Joshua Filler produced a flawless performance to win the UK Open Pool Championship for a second time at the Brentwood Centre in Greater London, dismantling Wojciech Szewczyk in an extremely one-sided final.
In a tournament that commenced with a 9-1 drubbing of ex-world champion Darren Appleton and concluded with a 13-1 demolition of Poland’s Szewczyk, a faultless Filler dropped a mere 27 racks compared to the 92 that he won.
Filler capitalised on Szewczyk’s dry break in the opening rack of the final and proceeded to compile a sensational six successive break and runs during an immaculate 40-minute surge, which saw him burst into an unassailable 9-0 lead.
Szewczyk, a former world 10-ball champion, took advantage of two uncharacteristic errors from the German in the tenth rack to get on the board, although his opportunities remained limited and he was on the receiving end of an unstoppable Filler.
Filler had brushed aside Appleton, Nigel Smith and Mennillo Guglielmo to secure his spot in the last 64, where he narrowly defeated fellow countryman Niklas Dohr 10-8 in arguably his sternest test of the tournament.
He subsequently dropped just three racks in emphatic victories over snooker star Gary Wilson and European Open runner-up Mario He, before beating Niels Feijen 10-7 and Jayson Shaw 10-2 in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
Szewczyk, meanwhile, reached his maiden major final on the World Nineball Tour in a campaign which included wins over Jonas Souto Comino, Naoyuki Oi and 2023 champion Eklent Kaci, despite falling short of the $40,000 champion’s prize.
Defending champion Aloysius Yapp was narrowly beaten 10-8 at the hands of Souto Comino in the quarter-finals, while world number one Fedor Gorst endured a deciding rack defeat to Robbie Capito following a prior loss to Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Alghamdi.
Three British players reached the last 16 for the first time in the tournament’s five-year history, with Manchester’s Dean Shields notably stunning Francisco Sanchez Ruiz in a deciding rack to achieve his greatest victory in his WNT career.
Filler’s triumph followed Moritz Neuhausen’s European Open Championship success back in March, with the Florida Open Championship being Matchroom’s next major tournament from August 4-9 in Orlando.
