Albin Ouschan suffered a shock defeat on the opening day of the the 2023 UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena in London with the likes of Shane Van Boening, Mario He, Carlo Biado, and Duong Quoc Hoang amongst the list of top names to not fumble yet live on broadcasters worldwide including DAZN, Viaplay and Sky Sports in the UK.
The shock of the day was two-time World Champion Ouschan was knocked to the losers bracket by Phillip Wildman 9-7 but the Austrian bounced back to beat Graeme Hamilton to keep his journey going on the opposite side of the draw. Two other notable names on the losers side are 2021 World Pool Masters winner Kazakis and 2022 Mosconi Cup Team USA representative Styer. Kazakis falling to Hubert Lopotko whilst Styer suffered at the hands of 14-year-old Swedish star Walter Laikre in a hill hill finish.
Van Boening had it plain sailing with back-to-back wins over Juuso Nuutinen and Tobias Bolt to earn a day off tomorrow before winners qualification while it was a similar story for He who came past two Brits in Adam Lewis and David Lilley. Biado only dropped two racks all-day with a whitewash win over Sorin Victor Dimofte early on and then JJ Faul 9-2 to set up a match for the Last 64 against Dimitri Jungo. Hoang’s two wins sees him set up a meeting with Thorsten Hohmann for a spot in the Last 64 on Thursday.
World Snooker Tour stars Jack Lisowski, Gary Wilson, and Lilley began their weeks with mixed results. Lisowski live on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel overcame Dan Suh in a scrappy contest despite a golden break from the Jackpot in rack two that gave an early confidence boost. Lisowski was then ‘dusted’ by Mieszko Fortunski in his second match as he described in an Instagram story after defeat to the Pole 9-2 to end up on the losers side of the draw with only one life left.
Wilson was in his second UK Open after competing last year and the current WST Scottish Open winner took confidence from an early 9-2 win over Joe Granville as he claimed his biggest scalp to date in Poland’s WNT No.44 Tomasz Kaplan in a 9-6 win. Lilley, 2021 World Seniors champion saw off Scott Hunter but fell at the hands to He despite his best efforts in a 9-5 defeat which sees the Geordie have to contend with Losers Side 2 tomorrow evening.
Wilson said: “It’s a change of equipment really. I have gone back to a snooker cue and I’ve felt much more confident. I was missing balls before and you just can’t miss balls in 9-ball. My break is getting there. Tomasz is a proper player but his break wasn’t quite working which helped and mine was working. As long as I feel comfortable with what I am using, I know I have got a chance and I hope the luck carries on and I can keep winning.”
“I’ve gone back to my roots with the snooker cue and it’s working so far. It’s hard to work on anything now but I want to keep breaking and breaking and practice. I know if my break goes in, I have a chance. If I had 10/15 minutes to try anything, it’d be to practice the break more.”
Live rack-by-rack scoring will be available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com thanks to our partners PRP.
Wherever you are in the world, you will be able to sweat the action with broadcasters globally and live on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube channels in selected territories and on Matchroom.Live. UK and Ireland-based fans can see the final two days on Sky Sports with the opening four on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom YouTube. Fans in the USA will be able to watch all six days live on DAZN whilst those in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Poland, and Netherlands can watch live on Viaplay. Fans in the Philippines meanwhile will be able to sweat the action on TAP Go and those in Vietnam on VietContent channels.
See where to watch in your country here.
Tickets are available from £15 a day to enjoy the action inside one of London’s most historic sporting venues. A season pass is available for £95 with access to all six days whilst a weekend pass giving access to Saturday and Sunday for only £40. Tickets are limited for the weekend sessions. Buy tickets here.
