Moritz Neuhausen claimed the biggest accolade of his promising career, whitewashing former world number one Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 7-0 to win Premier League Pool on debut in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Following eight days of relentless action and 183 matches played, a new champion of a Matchroom invitational was crowned in the shape of 22-year-old Premier League debutant Neuhausen, who showed true grit and determination on his way to the title.
Despite finishing fourth in the league standings, Germany’s Neuhausen defeated two major champions in the play-offs to bag the $20,000 top prize, adding to his Connecticut Open and Medellin Open ranking titles.
Neuhausen raced into a 4-0 lead in the final, making a golden break and capitalising on the misfortune of Sanchez Ruiz, and that lead soon became five racks following a missed seven ball from the world number four.
His destiny was realised in the coming racks as the German emerged through safety exchanges in the remaining racks on his way to completing a dominant victory, before hoisting the biggest trophy of his life.
Beforehand, Neuhausen had come from 5-3 down to beat table-topper Robbie Capito in the semi-finals, punishing a missed bank in the ninth rack and winning four racks in succession to scupper Capito’s exceptional campaign.
Neuhausen was emphatically beaten by both Capito and Sanchez Ruiz in the final round of league phase matches, but the world number 12 responded with timely victories over top four rivals Jayson Shaw and Aloysius Yapp to assure his play-off spot.
UK Open champion Capito had beaten Neuhausen in each of their three league encounters, although the eventual champion held the upper hand when it really mattered and inflicted only Capito’s tenth defeat of the week.
Capito had commenced his debut Premier League campaign in unassailable fashion, winning seven of his initial eight matches, and eventually topped the league phase on legs difference ahead of Johann Chua.
Elsewhere, Jayson Shaw spurned his hopes with four losses from his final five league matches, while a whitewash defeat to Shaw sparked an eight-match losing run for defending champion Shane van Boening and he therefore exited on the penultimate day.
Albanian teenager Kledio Kaci secured a top 10 finish on his Premier League debut, notably beating his esteemed brother in his opening match, with World Championship runner-up Eklent Kaci winning just four of his 15 matches.
