Joshua Filler has expressed his desire to remain hungry for further success after reigning victorious at the Las Vegas Open for the first time in his career.
Filler has won consecutive tournaments on the Predator Pro Billiard Series circuit, following his Jax Open title in Florida by sealing the $45,000 champion’s cheque in Las Vegas.
Battling back from a set behind against Fedor Gorst in the final, a relentless Filler won eight consecutive racks to seal the title, during a run which included two break and runs in the 10-ball format.
Filler was complementary towards his rival afterwards, admitting that Gorst was rather unfortunate in the title decider and that he is one of the greatest players to have ever graced the game.
“I made some mistakes in the beginning because I felt the pressure a little bit,” Filler told Pro Billiard TV. “I think that my stroke was a little bit off in the first set.
“But I think after I lost the first, I was like, okay, it’s do or die now. All the pressure was gone and I was starting to play better, feeling better, making balls on the break, always had a starter.
“And from his mistakes, I could capitalise on them, so that was really important. But of course, that I win eight racks in a row is kind of a miracle playing Fedor of course.
“He got some unfortunate rolls, but also in the first set when he jump banked the shot and played unbelievable safeties, even though I was lucky on some shots too.
“He’s an unreal player to be honest without a doubt, one of the best probably to have ever played. It’s always nice playing him because I know I’m going to see where my game is at because he’s always playing great.
“That makes this win much sweeter for sure. I’ve been in two finals in Vegas already, except the doubles yesterday, I’d lost two and finally got the singles win.”
Having got the Vegas victory under his belt, Germany’s Filler has vowed to remain fully focussed and maintain his mental fortitude at each and every upcoming tournament.
“I’m just trying to stay as hungry as possible because we are on the road like nine months a year, so it’s always hard to be 100 percent in your game,” Filler added.
“But this is something I really try to work on, that I be more sharp at every tournament I play because I felt sometimes I was just mentally off. But all in all, I’m just trying to play as good as possible and trying to stay focussed.
“I think the year couldn’t start any better. But of course there are still so many tournaments to come. You can’t really relax now, even though you win big majors. But other than that, I’m just super happy right now.
“We’ve got another big tournament coming up, the World Teams. We are defending champions, so the pressure will be right back on. It’s going to be fun playing with Moritz [Neuhausen] and Pia [Filler] and I’m really looking forward to that one.”
