Francisco Sanchez Ruiz sealed the sixth World Nineball Tour ranking title of his illustrious career at the Peri 9-Ball Open, denying Dimitris Loukatos 13-11 in Friday’s final at the Peri Pool Arena in Da Nang, Vietnam.
Sanchez Ruiz landed his most lucrative accolade since becoming world champion 18 months ago and pocketed the $25,000 top prize, enjoying ideal preparation for next week’s Hanoi Open Championship.
The former world number one opened the title decider with back-to-back break and runs as he kept Greece’s Loukatos rooted to his chair during the early exchanges, before soon putting together a third as he constructed an initial 4-0 advantage.
An overcut three ball ended that streak and allowed Loukatos to claim successive racks and obtain a foothold, before both players spurned attempts on the eight ball and FSR regained his four-rack buffer at 6-2.
Numerous safety battles unfolded in subsequent racks and Louaktos came out of them unscathed, winning three consecutive racks. Afterwards, the Greek ace was on course to restore parity at six apiece, although he was unable to find position on the nine ball and Sanchez Ruiz cleaned up for a 7-5 lead.
The Spaniard followed that with his fourth break and run of the match, only to miss an eight ball with the cue ball glued to the rail for a 9-5 lead. Loukatos stepped in and subsequently broke and ran himself to reduce the arrears to 8-7.
Loukatos soon found himself 10-7 behind but remained undeterred and claimed four racks on the bounce to lead for the first time at 11-10. However, a crucial juncture in the contest saw Sanchez Ruiz execute two phenomenal safety shots and level at eleven apiece.
Sanchez Ruiz produced another break and run to move onto the hill, although he proceeded to miss a relatively routine three ball. Loukatos returned needing to find a way around two obstacle balls to a red three ball hanging over a pocket, but he rattled that pocket with swerve and FSR emerged a 13-11 victor.
Beforehand, Sanchez Ruiz had beaten European Open champion Mickey Krause 11-10 in an epic semi-final, initially missing a two-nine combination for an 11-9 win prior to rather fortunately advancing in the following rack.
FSR had brushed aside both Paolo Gallito and Robbie Capito to the loss of a mere five racks in the quarter-finals and last 16 respectively, having reeled off four racks to win from 8-5 down against Thorsten Hohmann and emphatically beaten Vietnam’s Duong Quoc Hoang.
Loukatos, meanwhile, dodged a bullet early on as he narrowly beat Chen Kuan-Yu to qualify for the last 64, although he made amends, compiling five break and runs in an impressive 9-4 win over world number one Fedor Gorst.
He subsequently defeated Chang Yu-Lung prior to dramatic hill-hill victories over Jefrey Roda and Vietnam’s Luong Duc Thien, the latter of which he fought back from 9-5 behind, before fending off a valiant comeback from Aleksa Pecelj in the semi-finals.
Attentions now turn to the eagerly-anticipated Hanoi Open Championship on the World Nineball Tour, as Jayson Shaw begins the defence of his title in front of a 2,500-strong crowd of passionate Vietnamese fans.
