Jayson Shaw reigned victorious at the Super Billiards Expo for the second time in three years, overcoming Pijus Labutis 11-7 in the final to win the Professional Players Championship in Pennsylvania.
Shaw, who won the tournament two years ago and was only stopped in the final by Jonas Souto Comino last time around, secured his sixth ranking title on the World Nineball Tour after scooping the $15,000 top prize.
The former US Open champion defied a break and run from Labutis to burst into a commanding 9-1 lead in the final, an advantage that proved unassailable despite the valiant efforts from the Lithuanian to reduce the arrears.
Labutis notched his second break and run and claimed six racks from seven to move within three of Shaw, although the Glasgow-born cueist closed out a relatively routine victory to seal his first ranking title since winning the Hanoi Open in October.
Beforehand, Shaw battled back from 7-2 and 9-6 behind to scupper the dream run of American Shaun Wilkie in an 11-10 win in the semi-finals, with Wilkie devastatingly scratching from the break in the deciding rack.
Shaw had allowed Tommy Kennedy to open up a similar lead in the third round of double elimination before managing to overturn the deficit on that occasion also, only to subsequently be banished onto the one-loss side at the hands of BJ Ussery.
Putting that behind him, the British number one recovered and qualified for the last 16 by beating the legendary Earl Strickland, before seeing off both Tyler Styer and Lukas Fracasso-Verner to reach the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, it was heartbreak at the final hurdle once again for Labutis, who was also a beaten finalist at January’s Derby City Classic, although the Lithuanian proved that campaign was no one-off and climbed up to 23rd in the world nineball rankings.
Labutis defeated the likes of Jeffrey de Luna and Jeremy Sossei during double elimination, before pulling off victories over Darren Appleton, Ussery and Moritz Neuhausen, who broke into the world’s top 16 following another impressive showing.
Elsewhere, former world champion Darren Appleton marked his first start on the World Nineball Tour this year with a run to the quarter-finals, overcoming Francisco Sanchez Ruiz in winners’ qualification prior to dethroning defending champion Jonas Souto Comino.
Mosconi Cup hopeful Ussery beat American compatriots Oscar Dominguez and Sam Henderson as well as eventual champion Shaw during double elimination, before seeing off both John Morra and Brandon Shuff to make his second ranking semi-final.
Eventual semi-finalist Wilkie moved into Mosconi Cup contention with a breakthrough run to the semi-finals, recuperating from an early loss at the hands of Shane Wolford and notably beating both Thorsten Hohmann and Michael Feliciano 11-10 in single elimination.
European Open champion David Alcaide endured defeat in the last 16 against Lukas Fracasso-Verner, while Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski was beaten by Jeremy Sossei in his first match and his run on the one-loss side was halted hill-hill by Eddie Abraham.
The World Nineball Tour heads to Caliacun, Mexico from April 16-20 for the inaugural Mexico Open, before the prestigious World Pool Masters takes place in Germany for the first time from April 25-28.
