THE PREDATOR SPANISH Open came to an exciting conclusion today in Gandia as Oliver Szolnoki (Hungary) and Liu Shasha of China lifted the titles in the Spanish Open and Women’s Spanish Open respectively. Liu, a three-time WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Champion, had too much for the field as she coasted to the title, defeating Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) 8-3 in the final.
Szolnoki also enjoyed a more leisurely victory in the final as he defeated Germany’s Luca Menn 10-3. He nearly didn’t get there after surviving a life-or-death semi-final against the tournament’s surprise package, Hubert Lopotko (Poland).
The Hungarian claimed his second Predator Euro Tour victory, after winning in Turkey 12 months ago and will have fond memories of the Spanish seaside town, having also won the Little Monster Mixed Doubles Open just over a week ago in the company of Zhang Mu-Yan.
Commented Szolnoki, “It feels very good and I’m so happy because in the semi-final I was very close to winning and then I was very close to losing but I managed to win hill-hill. I missed the 10-ball at 2-2 in the final and I thought that might cause me a hard time for the whole game but I went on a run and won eight racks in a row.
“The semi-final was my strongest match of the whole tournament. I went 9-5 up and played a perfect safety on the 8, behind the 9, but the ball just went in three rails into the corner pocket and I couldn’t finish the match. And then he made two break and runs and my break didn’t work so it was 9-9 all of a sudden. But luckily, I could keep it together and win it there. And then 20 minutes later I was playing on a different table, different balls, different conditions but I’m very happy that I survived it somehow.
“I won the Mixed Doubles here with Zhang Muyan, which was amazing, and in the Pro Billiard Series I finished in ninth place so I think I played pretty strong these past two weeks so I’m pretty proud of that,” he concluded.
In the Predator Women’s Spanish Open, Liu Shasha was untouchable as she strolled to victory, gathering up seven wins in total, as she cut a swathe through the field. An 8-2 win over Chinese Taipei’s Tsai Peichun in the semi-final was followed up with her 8-3 championship win over Ouschan and she can look ahead to the forthcoming World 9-Ball Championship with renewed hope.
She said, “I’m so excited to have won another championship and it was an honour to play against Jasmin because when I was a young player, she was already a superstar of the game, so it was exciting to play against her. I thought my pocketing and safety were good but I’ll need to improve my break. It was a stressful match so I felt a bit lucky. Looking ahead to the World Championship, I hope I can play well every match when I’m there and I hope I can bring my luck to the United States.”
The Predator Pro Billiard Series is next in action in Jacksonville, Florida from 16th to 21stDecember with three major events, including the WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Championship. Streaming of all events can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel - https://www.youtube.com/@
The Predator Euro Tour returns in March 2026 in Antalya, Turkey and for all results, live scoring and draw, visit https://www.epbf.com/
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