Saturday evening, 31 October 2026 — Evening from the Cueball Talk desk. At lunchtime Oliver Szolnoki was 2–6 down to Roman Hybler. By mid-afternoon the defending Gandia champion had won hill-hill, and he's still standing. David Alcaide and Daniel Macioł aren't. Both went out of the Spanish Open in the last 32 on a day when the margins were thin all over the bracket. In Nanjing, an 18-year-old in his first season as a professional has sent Jak Jones home.
GANDIA — SPANISH OPEN (PREDATOR EURO TOUR, 9-BALL)
Szolnoki survives, 11–10
When we left it at midday, Szolnoki was 2–6 behind against Hybler, who had come through the losers' qualification that morning. In a race to 11 that's a big hole against a player in rhythm. Szolnoki dug his way out and won the deciding rack to take it 11–10. Next up in tonight's last 16 is Fabio Rizzi, who dropped only three racks against Dmytro Skorokhodov.
Alcaide and Macioł go out
Alcaide and Mateusz Śniegocki were level at 8–8 at the midday check. Śniegocki then took the last three racks to win 11–8. That ends the home challenge from the man who had won all three of his matches on the winners' side this week. Macioł had been close to flawless in qualifying, winning 27 of 31 racks, but he couldn't recover from trailing Gabriel Aspholm 6–8. Aspholm pulled away to win 11–7.
The rest of the last 32
- Wojciech Szewczyk 11–7 Jonas Souto. He was 9–6 up at lunchtime and closed it out.
- Yannick Pongers 11–10 Tomasz Kaplan, another hill-hill finish after they were level at 9–9.
- Luca Menn 11–9 Hubert Lopotko. Menn was 7–9 down and won the last four racks.
- Kristián Mrva 11–8 Emil-Andre Gangfløt
- Ramazan Dincer 11–9 Yuma Dörner
- Felix Vogel 11–9 Szymon Kural
Last 16 tonight, 20:00 GMT (race to 11)
- Wojciech Szewczyk v Wiktor Zielinski
- Ramazan Dincer v Iker Andoni Echeverria
- Mieszko Fortunski v Mateusz Śniegocki
- Yannick Pongers v Felix Vogel
- Luca Menn v Kristián Mrva
- Francisco Sánchez Ruiz v Gabriel Aspholm
- Eric Mattern v Mika van Berkel
- Fabio Rizzi v Oliver Szolnoki
GANDIA — SPANISH WOMEN'S OPEN
Filler one rack away
The women's last 16 started at 18:00 GMT, and it's a race to 9. At about 19:05 GMT, Pia Filler led Jolien Schuurman 8–1 and needed one more rack for a place in the quarter-finals. Ina Kaplan also has a big lead, 8–3 over Oktawia Brodecka.
On the tables (about 19:05 GMT)
- Pia Filler 8–1 Jolien Schuurman
- Ina Kaplan 8–3 Oktawia Brodecka
- Daria Siranchuk 7–2 Li Yongxi
- Maria-Teresa Ropero 7–3 Miriam Steiner
- Linnéa Hjalmarström 6–4 Monika Zabek
- Sandra Baumgartner 6–5 Jiang Teng
- Oliwia Zalewska 5–4 Silvia López Fibla
- Ana Gradišnik 6–2 Marion Jude
How the second-chance round went
Ine Helvik, whom Filler beat on Friday, is out. Brodecka beat her 7–4 in the losers' qualification this afternoon. The others who came back for a second go also won: Zalewska 7–3 Gloria Truffa, Monika Zabek 7–6 Angelina Lubinaz, Li Yongxi 7–5 Kamila Khodjaeva, Miriam Steiner 7–4 Nina-Skresholt Torvund, Jiang Teng 7–3 Julia Babica, Jolien Schuurman 7–1 Romina Lenk and Gradišnik 7–4 Lena Primus.
SNOOKER — INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, NANJING
Wang Xinbo stuns Jones
Jak Jones has had the season of his life. He has won the Championship League and the British Open already this season, and he was in the Northern Ireland Open final only last weekend. In Nanjing he lost 6–3 to Wang Xinbo. The 18-year-old is in his first season as a professional and had already knocked out David Gilbert in qualifying. Jones led 1–0 at lunchtime but couldn't hold on. Wang now plays Neil Robertson in the last 32 on Monday.
The favourites come through
- Wu Yize 6–0 Hammad Miah. Wu's next opponent is Robbie Williams on Sunday at 11:30 GMT.
- Zhao Xintong 6–1 Ian Burns. Zhao plays David Lilley on Sunday at 11:30 GMT.
- Judd Trump 6–3 Liu Wenwei. He meets Fan Zhengyi, who beat Steven Hallworth 6–1, on Sunday at 06:00 GMT.
- Jackson Page 6–2 Michal Szubarczyk. Page plays Stephen Maguire on Sunday at 06:00 GMT.
- Si Jiahui 6–4 David Grace. Si is straight into the last 32, where he plays Liu Hongyu on Monday.
Overnight and Sunday (all times GMT)
- 01:30 — John Higgins v Lyu Haotian, Mark Williams v Ishpreet Singh Chadha, Stuart Bingham v Marco Fu, Zhang Anda v Huang Jiahao, Oliver Lines v Dylan Emery, Ashley Carty v Julien Leclercq, Chang Bingyu v Ross Muir
- 06:00 — Ding Junhui v Gao Yang, Judd Trump v Fan Zhengyi, Kyren Wilson v Liam Highfield, Stephen Maguire v Jackson Page, Joe O'Connor v Yuan Sijun, Aaron Hill v Anton Kazakov
- 11:30 — Wu Yize v Robbie Williams, Zhao Xintong v David Lilley, Pang Junxu v Mina Awad, Gary Wilson v Xu Si, Chris Wakelin v Long Zehuang, Stan Moody v Sam Craigie, Daniel Wells v Duane Jones
ELSEWHERE
- Korea: The fourth round of the PBA Team League started today at the Goyang Kintex PBA Stadium and runs until 8 November. The UMB three-cushion World Cup in Yanggu starts on Monday.
- Coming up: The Pan-American Heyball Open in Arequipa, Peru begins on Tuesday, and the IBSF World Championships in Indore open on 12 November.
Coming up in Gandia (all times GMT)
- Tonight 20:00 — Men's last 16
- Sunday 09:00 — Men's and women's quarter-finals
- Sunday 12:00 and 15:00 — Semi-finals
- Sunday 19:00 — Both finals
Where to watch: In Gandia, tables 1–3 are streamed on Pro Billiard TV on YouTube, and full scores are on the EPBF draw and results pages. In the UK, Nanjing is on TNT Sports and HBO Max. Elsewhere it's on Eurosport, WST Play and Huya.
The EPBF results pages list times in Spanish local time (CET), which is GMT+1, and we've converted them. Women's scores marked as on the tables were unfinished when we checked at about 19:05 GMT.
Sources: EPBF draw and results (men's and women's Spanish Open), Snooker Org results service, WST, Totally Snookered, Rankue Korean billiards calendar.
Feature image: “Nine-ball rack” by SMcCandlish, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
