THERE’S ANOTHER POLISH champion on the block as 20-year-old Dominic Jastrzab defeated Germany’s Tobias Bongers 11-9 to lift the PREDATOR DUTCH OPEN title in a nerve-wracking final that could have gone either way. Taking place at the De Bonte Weever Hotel in Assen, Netherlands, the final was broadcast on Viaplay throughout the Netherlands as well as globally on the Predator Pro Billiard Series YouTube platform.
Played in front of an enthusiastic crowd, Bongers opened up a 4-0 lead to leave his opponent floundering. Jastrzab found his feet though, in the middle stages and started to come back. The Polish player squared the match at 8-8, having trailed 8-5 and it was the first time he had been on level terms. He then edged into the lead with some determined play and a solid break.
Bongers, who’d seen his momentum slip away, levelled it again but Jastrzab held himself together to close out the match for the championship.
The Pole, who showed early promise in winning the 10-ball gold at the 2023 European Youth Championship, was understandably thrilled at his achievement.
He said, “It feels great. I think this is the best trophy that I’ve lifted in my career so I’m so happy. At the beginning I played not so well and I made a couple of mistakes and it was 5-1 for him. He played great all match but I think my break was the key to success in that match.
“I had that feeling that I could play freely because I’m in the final and I’m happy with that and I’m just going to try and be myself and it worked. The crucial moment was 9-8 as it was the first time I was up in the match and I knew that even if he was going to break and run his rack, I had my two own breaks so I took a couple of deep breaths and that was it. I hope you enjoyed it!
“We have so many great players in Poland that even if we play a Polish tournament, you’re always playing against a World Champion or European Champion so you can improve pretty fast if you want to,” he added.
For Bongers it was a second final defeat in 16 months, and not surprisingly, he was frustrated with the result.
He said, “Really disappointed and angry too. In important situations he had good rolls and luck too. He breaks really well; I think he made six or seven runouts and came back but I think maybe I was the better player and deserved to win but in important situations he had the rolls now he’s the champion and he played really well. I played a good tournament so I feel good and hope in the next tournaments I play this stuff.”
The two semi-finalist were Wiktor Fortunski of Poland who lost at the hands of Jastrzab and Marc Bijsterbosch (Netherlands) who fell to Bongers.
With the Open event now concluded, play now focuses on the Predator Dutch Women’s Open which continues on Sunday morning at 9.30 at the last 16 stage. The semi-finals are at 14.00 with the final scheduled for 16.30. Streaming of Tables 1 and 2 for all Euro Tour and European Championships events can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit https://www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/information/
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