Moritz Neuhausen ended the South American dream to seal his second World Nineball Tour ranking title, beating Venezuela’s Dario Guanipa 11-3 in Sunday’s final in Colombia.
Neuhausen was one of the heavy favourites to reign victorious at the Medellin Open, but the German youngster lived up to expectations and doubled his title tally, having won the Connecticut Open last year.
Peru’s Mauricio Garcia provided Neuhausen with his toughest test in the last 16, with the 20-year-old battling his way to a 9-7 victory en route to pocketing the $9,000 top prize and moving on the cusp of the world’s top 16.
The World Cup of Pool runner-up dropped only eight racks from the quarter-finals onwards, brushing aside both Thiago De Los Reyes and British professional Elliott Sanderson prior to his dominant win over Guanipa in the title decider.
Guanipa produced a fairytale run to the final hurdle as the Venezuelan displayed his talents to a wider audience, notably beating world number nine David Alcaide in the last 16 in a resounding upset.
He came through a dramatic hill-hill affair against Colombian Jose Wilber Perea in the semi-finals, in a match that was tarred slightly by a foul going unnoticed by the referee.
Former Mosconi Cup star Oscar Dominguez was beaten in the quarter-finals by Colombia’s Perea, while Spain’s Jonas Souto Comino endured a last 16 defeat at the hands of Lewis Dimar.
It was the first ever WNT ranking event to be held in South America, with a further tournament currently scheduled to take place in Culiacan, Mexico from April 16-20.
