Thursday evening. Pankaj Advani is the world billiards champion again. He was 106 points behind Robert Hall at halfway in today's final at Landywood and won it by 700. In Manila the last 32 is finished. Aleksa Pecelj has booked his first Mosconi Cup place, and the American race now comes down to Fedor Gorst against Jayson Shaw on Friday. In Belfast, Kyren Wilson needed a decider and a 78 clearance to get past Pang Junxu, who nearly made a 147 first.
Landywood — Advani beats Hall to win the John Roberts Trophy
World Billiards had Hall leading 773–667 at the halfway interval of the timed final. By the last hour Advani was more than 350 points in front, and he finished it 1,906–1,206, per the results sheet published by Cue Sports India. So he outscored Hall 1,239–433 after the break. World Billiards says it's the first time Advani has won this title since 2014.
There was a bit of revenge in it. Hall beat Advani 1,024–169 in last weekend's English Open semi-final, per the WPBSA. This is also Hall's second defeat in a world final at this venue, after he lost to David Causier in 2024. He was looking for his first world title.
The same results sheet gives the semi-final scores we couldn't confirm this morning: Advani 1,607–1,271 Causier, which ended Causier's bid for a third world title in a row, and Hall 1,029–887 Peter Gilchrist. Cue Sports India lists the prize money as £7,500 for the winner and £3,500 for the runner-up. With Shruthi L winning the women's title on Wednesday, India has taken both world titles at Landywood this week.
Quezon City — the last 16 is set, and Pecelj is going to Orlando
Aleksa Pecelj beat Justin Bergman 10–2 this afternoon (Manila time). His three wins this week have been 10–1, 10–3 and 10–2. Rack 9 reports that the Serbian has now secured an automatic place on Team Europe for the Mosconi Cup in Orlando from 27 to 30 November. It'll be his debut. Matchroom Pool congratulated him, calling the place "so, so well deserved". Hungary's Oliver Szolnoki was the only player who could still catch him, and he lost 10–2 to Albert Januarta. Rack 9 says captain Niels Feijen now has at least three of his five: Francisco Sánchez Ruiz, Joshua Filler on the numbers, and Pecelj. The automatic places are confirmed after Saturday's final, and then Feijen picks two wildcards.
The rest of the last 32 (per Absolute Pool and Spin.ph):
- Johann Chua 10–8 James Aranas: Chua was 8–5 down to his close friend and won the last five racks.
- Carlo Biado 10–8 Calil Ramber.
- David Alcaide 10–6 Skyler Woodward: the defending champion is still going. Woodward was sixth on the American Mosconi Cup list before Manila, so his week is over.
- Francisco Sánchez Ruiz 10–3 Billy Thorpe.
- Bernie Regalario 10–5 Demosthenes Pulpul.
- Baseth Mocaibat 10–8 Denis Grabe: Grabe, the Arizona Open champion, ended Jaybee Sucal's run on Wednesday, and Mocaibat has now knocked Grabe out.
- Albert Januarta 10–2 Oliver Szolnoki.
Spin.ph counts seven Filipinos in the last 16: Chua, Biado, Edwin Dela Cruz Gamas, Regalario, Jefrey Roda, Anton Raga and Mocaibat. Roda and Raga play each other, so at least one Filipino will be in the quarter-finals.
The last 16 (Friday, Manila time)
- Aloysius Yapp v Baseth Mocaibat
- Shane Van Boening v Edwin Dela Cruz Gamas
- Jefrey Roda v Anton Raga
- Fedor Gorst v Jayson Shaw
- Francisco Sánchez Ruiz v Thorsten Hohmann
- David Alcaide v Bernie Regalario
- Johann Chua v Aleksa Pecelj
- Carlo Biado v Albert Januarta
The American race comes down to two matches
At lunchtime we worked out the Team USA numbers from Rack 9's pre-event list and the prize fund. On those figures Hohmann has gone $80 above Tyler Styer, who isn't playing this week, so Styer can't add to his total. Gorst is $100 below him, and a quarter-final place is worth $5,000. If Gorst beats Shaw, Gorst and Hohmann both go above Styer, and Styer drops out of the automatic places and needs a wildcard from captain Johan Ruijsink. If Shaw wins, Styer keeps his place. So a Scotsman will decide who the third automatic American is. Hohmann, meanwhile, plays Sánchez Ruiz, who has already qualified for Team Europe. These are still our own sums, so treat them as a guide until the World Nineball Tour publishes the final standings after Saturday.
Belfast — Wilson survives Pang's maximum attempt
Wilson and Mark Williams are the only top-16 players left, and Wilson very nearly went out this afternoon. He opened with a 70, and Pang replied with a 108. Wilson made 92 in the fifth to lead 3–2. In the sixth Pang took the reds with blacks and was on a 147, per TNT Sports. He needed a cannon to split the last two reds, and the black rattled in the jaws. His 97 still forced a decider. Wilson then made a 78 clearance to win it (frame detail per the Irish News).
"I was rooting for him, because I think it would have been fantastic for the live crowd to see," Wilson told TNT Sports. His 139 against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is still the highest break of the event. Later he said: "The tournament has been great for the underdog. It just shows you how tough it is now. I was one frame from going out and not really doing anything wrong, and that's what happened to most of the top players."
The other afternoon results (per WST and snooker.org):
- Sam Craigie 4–2 Matthew Selt: WST says he finished with a big clearance under pressure, and it's his first quarter-final since 2024.
- Anthony McGill 4–1 Mateusz Baranowski: McGill wrapped it up after laying what WST called a "devious snooker". He beat the defending champion Jack Lisowski in the last 32.
- Elliot Slessor 4–1 Ricky Walden.
That gives us two of Friday's quarter-finals (best of 11): McGill v Wilson and Craigie v Slessor. The evening session is still being played as we publish. David Gilbert v Cheung Ka Wai and Mark Williams v Martin O'Donnell started at 7pm, and Jak Jones v Daniel Wells and Jordan Brown v Scott Donaldson follow at about 9pm. We'll have those results in the morning.
Goyang — Im Jung-sook's comeback and Kim Ga-young's 11-point opening
Last-16 results from the NH Nonghyup Card LPBA Championship (per Billiards & Sports):
- Im Jung-sook 3–2 Jeong Su-bin: Jeong was going for back-to-back tour titles and led 2–0. Im won the third set 11–0 and the fourth 11–7. In the decider both players were one point from winning at 8–8, and Im got there first, 9–8. Im had gone out in the last 128 at three tour events in a row this season, and this is her first quarter-final of the campaign.
- Kim Ga-young 3–2 Han Ji-eun: Kim scored all 11 points in the first inning of the first set. Han won the fourth set to level at 2–2, and Kim closed out the decider 9–0 with a run of eight. Kim is going for her 20th LPBA title.
- Kim Bo-mi 3–2 Kang Ji-eun: this sets up a rematch with Kim Ga-young, who leads their head-to-head 4–2 and beat her in the 2022-23 World Championship final.
- Lee Seon-young 3–0 Kim Chae-yeon: it's Lee's first LPBA quarter-final.
- Also through: Lee Mi-rae 3–1 Kim Da-hee, Lee Ma-ri 3–2 Seo Han-sol, Park Jung-hyun 3–1 Oh Su-jeong and Kang Yu-jin 3–2 Lee Eun-kyung.
US regional — Archer and Davenport meet again in Aiken
The $3,000-added South Carolina Open 9-Ball at Rack & Grill III in Aiken last weekend drew 53 entrants and two old road warriors. Johnny Archer and Kim Davenport co-owned the Marietta Billiard Club in Georgia for just over a dozen years, and they met in a winners' side semi-final. Davenport won it 9–6 and then beat BJ Ussery Jr 9–6 for the hot seat. Ussery came back through the one-loss side, beat Archer 7–3 in the semi-final, and won the opening set of the true double-elimination final 9–6. Then he and Davenport agreed to split the top two prizes and share the title, per AZBilliards. The next Rack & Grill events are two tournaments at Rack & Grill II in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday 7 November.
Elsewhere
- London, WPA Blackball World Championships: the singles and doubles start tonight. Malta's 2023 world singles champion Clayton Castaldi plays England's Jason Hill at 8pm, one of six singles matches involving Maltese players between 8pm and 9pm, and the men's doubles start at 10pm (per the Times of Malta).
- Gandia, European Seniors: the 10-ball medal matches are on Friday, and the seniors team event runs to Tuesday 27 October (per the EPBF).
- Oberhausen: Q Tour Europe Event Three started today and runs to Sunday 25 October.
Coming up / where to watch (BST)
- Northern Ireland Open, Belfast: tonight Gilbert v Cheung and Williams v O'Donnell (7pm), then Jak Jones v Wells and Brown v Donaldson (about 9pm). The quarter-finals are on Friday. On TNT Sports, Eurosport, HBO Max and WST Play.
- Philippines Open, Quezon City: the last 16 is on Friday, Manila time, on WNT TV, with one table free on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel and One Sports in the Philippines. Semi-finals (race to 11) and final (race to 13) on Saturday, with $20,000 for the winner.
- Goyang, LPBA quarter-finals on Friday: 7.30am Kim Ga-young v Kim Bo-mi and Lee Mi-rae v Park Jung-hyun; 12.30pm Im Jung-sook v Kang Yu-jin and Lee Seon-young v Lee Ma-ri.
- Ultimate Pool Masters, BallPoint, Telford: the men's event is on Friday. Players outside the top 32 start at 10am, and the top 32 come in from about 3pm. The winner gets £8,000. The women's Masters is on Saturday and Sunday.
- Blackball, London: live scores on CueScore.
Sources: World Billiards, Cue Sports India results sheet and the WPBSA (Landywood); Rack 9, Absolute Pool, Spin.ph and Matchroom Pool (Manila and the Mosconi Cup race); WST, TNT Sports, the Irish News, BBC Sport and snooker.org (Belfast); Billiards & Sports (Goyang); AZBilliards (South Carolina Open); Times of Malta (Blackball); EPBF (Gandia); Ultimate Pool (Telford).
Feature image: “Billiards match - Spencer Diggle” (John Roberts Jr, the champion the World Championship trophy is named after, playing Edward Diggle at Central Hall, Sheffield, before 1899) by an unknown photographer, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain (PD-UK-unknown).
