Good afternoon from the Cueball Talk desk. Nanjing doesn't break off until the small hours, so lunchtime belongs to the pool players. In Gandia the two Spanish former world champions have spent the morning keeping the home crowd happy, and over in Toronto the North American Heyball Open has reached its last day.
Gandia: Alcaide stays perfect, Sánchez Ruiz knocks out Babica
David Alcaide is through his third match at the Revora Spanish Open without a loss. Friday's 09:00 local start brought a 9–4 win over his compatriot Raul Martin Muela on the winners' side, adding to Thursday's 9–0 against David Prieto and 9–4 against Dominik Regieli. Per the EPBF draw, he plays Germany's Dennis Laszkowski tonight in the winners' qualification round. Winning that match takes a player straight into the single-elimination last 32.
Francisco Sánchez Ruiz is still on course too. He beat Radosław Babica 9–6 in the late-morning session. That was the Pole who sent Yannick Pongers to the one-loss side on Thursday, and now Babica has to go the long way round as well. Sánchez Ruiz plays the Czech Petr Urban next.
The rest of Friday's winners' side, per the EPBF live scores
- Oliver Szolnoki whitewashed Belgium's Johny Vanrijkel 9–0, a much calmer afternoon than Thursday's 9–8 escape against Maks Benko. Next for him is Spain's Alvaro Lamapereira Lage.
- Konrad Juszczyszyn looks to have caught up on his sleep. He beat Renzo Sierra 9–4 and meets fellow Pole Tomasz Kaplan, who edged Mykola Moroz 9–8.
- Mateusz Śniegocki beat Cyrille Deruel 9–2 and plays Sambor Stachowiak next.
- Mieszko Fortunski also won 9–0, against Balázs Köles, and meets Germany's Felix Vogel, who beat Portugal's Miguel Silva 9–5.
- Wiktor Zielinski beat Hubert Lopotko 9–4. Fabio Rizzi, Roger Lysholm, Eric Mattern and Dzmitry Hryb also won in the second round.
All of those winners' qualification matches are listed for 19:30 local (18:30 GMT).
Szewczyk and Macioł finally break off
The two Poles who reached the Doha semi-finals start this afternoon at 14:15 local (13:15 GMT). Wojciech Szewczyk, the Euro Tour leader, plays Germany's Niklas Dohr, and Daniel Macioł faces Delmon Khwaja. Both flew in from Qatar, and a slow start would put them straight onto the one-loss side, where the losers' rounds run until 21:30 local tonight.
Women's Open: Filler's first match this afternoon
The Revora Spanish Women's Open started at 10:45 local. Early winners, per the EPBF draw:
- Ina Kaplan beat Cristina Juárez Bianchini 7–0.
- Miriam Steiner beat Nathalie Rohmer 7–0.
- Silvia López Fibla beat Arantxa Fernández 7–3.
- Oliwia Zalewska beat Cindy Carmen Keller 7–2.
- Mirella Feito beat Ciara Blaumoser 7–4, and Elena Urquijo edged Sara Iannini 7–6.
World No. 1 Pia Filler, who leads the tour rankings by 230 points, plays Norway's Ine Helvik at 16:00 local (15:00 GMT). Helvik went through on a forfeit in the first round. Kaplan plays Lena Primus in the same session. The women's last 16 is set for Saturday at 19:00 local (18:00 GMT), and both finals are on Sunday at 20:00 local (19:00 GMT).
Heyball: Jans into the Toronto final
The 2026 WPA North American Heyball Open at Brothers Billiards finishes tonight. Per the event's published semi-final results, Belgium's Wendy Jans beat Sara Rocha 5–4 and Veronika Halliday beat Eylul Kibaroglu 6–5. Jans and Halliday play the women's final at 17:00 Toronto time (21:00 GMT), with $10,000 to the winner from a $58,000 women's prize fund. We haven't seen confirmed men's semi-final results yet, and we'll bring the outcomes in the morning.
Snooker: Nanjing tonight, and an update from Mark Allen
The International Championship starts at 01:30 GMT, when Jimmy White plays Mark Selby, with the full Saturday order of play as listed in this morning's roundup. Metro's Phil Haigh has spelled out what's at stake for Ding Junhui. The 2024 champion's points from that title drop off after this week, and per Metro he needs to reach the final to stay in the top 16 for York. Jak Jones, provisionally 16th, opens against Wang Xinbo.
Mark Allen, who withdrew from Nanjing qualifying, posted a short update this morning. "It's been a pretty low week but I continue my treatment regardless and do my best every day," the Northern Irishman wrote, acknowledging "a lot of support and care out there". Everyone here wishes him well.
Looking ahead
- Champion of Champions: Mattioli Arena, Leicester, 9–15 November. The draw has not been published yet.
- Pan American Snooker Championships: the Seniors event starts tomorrow in Criciúma, Brazil, and the Open follows from 4 to 8 November.
- IBSF World Snooker Championships: Indore, 12–21 November. Pankaj Advani is expected there after his 29th world title.
Where to watch
- Gandia: tables 1, 2 and 3 live on the Pro Billiard TV YouTube channel. Live scores and draws are on the EPBF website.
- Toronto heyball: WPA Live.
- Nanjing: TNT Sports, streaming on HBO Max, in the UK. Scores are on the WST match centre.
Szewczyk and Filler are both at the table this afternoon, and we'll have their results and tonight's Gandia qualification matches in the evening roundup. The Toronto heyball finals follow tomorrow morning.
— Reggie Rutherford
Feature image: “David Alcaide at the World Pool Masters 2007” by Christian Werner, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 3.0.
