Mickey Krause landed his first World Nineball Tour ranking title since becoming the European Open champion, returning to winning ways by reigning victorious at the Scottish Open at McGoldrick’s Sports Bar in Glasgow.
Denmark’s Krause, a Mosconi Cup champion with the European team in December, clinched the third WNT ranking accolade of his career, adding to his Bucharest Open and European Open Championship titles with a 10-3 win over Aloysius Yapp in the final.
Having commenced his campaign in the 96-player tournament with wins over George Antonakis and Salvador Garcia Fernandez, Krause sealed his spot in the last 16 with a 10-7 victory over Polish number one Wiktor Zielinski.
Krause was then fully in the groove and that was evident as he dropped only four racks in beating Francisco Sanchez Ruiz and Eklent Kaci in the last 16 and quarter-finals respectively, before beating Zielinski for a second time in the semi-finals by the same 10-7 scoreline.
Yapp, meanwhile, defeated the likes of Robbie Capito and teenage talents Riku Romppanen and Felix Vogel on his way to the semi-finals, where he battled back from 8-3 behind to overcome Dutch youngster Jan van Lierop.
Krause won seven consecutive racks to obtain an unassailable 8-1 lead in the final, landing a golden break, four break and runs and displaying impressive safety play when needed, before missing position on the four ball in the tenth and allowing Yapp a chance.
Yapp cleared the table and broke and ran the next rack to reduce the arrears to 8-3, although a dry break in the next spelled the end as Krause cleaned up before compiling his fifth break and run of the contest to trouser the $12,500 top prize.
Elsewhere, 17-year-old Vogel reached his maiden ranking quarter-final, defeating Mustafa Alnar, Moritz Neuhausen and Dimitris Loukatos, and also defying five break and runs from Yannick Pongers in a thrilling hill-hill losers’ qualification round battle.
Germany’s Vogel was one of three teenagers to reach the last 16 via the one-loss side, with Finland’s Riku Romppanen dethroning defending champion Duong Quoc Hoang to reach that stage, while Kledio Kaci compiled six break and runs in his 10-4 win over Petri Makkonen.
Jan van Lierop responded to a second round loss at the hands of Yapp with impressive wins over Sullivan Clark, Andri Januarta, European Open runner-up Naoyuki Oi, John Morra and Kuo Po-Cheng to reach his maiden ranking semi-final.
Home hero Jayson Shaw’s hopes of a second Scottish Open crown were scuppered in the last 16 by Poland’s Zielinski, who had ended David Alcaide’s campaign in the previous round, while Carlo Biado was also beaten in the last 16 by Kledio Kaci.
Attentions now turn to the UK Open Pool Championship in Telford, England from May 6-11 as 256 players compete for the $40,000 top prize in the second Matchroom Open Championship of the season.
