Whitewashes and timely redemption were the theme of the Last 128 as the Florida Open Pool Championship finds the best 64 cueists.
After a shocking defeat against American veteran BJ Ussery on opening day, reigning champion Aloysius Yapp had to survive one-loss bracket scares to book his ticket into the Last 128 with two wins on Day 2 of the Florida Open.
There were signs of rustiness at the beginning, but WNT No. 1 found his much-needed rhythm in the Losers’ Qualifications, posting a faultless 9-0 victory against Paul Song.
The true Aloysius Yapp finally arrived in the single-elimination against a formidable Vitaliy Patsura. He delivered a dominant display to defeat the Ukrainian sharpshooter 10-5 in the Last 128.
Aloysius Yapp was not the only household name to take a scenic route from the one-loss side but end up with a ticket in the last 64.
Vice City Classic runner-up Mickey Krause also had to fight through the losers’ qualifications after being defeated by Christopher Tevez.
The luck of the draw had him matched up with 2025 UK Open runner-up Jonas Souto in a clash of titans.
Both players fought hard, but Krause edged out Souto with his breaks. The Dane consistently sunk the one ball in the middle pocket while Souto could not find his breaking groove, highlighted by the scratch that would gift Krause the win.
Mosconi Cup hopeful Justin Bergman redeemed himself from a gut-wrenching loss against Jesse Link earlier in the tournament, delivering a dominant whitewash in his qualification match.
Johan Ruijsink will be most pleased to watch his performance in the Last 128, as he outexperienced talented youngster Felix Vogel in a lopsided 10-3.
Also reviving from the losers’ side was Billy Thorpe, who pushed aside Greek shooter Antonios Kakaris in Losers’ Qualification to face Eklent Kaci in the Last 128.
Billy the Banker played phenomenally but missed the crucial nine-ball to force hill-hill and witnessed the Albanian march on.
Germany’s Boris Ivanovski, Austria’s Stefan Huber, Spain’s Salvador Garcia and Greece’s George Antonakis were the others to find joy from the losers’ side.
Antonakis completed a famous hill-hill upset over reigning European Champion runner-up Mario He.
Apart from big-time redemptions, whitewashes were the story of the Florida Open’s Last 128.
Joshua Filler, Duong Quoc Hoang, Mustafa Alnar, AJ Manas, Alexander Kazakis and Carlo Biado did not come to play around with their opponents. Six players completed a flawless 10-0 victory.
The Round of 64 begins today with Francisco Sanchez Ruiz and Gerson Martinez Boza kicking things off with a marquee opener on TV Table 1.
There will be some absolute heavyweight classics in the Sunshine State, as Shane Van Boening faces Ralf Souquet, Albin Ouschan faces John Morra, Jesus Atencio faces Justin Bergman, Max Lechner faces AJ Manas, Denis Grab faces Albert Januarta, and more.
Coverage of three tables will be broadcast via WNT TV for subscribers in most territories across the world, including the USA, Vietnam and the Philippines. TalkSPORT’s YouTube channel will show coverage of table one in the UK as well as table four globally.
