Francisco Sanchez Ruiz has gone top of the Premier League Pool table going into the last day of play as four more exited pool's most unique competition at the Morningside Arena, Leicester, England live on Matchroom.Live, Viaplay and networks worldwide.
Sanchez Ruiz has lingered towards the top end of the table all week but finally took solo top spot going into the final day after an afternoon session that saw the Nineball World No. 1 dismantle Naoyuki Oi and Konrad Juszczyszyn before a clash with Sanjin Pehlivanovic in a battle of the leading pair. Pehlivanovic struggled and laboured after a whitewash loss to Oi and it continued as Sanchez Ruiz came good 5-3 to ensure top spot overnight. With defeat, Pehlivanovic stands two points behind Sanchez Ruiz as the latter overcame Albin Ouschan in the final match of the day in a hill hill finish. It was Sanchez Ruiz's eighth win in nine matches.
Jayson Shaw has played more racks than anyone else (191) and he will be happy with his return from that sitting right in the mix in third place. The Brit has rallied all week and beat Alex Pagulayan early doors and Ouschan to ensure a top six finish whatever played out in the evening. Oi meanwhile wrapped up his top six berth with points against Wu Kun Lin and Pehlivanovic. Pagulayan got it done but was made to wait for other results to make sure of his spot, the Canadian didn't have the rub of the green with three defeats from four today but his work was already done.
The drama came in the battle to sneak in the top six with only defending champion ruled out of pushing inside the bubble. Oi booked his place first with a 5-3 win over Wu, with the latter needing a win to keep faint hopes alive of making the final day. Skyler Woodward was hanging in the picture all day after a phenomenal day yesterday brought him close to the target and he continued on his way in the afternoon and evening with wins over Wu, Jayson Shaw, and Alex Pagulayan but it still proved to not be enough. The Blue Grass Bad Ass needed to beat Juszczyszyn to guarantee it but a 5-4 loss would've kept him in the fold pending on the result of Ouschan vs Juszczyszyn. Woodward was 4-0 down to Juszczyszyn but clawed it back to 4-3 only for it to be too little too late
Elsewhere, the Juszczyszyn/Woodward result meant Wu could steal the final spot if it wasn't for coming up against an imperious Shane Van Boening who was already out the picture by the time they met. Wu needed a win to stand a chance if Juszczyszyn was to lose against Ouschan. In truth, he was never in the contest though as Van Boening found stroke in the final knockings to lock up an 8th placed finish overall and leave Wu and Ouschan behind him in the table.
24 matches and 20 hours of Pool live daily from 11 am UK time tomorrow morning on Matchroom.Live, Viaplay, and networks worldwide. Full broadcaster list available below. Coverage can also be found on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube channels in selected countries.
• Matchroom.Live – UK & Ireland
• AMC Network Hungary
• Fox Sports – Australia (Final Day Only)
• Nova – Czech Republic & Slovakia
• SSC – Mena region
• Supersport – South Africa & Sub-Saharan Africa
• Tap – Philippines
• Viaplay – Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Poland, Denmark, • Finland, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands
• Vietcontent – Vietnam
• Matchroom.Live – Rest of the World
The 16-player league format invitational sees the world’s best pitted against each other over the opening five days to vie for position in the top ten. After five days, the bottom six are eliminated with the remaining 10 players facing off again across days six and seven before four more players exit. The remaining six then play each other once more on the final day before the top four content the playoffs. All league matches are Race to 5 with the alternate break in action.
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