Joshua Filler thrashed both Fedor Gorst and Shane van Boening on his way to completing a Derby City Classic three-peat at Caesars Southern Indiana in Elizabeth, defeating Vitaliy Patsura 11-7 in Sunday’s final.
Germany’s Filler emerged victorious in a field of more than 500 players and sealed the $20,000 accolade for the third consecutive year, becoming the first player to achieve that feat in the tournament’s 27-year history.
In a dramatic campaign which witnessed him almost sleep through his opener due to a middle-of-the-night schedule amendment and forfeit his second round match due to a bout of food poisoning, Filler won 13 matches to successfully retain his prestigious title.
Filler defeated internet sensation Andre Schickling, better known as Sharivari, in the opening round, before subsequent victories over the likes of Devin Poteet, Gregorio Sanchez and Roland Garcia saw his safe passage into the tenth round without his buyback.
From there onwards, Filler turned on the afterburners, double dipping Van Boening to the loss of only two racks and also achieving notable victories over world number one Fedor Gorst and Marco Teutscher to reach his fifth final in six years.
Filler had compiled six successive break and runs against Teutscher and whitewashed Van Boening in just 25 minutes in the semi-finals, although it was a much more strenuous task in overcoming former Texas Open champion Patsura in the title decider.
Patsura missed the nine ball to lead 2-0 and Filler capitalised on a couple of errors during the early exchanges to gain a 6-3 advantage, although the Chicago-based Ukrainian didn’t back down and found a route back into the contest.
He showcased his battling qualities and fought back to one rack behind at 7-8, but that roused the monster and Filler won three straight racks to ensure that his banner will be hanging from the casino ceiling again next year.
Patsura faced Florida’s Anthony Meglino on three occasions during the tournament, avenging an eighth round defeat with back-to-back wins to reach the finals, having also beaten the likes of good friend Gorst, Mateusz Sniegocki and Billy Thorpe along the way.
