Fresh from his Florida Open triumph, Shane Van Boening made a flying start to his Arizona Open Pool Championship campaign with a devastating whitewash victory, while several of the sport’s biggest names suffered early exits on a dramatic opening day in Yuma.
The inaugural Arizona Open Pool Championship takes place at Quechan Casino Resort from 13–16 August, bringing four days of world-class nine-ball action as a 128-player field competes in a straight knockout format as part of the World Nineball Tour’s US Swing this August.
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Continuing the momentum from his coronation in Orlando last week, Shane Van Boening opened his Arizona Open campaign in emphatic fashion, whitewashing fellow American Wayne Farnum 10-0 in just 37 minutes.
The five-time US Open champion is bidding to add another major title to his collection, wasting no time to make his intentions clear on day one.
Van Boening said: “I’m feeling pretty good, to be honest. Winning the Florida Open last week and then coming here and playing well, I can’t complain.
“I just want to have fun playing pool this week and hopefully continue the momentum from last week. It would be great to win another title on home soil.”
Also safely through to the Last 64 were reigning World Champion Carlo Biado and 18-year-old Felix Vogel, who produced one of the day’s quickest victories with a 10-0 whitewash over Mark Stustman in just 34 minutes.
World No.1 Aloysius Yapp also secured his place in tomorrow’s Last 64, although the Singaporean was made to work for his 10-7 victory over American Max Eberle.
Yapp said: “I’m relieved to get the win, but I’m not happy with my performance. I struggled with my break, so that’s something I need to improve before tomorrow.
“Florida Open didn’t go my way last week, so I really want to make sure I have a deep run here. I just need to stay focused, play my game and hopefully get a little luck along the way.”
While the leading names began their Arizona campaigns strongly, several big names saw their hopes come to an abrupt end on the opening day.
One of the biggest shocks came as 57-year-old former World Champion Johnny Archer produced a stunning 10-8 victory over Austria’s Max Lechner to book his place in the Last 64.
Archer, who is making his return to major competition this month, said: “It’s been a while since I’ve been playing at events like this. It’s been roughly 12 years since my last Mosconi Cup, but it feels great to be back competing across these three major events.
“I wanted to give myself one more shot at qualifying for the Mosconi Cup and hopefully get back on Team USA one more time. I know that might sound crazy, but today’s win shows I can still compete with the top players. That’s the goal.”
Alongside Lechner, Eklent Kaçi was another major casualty as Chinese Taipei’s Sun Yi Hsuan secured a 10-7 victory to end the Albanian’s tournament at the first hurdle, just a week after Kaçi’s run to the Florida Open semi-finals.
Kaçi said: “I’m gutted to go out so early, but that’s the game. In this format, nobody is safe and I paid the price today.
“It’s a wake-up call. I need to learn from it and come back stronger.”
Other notable first-round exits included former Mosconi Cup champion Justin Bergman and former US Open champion Corey Deuel, all of whom saw their Arizona Open campaigns come to an early end.
With the field now reduced to 64 players, the pressure is set to rise in Arizona as the remaining contenders battle through two knockout rounds for places in the Last 16. Van Boening will look to continue his winning form against Albin Ouschan, while World No.1 Aloysius Yapp takes on Indonesia’s Andri Januarta as the world’s best continue their pursuit for the Cactus Trophy.
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