Fedor Gorst added another lucrative title to his haul of honours as he won the China Open 9-Ball Championship for the first time, while Liu Shasha scuppered her 13-year wait for a second women’s crown.
Gorst emphatically overcame Wu Kun-Lin in a one-sided final to scoop the $40,000 champion’s cheque in Shanghai, winning his first title outside of the USA since the World Pool Championship more than two years ago.
Having reached the quarter-finals twelve months ago, the WPA world number seven survived notable scares against Taiwan’s Lee Po-Hsien and Jeffrey Ignacio of the Philippines to reach that stage for the second successive year.
Gorst enjoyed a hard-fought victory over Alex Kazakis to reach the final for the first time, with Greece’s Kazakis having defeated three-time champion Joshua Filler in the quarter-finals.
Wu Kun-Lin had pulled off impressive wins over the likes of Dimitris Loukatos, Oliver Szolnoki, Aloysius Yapp and Daniel Maciol on his way to the final, although Gorst proved to be an uphill battle from the outset.
Meanwhile, three-time world champion Liu Shasha won the women’s title for the second time, earning herself $36,000 following a 9-5 victory over childhood friend Fu Xiaofang in the final.
Liu defeated the likes of women’s world number one Pia Filler, Rubilen Amit and 2024 runner-up Wang Xiaotong on her way to success, following in Fu’s footsteps as one of four women to have won multiple China Open titles.
Fu bounced back from a second round defeat to second seed Wei Tzu-Chien, exacting revenge on the one-loss side during a run which also included wins over Chen Ruolin, Jiang Teng and Shi Tianqi.
Four-time champion Han Yu and reigning women’s world champion Seo Seoa exited in the last 16 and the quarter-finals respectively, while defending champion Chihiro Kawahara and Kristina Tkach were amongst those unable to qualify for the last 16.
