Day 4 of World Championship: SVB in Semi Finals

Four Remain in World Pool Championship: Ouschan, Van Boening, Kazakis and Alyousef

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Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, APRIL 9, (COURTESY MATCHROOM SPORTS) — Albin Ouschan is still on course to defend his World Pool Championship heading into Finals Day at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes with America’s Shane Van Boening, Greece’s Alexander Kazakis, and Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyousef all making it into the final four.

There were some stellar morning clashes in the Last 16 as Joshua Filler got the better of Darren Appleton from 10-8 down to set up a repeat of the Premier League Pool final just. a month ago, for a spot in the semi-finals against Ouschan. Ouschan meanwhile didn’t seem to have to break a sweat as he downed fellow two-time winner Thorsten Hohmann 11-5.

Alyousef pulled off an upset against the 2021 US Open runner-up Aloysius Yapp who did reach the hill first. Max Lechner stood between Alyousef and the semi-finals and it didn’t come without drama. After only a few racks, it seemed the 9 ball was rolling off. After much consultation between Lechner, Alyousef, and Matchroom the decision was made the continue the match on another table.

When the match resumed, Lechner led at 9-8 and he looked to be reaching the hill first before failing to cut the 9 ball in and in the process allowing Alyousef to pull it back to 9-9. The Kuwaiti will be hoping to emulate compatriot Omar Al-Shaheen who reached last year’s final, and he will be hoping to keep luck on his side, the eventual winning rack saw Alyousef fluke the 7 in before cleaning up to deal a hammer blow to Lechner.

Alyousef came into the tournament as the No. 50 seed and will face No.1 seed Ouschan for his spot in the final.

Brackets

Ouschan’s found himself down 4-0 early on during his match against Filler, but then the Austrian calmly climbed back into the match. He kept the German player glued to his chair for much of the remainder of the match  and came out on top 11-6.

Kazakis put on a convincing display of how far his game has come with his 11-4 victory over Ronald Regli of Switzerland in the day’s opener and then a hill-hill victory over close friend Oliver Szolnoki. That second match was a contest of highs and lows for both players. The player dramatically tied the score at 7-7 before Szolnoki snapped off three games in a row to reach the hill. But Kazakis followed up with a nine-ball break and the execution of tough combo. He won 11-10.

Van Boening played two of his biggest matches in recent years on Saturday. He started the day by beating former world champion Ko Pin Yi, of Taiwan. Shane Van Boening scored two nine-ball breaks on the path to his 11-8 victory in that game..  Chang Jung-Lin, also of Taiwain, was next on Van Boening’s hit list.  But SVB led for the entirety of the match, and eventually closed it out 11-8.

On Sunday, SVB faces Kazakis of Greece, while Ouschan of Austria faces Alyousef of Kuwait.