IT WAS DOUBLE delight for the Fillers as both Joshua and Pia claimed the PREDATOR Luxembourg Open titles at the GridX complex on Sunday evening. It was Joshua’s 11th Euro Tour crown, while Pia made it championship number four and the second time that they have triumphed simultaneously, following on from Lasko, Slovenia in 2022.
Joshua defeated Wojciech Szewczyk 9-5 for the title, a match that was finely poised at 5-4 in Filler’s favour before he got the better of the closing stages. In the women’s final, Pia showed huge resilience to come from 4-1 down to triumph 7-5 against Spain’s Mayte Ropero who was chasing her maiden Euro Tour title.
Joshua certainly earned his trophy as he battled through a stellar field after a shaky start in his opening match against Poland’s Adam Stankiewicz. Improving game-by-game, he took down a string of tough opponents including Daniel Maciol, Mateusz Sniegocki, Miesko Fortunski and then Wiktor Zielinski in the semi-final.
He said, “I feel amazing because I was kind of struggling but from match to match, I was just raising my game and I felt more comfortable on the table. Overcoming all the Polish players, I played like six Polish players, all the top ones and it feels amazing as I had to play the toughest players and I beat them.
“I’m a positive person even when I have those times and you never want to be in that position where you play so bad but I was there and somehow, I won the match even though I missed so many balls. I keep telling myself ‘play the match’ and don’t think about anything and I went step-by-step but if you’re a champion you have to be in the right mindset and not be bothered by any mistakes you do.
“When you’re in the final, you’re always going to be playing someone who fought his way through and played good as well – otherwise he wouldn’t be in the Euro Tour final. For me it doesn’t matter who I play – I always go with the same mindset and if I play my game, I know it’s always going to be a tough one for my opponent.
“When I won my tenth one I spoke about Ralf Souquet’s record but there’s still I think 12 titles missing. With all respect, you see how tough it is to win a Euro Tour and Ralf winning so many – it’s incredible. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there but I’ll just have fun with the next ones and try to win as many as possible!” he added.
In the Predator Luxembourg Women’s Open Germany’s Pia Filler showed why she is the most improved player in the women’s game as she overcame another losing position to win against the odds. Having lost her opening game of the championship to Lena Primus, she fought through the one-loss side beating a slew of class players and faced Ina Kaplan in the semi-final. Again, trailing 4-2, she picked it up and won 7-6 to make the final.
Commented Pia, “I mean today the semi-finals and final I probably played my worst to be honest but I never give up and I believed in myself and I’m very proud to have another Euro Tour title. The game is not over until the last ball goes down and I know I’d already won a Euro Tour before, she’d not so mentally I thought I was in a better position.
“But you’ve got to keep fighting and capitalise on any chances you possibly get and I did. I try to get as good as I possibly can and try and get a little bit better, and every single day I’m working hard with Josh, luckily. You never know how far you can go and I want to improve every single day.”
The Predator Euro Tour returns from 25-28 June at its regular summer stop in St Johann im Pongau in the Austrian Alps. The Euro Tour is preceded by a full programme of Predator Pro Billiard Series resorts in the same venue.
Tables 1 and 2 at all Predator Euro Tour events are streamed throughout on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com
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