2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship

The 2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship was a professional pool tournament for the discipline of ten-ball, organised by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and CueSports International. It was the fifth WPA World Ten-ball Championship with the previous championship held in 2015. The event was originally scheduled to be held in the SM City Activity Center in General Santos, Philippines, but was later moved to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of a three-year deal for the event to be played in the United States. It was held concurrently with the Billiard Congress of America national ten-ball event from June 22 to 26, 2019. The event was sponsored by cue manufacturer Predator Group.

2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship
The official artwork for the event.
Tournament information
DatesJuly 22–26, 2019
VenueRio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
CityLas Vegas, Nevada, United States
Organisation(s)World Pool-Billiard Association
CueSports International
FormatDouble-elimination / single-elimination
DisciplineTen-ball
Total prize fund$132,000
Winner's share$30,000
Final
Champion Ko Ping-chung (TPE)
Runner-up Joshua Filler (GER)
Score10–7
← 2015

The event featured 64 participants based on world pool rankings, as well as qualifiers and played as a double-elimination tournament until the 16 players remained, becoming a single-elimination tournament. Chinese Taipei player Ko Ping-chung won the event, defeating German player Joshua Filler 10–7 in the final. Ko's brother Ko Pin-yi, who won the previous 2015 championship, lost to Filler 10–8 in the semi-final. The event featured a prize fund of $132,000 with $30,000 awarded to the winner.

Format

The event was the first official world ten-ball championship since the 2015 WPA World Ten-ball Championship after plans for events in both 2016 and 2018 both fell through.[1] In December 2018, cue manufacturers Predator Group partnered with CueSports International to stage the event.[1] This was planned to be held at the SM City Activity Center in Manila, Philippines,[2] but it was moved to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, which had also hosted the 2019 WPA Players Championship earlier that year.[3] The event was the first pool world championship held in the US since 1997.[3] The WPA World Ten-ball Championship will be played in Las Vegas until 2022 as part of a three-year deal for the event to be played in the United States.[4] The tournament was played alongside the Billiard Congress of America's National Ten-ball Championship.[5]

The event featured 64 players, with entries being selected from ranking lists for players tours, such as the Euro Tour and the WPA, with 16 qualifiers, held in events from June and July 2019.[6][7][8] The tournament was played as a double-elimination bracket until 16 players remained, becoming a single-elimination tournament.[9] Double-elimination matches were played as a race-to-eight racks,[3] whilst the single-elimination matches were played as a race-to-ten racks.[9] The event was also played under the alternating break format.[10] It was broadcast worldwide on YouTube.[3][11][12]

Prize fund

The tournament total prize fund was $132,000, with $32,000 taken from players' entry fees and $100,000 added by the event organisers.[1] Half of the 64 participants received prize money for their event placing.[9][13][14]

Place Prize money
Winner$30,000
Finalist$20,000
Semi-finalist$10,000
Quarter-finalist$5,000
Last 16$2,500
17–24$1,750
25–32$1,000
Total$132,000

Tournament summary

Double elimination bracket
Shane Van Boening was defeated by his event roommate Billy Thorpe in the opening round of the tournament.

The event began on July 22, 2019, and double elimination rounds were played until July 24.[15][10] The 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship winnerJoshua Filler defeated Fan Yang 8–5.[16][17] Filler lost his second match 1–8 to Johann Chua after losing the first seven racks of the match.[18] Filler reached the knockout round after defeating both Gerson Martinez Boza and Alexander Kazakis 8–2.[19]

American players Shane Van Boening and Billy Thorpe shared a hotel room for the event, but were drawn to play each other in the opening round.[4] After a combined eight break-and-runs, Thorpe defeated Van Boening 8–5.[19][20] In their second matches, Van Boening defeated Hunter Lombardo 8–1, and Thorpe defeated John Morra 8–5.[19] Thorpe reached the knockout round of the event by defeating Marc Bijsterbosch, while Van Boening was eliminated by Martinez Boza.[19][21]

Niels Feijen defeated Vilmos Földes 8–7 on a deciding rack in the first round.[22] In his second match, Feijen faced three-time world champion Earl Strickland; both players were Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame inductees.[23] Strickland took the lead at 2–0 before missing a table length nine-ball, allowing Strickland to win the third rack. Strickland later took a lead of 6–4 before Feijen took the next four racks to win 8–6.[23] Feijen's final break pocketed four balls, leading Strickland to comment on the performance by saying "wow".[23] After the match, Feijen stated "He probably played a little better throughout the whole match. You just have to wait for a mistake."[23] Feijen defeated Albin Ouschan to reach the knockout round, while Strickland lost 5–8 to Lo Li-wen and was eliminated.[24]

Defending champion Ko Pin-yi won his opening round match to Ariel Casto, but lost to Alex Pagulayan 8–6 in the second round.[16] His brother, Ko Ping-chung, defeated Duong Quoc Hoang, Danny Olson, and Chris Melling to reach the knockout rounds.[19][21]

Early rounds
Niels Feijen reached the quarter-final of the event, before losing to 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship winner Joshua Filler.

The round of 16 and quarter-finals were played on June 25.[10] Ko Pin-yi defeated Johann Chua 10–2 in a one-sided match, then faced Chang Jung-Lin in the quarter-finals.[25] Ko took an early lead of 4–1, which increased to 9–6 with errors from Chang. After Ko failed to pot the 8-ball, Chang cleared the table and break and ran the next rack to trail 8–9, before Ko won the next rack to win the match.[26] Joshua Filler defeated Jayson Shaw and Niels Feijen, both of whom had been undefeated in the tournament to that point to face Ko Pin-yi in the semi-final.[26] Shaw took an early 4–2 lead in their round of 16 match, but Filler won 10–8. Feijen had previously defeated Wojciech Szewczyk 10–9, but Filler took an early lead at 5–2 in their quarter-final match, eventually winning 10–8.[26]

Ko Ping-chung qualified for the semi-final after defeating Marc Bijsterbosch 10–7 and Alex Pagulayan 10–4. Pagulayan, who had defeated Ralf Souquet 10–9 despite trailing 3–7, struggled to play against Ko's safety play. Ko trailed in the first match 3–2, before winning eight of the next nine racks to win.[26] The match was temporarily halted after the venue's fire alarm sounded, but both players opted to play on; after the match, Pagulayan commented "We don't care about that. At home, we play with chickens running around", with Ko adding the "same thing [happens] in China".[26]

Masato Yoshioka defeated both Denis Grabe and Tyler Styler to play Ko in the second semi-final. At the time, Styer was the only remaining American player in the event, having defeated compatriot Billy Thorpe 10–7 in the first round.[25] Yoshioka fell behind early in his semi-final match, trailing 0–4 after two unforced errors. However, he took six of the next seven racks to lead 6–5. Styer failed to take advantage in rack 12, after snookering himself behind the 10-ball. Yoshioka won the match 10–7.[27]

Semi-finals

The semi-finals and final were held on June 26, the last day of the competition.[10] In the first semi-final, Joshua Filler defeated Ko Pin-yi 10–8. Filler took an early 3–0 lead, after losing the lag, before Ko produced two dry breaks.[28] Ko fought back and won five of the next six racks to lead the match 5–4. However, after errors from both players, Filler led 9–6 after two more dry breaks from Ko. Filler failed to capitalize in racks 16 and 17, before winning the match in rack 18.[28] After the match, Ko commented "I was criticizing and questioning myself, and that's why I didn't do well on the breaks [...] I wasn't very lucky. Every time that Filler missed, I didn't have a good position to shoot."[28]

In the second semi-final, Ko Ping-chung reach the final after a 10–3 win over regional qualifier Masato Yoshioka. Yoshioka won the opening rack of the match, but after a series of errors, lost the next four racks to trail 4–1.[28] He tried to recover after a break and run, capitalizing on a scratch from Ko to trail 5–3, but Ko won the remaining five racks to win the match.[28] As a relatively unknown player, Yoshioka commented "My main objective was to just get the experience internationally, but when I got to the semi-finals, I felt a lot of pressure. That's why I didn't play in a way that I want[ed] to play."[28]

Finals

The final was played as a race-to-ten-racks match, with Ko Ping-chung defeating Joshua Filler 10–7. Filler took an early 3–1 lead, with Ko taking a comfort break after rack four.[29] Ko met up with his brother Pin-yi during the break and later tied up the match 5–5, before taking the lead for the first time at 6–5.[28] With Filler firing a dry break when trailing 8–7, Ko played a one-rail kick shot, winning the rack to lead 9–7.[28] Ko banked the 1-ball in rack 18 and ran the rack to win the championship. Ko commented, "The last couple of years, Joshua has played really well and I just wanted to challenge him. I didn't know if I could beat him but I just wanted to try my best."[28]

The win was the first major championship of Ko Ping-chung's career, having previously reached semi-finals in various events. The event mirrored the 2015 WPA World Ten-ball Championship, which was won by Ko's brother while he had lost in the semi-final. When asked about the outcome, Ko Ping-chung answered "I was happy for my brother, but I think if I would have been the winner that may have been better".[28]

Knockout draw

The following results only show the final 16 players.[30] All matches were played as race-to-ten racks.[13] Players in bold represent winners:

First round Quarter-final Semi-final Final
        
 Johann Chua (PHL) 2
 Ko Pin-yi (TPE) 10
Ko Pin-yi 10
Chang Jung-lin 8
 Chang Jung-lin (TPE) 10
 Cheng Yu-hsuan (TPE) 8
Ko Pin-yi 8
Joshua Filler 10
 Niels Feijen (NED) 10
 Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) 9
Niels Feijen 8
Joshua Filler 10
 Jayson Shaw (SCO) 8
 Joshua Filler (GER) 10
Joshua Filler 7
Ko Ping-chung 10
 Ralf Souquet (GER) 9
 Alex Pagulayan (CAN) 10
Alex Pagulayan 4
Ko Ping-chung 10
 Ko Ping-chung (TPE) 10
 Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) 7
Ko Ping-chung 10
Masato Yoshioka 3
 Masato Yoshioka (JPN) 10
 Denis Grabe (EST) 6
Masato Yoshioka 10
Tyler Styler 7
 Billy Thorpe (USA) 7
 Tyler Styler (USA) 10
gollark: It took me hours to even get a generic hatchling for one. If you have a more specific request you may get it though.
gollark: Unless God-Emperor TJ09 develops sanity and common sense.
gollark: __***P. A. G. I. N. A. T. I. O. N***__
gollark: The lack of ***PAGINATION*** is horrible.
gollark: You know, if we still had get-thing-from-AP-by-code, it'd be a very convenient storage space.

References
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