Boris Ivanovski 10-1 before shutting down Tyler Styler’s title dream with a 10-6 victory.
Kaci becomes yet another World Championship finalist in the way of Shane Van Boening after he pushed aside a star-studded gauntlet of Ralf Souquet, Albin Ouschan, Joshua Filler and FSR.
The South Dakota Kid will also be playing with a chip on his shoulder, hungry after narrowly missing out on the Florida Open title in the final against Aloysius Yapp.
Meanwhile, Kaci will look for a change of luck after being eliminated in the Final Four in the Premier League Pool and the European Championship. Is third time the charm for the Albanian Eagle?
Both players will not just want to put on a show but also earn valuable points with the Mosconi Cup looming.
On the other side of the bracket, Jesus Atencio continues to prove that Florida is his favourite place on Earth to play pool.
After an explosive debut in the 2025 edition, the Latin-American hero cruised to his first-ever Matchroom Major semifinal, unpicking last year’s semifinalist Chang Yu Lung and Asia’s wonderkid Albert Januarta.
Standing in his way of making history will be Greece’s Alexander Kazakis, who survived a heart-stopper against Petri Makkonen.
The Finnish shooter reached the hill first and had the chance to wrap up the game, but a costly miss on the 8-ball set Kazakis up for a massive hill-hill comeback.
This result marks Alexander Kazakis’ first Matchroom semifinal in four years since the 2022 World Pool Championship.
Atencio has impressed tremendously with his grit and potting ability this tournament. His tactical play and jumping ability were equally as phenomenal, yet often fly off the radar.
Kazakis has shown so far why he is one of the highest-IQ players on tour, with off-the-charts defensive shots, extreme care and precision, making him nearly impossible to break down.
It is going to be an electrifying final day in the Sunshine State: four extraordinary cueists, one goal, one Florida Open title.
