Double elimination
Defending champion Mario He received a bye in his first round match, then defeated Tobias Bongers in the first winner's round 9–4. [9] [10] He progressed to the round-of-32 after a playoff win over Mateusz Śniegocki. [9] Mark Gray defeated Daniel Maciol 9–7 in the second winner's round. Maciol took a time-out when the score was tied 6–6, but played significantly worse when he returned. Gray reached the winner's playoff round, but lost to Karol Skowerski, and then in the loser's playoff to Marcel Price. [9] Number one-ranked Euro Tour player Eklent Kaçi reached the winner's playoff round, before losing 6–9 to Sergey Lutsker. Kaçi later won his loser's playoff round match against Albin Ouschan to advance to the knockout round.
Ten-time Euro Tour event winner Niels Feijen failed to make the knockout round. He was awarded a walkover in his first round match, defeating Tim De Ruyter 9–2 before losing 6–9 to Marco Dorenburg. In the loser's side, Feijen lost his next match to 14-year-old Dutch player Yannick Pongers 8–9. [11] Three-time world champion Oliver Ortmann also failed to progress, despite defeating fourth seed Ralf Souquet 9–6. Ortmann lost to Ruslan Chinachov 8–9 in the winner's playoff and to Jacques Wollschlaeger 4–9 in the loser's playoff. [11] After a playoff loss to Fedor Gorst, Souquet did not reach the knockout round either. [9]
Knockout rounds
The round-of-32 took place on 2 August, and all subsequent rounds were played on 3 August. Syria's Mohammad Soufi [ de ] reached the quarter-finals, after wins over De Ruyter and Wollschlaeger (both 9–4). Marc Bijsterbosch faced Soufi, after a 9–3 win over Radosław Babica and a whitewash of Mateusz Śniegocki. [9] Alex Montpellier [ de ] defeated Greece's Nick Malai (9–6) and Nikos Ekonomopoulos (9–5) en route to the quarter-finals. Montpellier later played Estonia's Denis Grabe, after Grabe defeated Stefan Nolle 9–4 and Ruslan Chinachov 9–3. [9]
Mario He also advanced to the quarter-finals. [12] His last match in the round-of-32 was a rematch of the previous year's final against Eklent Kaçi, which he won 9–8. This match, however, was more one-sided, with He winning 9–4. [9] Poland's Konrad Juszczyszyn defeated 1999 World Pool Masters champion Alex Lely 9–4. Mario He defeated Juszczyszyn 9–6 to reach the quarter-finals. [9] Oliver Szolnoki also reached the quarter-finals, after 9–6 victories over Moritz Neuhausen and Jakub Koniar. [9] [12]
Francisco Sánchez Ruíz defeated Damianos Giallourakis in the round-of-32, following Giallourakis's best run in a Euro Tour event, reaching the quarter-final at the Austria Open earlier in the season. [13] However, Sanchez-Ruiz was eliminated in the round-of-16, after losing to Fedor Gorst 4–9. [9] Reigning world nine-ball champion Joshua Filler advanced to the quarter-finals after defeating Marcel Price and Serbia's Aleksa Pecelj. [9]
Marc Bijsterbosch defeated Mohamad Soufi 9–2 to advance to the semi-final. [14] Denis Grabe defeated Alex Montpellier 9–1, with Montpellier only winning rack four. [15] Both Mario He and Joshua Filler progressed to the semi-finals following victories over Oliver Szolnoki and Fedor Gorst, respectively. With the victory, Filler was guaranteed to regain the top spot in the Euro Tour rankings, which was previously held by Eklent Kaci. [16]
The first semi-final match was held between Bijsterbosch and Grabe at 14:30 EST. Bijsterbosch took an early lead, gaining an advantage at 4–2, 5–3, and 7–5. However, Grabe fought back to tie the match 7–7. He won the final two racks (four in total) to win 9–7 and reach the final. [17] The second semi-final was held between He and Filler at 16:00 EST. The match was tight, with a difference of no more than a one rack between the two players throughout. [14] At 7–7, Filler reached the hill , on his own break, with He taking the match to hill-hill at 8–8. Filler's break on the decider was a dry break , allowing He to run the rack to win the frame and the match. [18]
The final was played at 18:00 EST between defending champion Mario He and Denis Grabe. Grabe was a two-time champion of Euro Tour events, having won the 2014 Slovenia Open and 2014 Austria Open. [19] Mario He was a four-time champion, having won two events in 2018. [14] [20] The match took place on He's birthday. [16] The final was one-sided, with He taking an early lead at 5–1. [21] Grabe won rack seven, but He won the next four racks to win the match and the championship 9–2. [14] [16]
Mario He (AUT) (m)
Denis Grabe (EST) (m)
Melanie Suessenguth (GER) (f)
