BIG NAMES ADVANCING AT PREDATOR GERMANY OPEN

Sanjin Pehlivanovic, a former World Junior 9-Ball Champion, become European 10-Ball Champion earlier this year and has proved those credentials so far at the Predator Germany Open where he has reached the single elimination stage with two straight-sets victories.

Open Division Draw & Brackets

After defeating Hajo Meier of Germany on the opening day Pehlivanovic, of Bosnia and Herzegovina, faced Swiss player Michael Schneider during Wednesday’s action. The 20-year-old European champion broke well, save for a scratch at 3-0 up, to take the first set 4-1. Schneider won the opening game of the second set but left his opponent straight on the 1 ball after a failed jump at the start of the second game. Another chance went in the third game when he missed position on the 9 and was unable to execute his jump under shot-clock pressure. That awarded Pehlivanovic a 2-1 lead and the European Champion took the next two games for a 4-1, 4-1 win to move to the last 32.

Austria’s Mario He, a US Pro Billiard Series winner at the FargoRate Ohio Open last fall, is also into the single elimination phase of the competition. He closed out day three on the TV table against South Africa’s Muhummad Daydat and scored a 4-1, 4-0 victory to progress from the winners’ side.

Ralf Souquet has also won through to the last 32 without defeat. The German defeated Turkey’s Melih Dagas 4-1, 4-1. “When you look at the score it seems like an easy one but with the short race and winner breaks, anything can happen. I missed an easy one at the beginning of the match but he didn’t capitalize, and in the second set when I was leading 3-0 I made an easy mistake on the 6 ball which could have changed the match. He had a great break right afterwards but luckily he couldn’t win the game,” said Souquet. 

The Open division continues with three rounds on the losers’ side on Thursday, culminating in the qualification rounds for Friday’s single elimination stage of the tournament. 

In the Women’s Division, Jasmin Ouschan had been sent to the losers’ side after a shootout defeat to Hong Kong’s Ka Kai Wan and on Wednesday faced another shootout to remain in the tournament. Facing Poland’s Monika Zabek, the Austrian lost the first set but fought back for victory.  

Women’s Division Draw & Brackets

Ouschan said: “You always want to win in two sets but I have played so many shootouts lately that I guess I practice it well. In this match I felt more calm than yesterday and after losing the first set, which I really shouldn’t have because I was up 3-0, I just tried whatever was possible, was calm and made all the balls.”

Canada’s Brittany Bryant, who finished second at the Alfa Las Vegas Women’s Open in April, stayed alive on the losers-side with consecutive wins. She defeated Portugal’s Vania Franco at the Sudden Death stage of a shootout and followed it with her second shootout win of the day, against Anna Riegler. She now faces potentially three matches on Thursday to make it through to single elimination stage. Kelly Fisher will face Melanie Sussenguth of Germany in the Women’s Qualification round as she continues her quest to make it three in three on the Pro Billiard Series. 

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Staged June 13-18, the Predator Germany Open will be streamed live for free on Billiard TV and the World Billiard TV YouTube channel. Every table is streamed free live on Kozoom.com.

Each of this year’s Pro Billiard Series events are WPA Category 3 sanctioned events, allowing players to earn more WPA ranking points from each event. The Predator Germany Open is also sanctioned by the EPBF and DBU.

The Predator Germany Open is partnered by Reelive. Teleo Logistics, Hansestadt Bremen Innovations and Hansestadt Bremen Immobilien are official event partners of the Predator Germany Open. The events use Predator Apex Pro tables covered with Predator Arcadia Reserve Performance Cloth, with Predator Arcos II balls, and under the Predator Arena billiard lights. CSI, Kamui and Alfa Coin are global Pro Billiard Series Partners. 

The Predator Pro Billiard Series is a series of open, professional events held around the world to provide more opportunities for professional and aspiring pool players to compete in high-quality events, earn more income, sharpen their skills.

The winner of each 2022 Pro Billiard Series event will receive a guaranteed spot in the 2023 Predator Cues World 10-Ball Championship, which will be held February 27 through March 3 in Las Vegas. The winner of the Women’s Division will receive a guaranteed spot in the 2022 Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship, which will be held in Klagenfurt, Austria, September 6-10.

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