Eurotour Treviso 2022 - Joshua Filler vs Witkor Zielinski

Yeah, buckle up guys. Here we go. Rack number one. The killer to break. Nice break off shot. And it's got a nice opening layout here, Ralph. Yeah, it's looking good. That's I believe, you know, every player is wishing for, especially at the beginning of a match. Yeah, it's a dream first rack. And second semi-final, which will be straight after this, is Eklund Kaci versus Poland's, remind me, Ralph? Thomas Kaplan. Thomas Kaplan, that's right, yeah. So, no real work to do here. Everything presents itself nicely. Yeah, it always helps when you get a good start. Find your rhythm really early in the match. That could set the pace for the whole match. Yeah, they say it sets the tone. Lovely break and run, which took about 15 seconds. Joshua Filler, 1-0 up. Quite a busy schedule these days, Ralph, with many tournaments on the calendar. You've just got back from the Super Billiards Expo, and you came straight here, and then you have a Romania in a few days, and then straight to the UK Open. Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, I mean, Covid didn't really help the schedule over the last two years, and now it seems like all the promoters are trying to catch up and try to squeeze in every event they can. Exactly, yeah. So, it's really, you know, not much time to prepare or maybe work on things that's not going so well. Rack number two, Zelinski to break. Makes two balls on the break, the wing ball and the one in the side. Has a shot on the two, but it's not as easy as Joshua's opening first shot. That's a bit tricky. It's like, you know, two ball on the 50-yard line, as they say, and the four ball on the lower long rail. So, I don't know if the eight ball is actually blocking the top right. Yeah, to make the shot is okay, position is another story here. Low right English makes it look easy. He definitely made it look easier than it actually was, for sure, but that's the case with the super fast and aggressive players. They make look things easier all the time. Exactly, a bit like Earl Strickland back in the day. Yeah, and I mean, he still is a great player. I mean, I've seen him last week, you know, in Valley Forge. Still in good shape, but we all know his issues here and there. Yeah, I think everybody knows that. That's common knowledge. So, this is a nice reply from Victor in the second rack, looking to tie things up. And we have to keep in mind, Victor won the last two Eurotour events back-to-back. That's right, yeah. So, he could go for a three-peat. That's right, yeah. That's a good point, right? Which did not happen so often over the last 25 years. Did it actually happen, though? I believe it did. I'm not sure if Oliver Ortmann actually won four in a row. Wow. And I'm not sure if actually myself might have won three in a row. Yeah. But we had a few back-to-back winners in the last, yeah, let's say three, four, five years. Yeah, yeah. Including Sanchez Ruiz, obviously Victor now, and Dennis Grabe, he won back-to-back titles. That's right. And there's another guy, Daniel Careri, maybe six, seven years ago, won two in a row. Could be, yeah. Yeah, he did. Not in my memory right now, but yeah. Rack number three. It is a race to nine. The killer to break. Didn't make the one in the side this time. That wasn't his intention. So, we'll have to play a safety shot here. Are you looking to make the one ball in the side, Ralph, most of the time? I think that's the way forward these days, what we see on the Eurotour. It depends on some tables when you cannot make the corner ball, then you actually have to go for the one in the side. But, you know, if you can make the corner ball, then I'd rather make not the one in the side and try to play position on the one. What I found is the players that are trying to play position for one in the corner, the one banks three rails, kind of gets congested with some other traffic over there, and a lot of times they don't get a shot on the one. But that's the same, you know, when you make the one. Exactly, yeah. So, yeah, you have to rely on where's the two or where's the next lowest ball. So, it's swings and roundabouts. Yeah, see if he's trying to cut it in or play a safety here. He's attacking mode, yeah, yeah. Overcut the one there, leaves Joshua a nice lay of the land. He just needs to get pretty straight on this four ball to set up the rack nicely, or as straight as he can. Didn't put a great stroke on that, it could have got closer, do you think? Well, but he had to put, you know, the extension on his cue, so he couldn't really reach, so it was not so easy. Now, maybe he's looking to disturb the five and promote it towards the pocket. I don't think he can hold. Yeah, that's what he tried. I just hit a little too full, but this is always tricky, you know, there's never a guarantee. No, and Victor Zelinsky has actually put Poland on the map, right, for the world titles. They never won a world WPA event, and Victor was the first to win one, the Predator tournament in Vegas, I believe. Well, it wasn't the world title. I mean, the world title was won by Shevchuk. That's right, yeah, yeah. But he won the tournament right before that, right before the Las Vegas Open. So, that basically, yeah, I mean, it was strange. He won the Las Vegas Open, and then in the world ten ball, which followed right thereafter, I think he didn't even make it to the top 64. Okay. That's how strong the field was. Okay. So, that says a lot nowadays. And for those of you watching at home, I do apologize if you don't have a 100% perfect stream. We are having issues with the firewall here at the hotel. So, our sincere apologies. 3-1, 2-1 to Joshua. You've probably been in this match 10 minutes, 12 minutes, and already played three racks. So, stay on your seats. Don't go to the bathroom. You might miss the match. So, we have here a question about who are the other two players. I assume this question goes for the second semifinal. Yeah, I did mention it. Yeah. It was Eklund Kaci from Albania versus Thomas Kaplan from Poland. Yeah, I wasn't sure what he was trying to do. I think he was trying to bank the five ball. It looked a bit like he was trying to duck and play a safety, but maybe a two-way shot. Two-way shot, yeah. It actually went completely wrong. It did, yeah. That's sometimes what happens when you are not 100%, you know, behind your idea. Yeah, 100% committed to the shot. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Now, this looks dry. Only two points. Illegal break. So, we have a three-point ruling effect, and that was a non-compliant illegal break. Each ball that's pocketed counts as a point, and each ball that goes past the head string counts as a point. As you saw, he made the one ball, and only the four went in the kitchen. So, that's a total of two points, and he needed three. Yeah, that's the rules of the Eurotour, and sometimes it can be brutal. Even with a solid hard break, you may not, you know, get the three points. Yeah, like we were talking before, sometimes a ball can hit the titty or the knuckle of the side pocket, and stop you from getting the three points. Yeah, or like here, I mean, two balls were actually going towards the corner pocket, and they basically were in each other's way, so none of them went in. Yeah, yeah, that happens quite a lot, yeah. It seems to me like this table is breaking pretty nicely, and both players getting pretty easy layouts. He used a little bit of inside English there. Now, just a stop shot for the nine in the side. Should extend his advantage. 3-1 to the killer. Well, I guess we have to talk a little bit about it. I saw Joshua warming up before the match, playing ping-pong outside. I did as well. I saw him playing ping-pong. He's pretty good at that, too. Yeah, so he made sure that his body stays warm. Yeah, not that it is cold in here or something. Actually, a nice temperature outside. But it's a good idea to keep your muscles moving, you know. Yeah, and you don't have to think about possible scenarios in the tournament, you know. It wears you out a little bit, but hopefully not too much. But he's looking good, so. Yeah. Oh, spoke too soon there. Yeah, I was watching him play table tennis as well, and it just goes to show how competitive he is, because he'd win a point, and he'd go, yeah! You know, it really means a lot to him. Missed a good opportunity to extend the lead, maybe, a little bit here. 2-poly missed. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that hard. Makeable, for sure. Yeah. That shows that we are all only human beings and no machines. Exactly. It looks a little bit flat on this 4-ball. Something to do here to get down to the 5. I think center table position will be okay. The 8 is blocking a little bit the path, so. Okay. Uh-oh, watch the cue ball. I'm not sure if you can see the 5, but also he bumped the 6 closer towards the 7, so I don't know if the pocket is... Yeah, that was a little bit careless. I think if it was a center table, he could cut the 5 in, or just higher than center table. I guess he didn't feel comfortable with it, but let's see if he... Yeah, that looks like he has to go for a combination. Yeah. I don't think he has a full pocket here. Yeah, and the 6 will track towards the opposite pocket. That's tricky, because especially when the 7 was frozen to the rail. Yeah, if he makes it and stops his cue ball, that's a nice shot. That's a very nice shot, yeah. Indeed. Well, Viktor Selinsky wins game number five. Closed the gap to three games to two. Stole one of Joshua's services, so to speak. That's what you need to do, yeah. Try and steal a rack on your opponent's break. Looking forward to the UK Open, Ralph? Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, that's the next Matchroom event on the calendar. Yeah, I always like to play the Matchroom events. Yeah. And I believe we have some snooker players playing in it as well. I don't even know, yeah. Yeah, we do. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Judd Trump's playing in it. Okay. Some other pretty good players, Martin Gold and Gary Wilson. Oh, okay. Giving it a try, yeah. All right. It's all good for the game. His cue ball went on a little holiday, but he does have a shot on the two ball. It's not an easy one. I mean, he has a natural angle to come around two rails for the three, but first of all, he needs to make it. This is not a hanger. Not a hanger. It's game ball, though. You would have thought if he makes this. Yeah, straight shooter. Nice little bump. Yeah, well, that looks like he's tying up the game. Three games apiece. Might be a little tricky getting from the four to the five. Yeah, needs a nice angle. But if he gets straight on the four, would be okay. Or maybe, yeah, that's what he's done. That'll be absolutely fine. Draw back about a foot and a half. Oops. See, we spoke a bit prematurely there and scratched and he's miscued and everything's gone a bit pear-shaped. I'm just curious, because the referee called foul quite earlier. Did he actually hit the six ball first? Yeah, good point. He must have, yeah. Well, anyways, I mean, the cue ball scratched afterwards. Yeah, but he called it earlier, right? Yeah, so he must have hit the six ball first. I'd like to see the replay on that one. It might be a good learning experience for Victor, because sometimes, and I mentioned that already last event, he's a little bit careless. Yes, he is, yeah. And, you know, here and there, it's going to cost him. Yeah, yeah. But I think that that can work to his advantage as well. He doesn't overthink shots. Of course, of course, yeah. So, Joshua didn't expect that one and takes a two-rack lead, 4-2 now. Let's see when the replay comes, if he actually hit the six first. I'm still curious about it. Yeah, I think he did, if I can kind of replay the shot back in my mind. Let's see now. Oh, no, it was four first. Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah. I wonder why the referee called a foul right away. Maybe he thought, well, miscue and cue ball jump, but the cue ball didn't jump over the object. No. So, it should never be in a foul until the cue ball actually went in. So, at the end, it worked out okay, but if the cue ball would not have scratched, then... That's Joshua's wife, by the way, Pia Filler, on the right. Joshua to break, rack number seven. Now, what a lovely break. I think he really breaks well these days. Yeah. Cue ball pretty central, making one or two balls, and it's kind of a medium pop. I wouldn't say that's a hard break. Yeah, it's, I would say, medium hard. Yeah, yeah. He definitely doesn't put in like 80 or 90 percent, which you don't need nowadays, even though I feel more comfortable hitting it harder myself. Yeah, sometimes you just want to make sure you get the three points, so you hit them harder. Did he snooker himself here? Yeah, he did. That was a bit careless as well. Because he bumped right into the eight ball, right? I think both of them do make some careless mistakes, but, you know, on the flip side of that, they just get on with the game and have quick thinking and get on with it, and that's what gets them so far, so deep into tournaments sometimes. And, of course, they're fearless and shoot from everywhere. Yeah, they're young and got good nerves and stuff. Yeah, still good eyes. So he tried to kick that in using the rail first and just missed it. It was a good try. You can see he's hanging on the lip quite deep. Well, maybe he can get the game back from the mistake in the rack before. He was just having a look to see if the seven passes the eight ball. I doubt it. Yeah, if not, he would have to play a combination or a carom. Carom, yeah, either one, depending on what he feels more comfortable with. Every player has a different feeling about these shots. Probably depends where the cue ball lands as well. Yeah, of course, but you should go into the position with an idea. Yeah, exactly. With a plan A. Yeah, of course. At this level, you have to think shots ahead. He went closer to the rail that he wanted to. Now he's like somewhere in between. Yeah, yeah. Oh, it does go. It's tricky. He might nudge the eight into a more awkward position if he's not careful. Oh, fluid. Oh, yeah. The gap was bigger than it looked like from here. I'll probably play the nine in the side. So, game on again, guys. 4-3. Joshua still in front by one rack. Yeah, here we saw how he hit the eight ball and, yeah, that was basically the mistake here. Yeah. That was a big game. That was a big game. It was either 5-2 or now it's 4-3. That's huge. Definitely, yeah. We are kind of halfway through the match, you know, so let's see how Victor breaks now. Because the last two breaks weren't that great. Okay, see, we saw an example of the one ball hitting the point of the side pocket. I'm not sure if he has a shot. He might have to mess it or swerve it a little bit. Or jump, maybe. Yeah. I think he prefers to jump. Jump would probably be better to get position. Just need to be careful because he has to cut the one a little bit. So, it's easy for the cue ball to jump off the table. That's right, yeah. I think you can see it. Okay, well, I guess my eyes are not the best anymore. No, it can sometimes be deceiving with the monitor. You know, you don't always get the perfect angle. Wow, now we see very unusual mistakes from Victor. Yeah, it was an easy shot but he one-stroked it. He took one stroke at the cue ball and hit the ball. Not advisable, put it that way. Yeah, that's a good way to say it. Follow through, get the cue ball all the way to the end. Yeah, not too far. So, I understand now why there was a break after four racks. Yeah, after four racks, we have a two-minute break. After nine racks, we have a timeout. And after 13 racks, we will also have another two-minute break. 5-3. Joshua Filler takes down Ruck, number eight, and goes up 5-3. I've actually seen more mistakes so far than probably from both players in three matches combined. Yeah, yeah. You have to realize that it's been a long day, long two or three days, and players have been traveling from other parts of the world to get here. So, jet lag might set in as well. So, even the top players cannot always play perfect pool. That is true, yeah. Yeah, like you said, we're all humans. But both players did not play in the US, so they both stayed in Europe. Okay, okay, okay. So, jet lag is out of the equation. Yeah, at least for these two. Look at his breaks. Yeah, he breaks very good. Yeah, yeah. I would say that's medium, not even medium hard. Yeah, that's more medium, yeah. But it's good. Yeah. There's no need for anything else. The amount of times he makes the one in the side so consistently, it's quite amazing. So, he has to play that with a little inside English to keep the cue ball as close to the three as possible. Yeah. That was a little tricky to get afterwards from the three to the four, which is on the other side of the table. If he could replace the cue ball to where it is now, that would be okay. He would be happy, yeah. Oh, he went. So, that was quite intelligent. He didn't want to use inside spin, so he used either plain ball or a little bit of outside to make the shot easier. But get more distance. Yeah, I guess he's not worried about distance. Yeah. It looks like he can just play one rail now. Just come back down the left-hand side of the table. Just caught that second rail. Yeah, nice. Now, the question is basically from the six to the seven. That's the key shot of the rack, yeah. And I assume he will go around two or three rails. I think he'll play his cue ball to the left-hand long rail. Yeah. That's where he's looking and float around a couple of rails or three rails. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, probably two rails would be favorite here. Doesn't want to be straight on the seven because it has to get on the eight. Yeah, but you also don't want to under hit it. Yeah. A little bit touchy, yeah. And just as you said, Ralph, has he under hit it? He has. A little bit, but it's makeable. Yeah, it's makeable. But he missed the two ball which was very similar in this couple of racks before. In the same pocket, right? It's definitely much tougher than he wanted it to have. Yeah. But he did good. Very nice, very nice. Nice clean stroke. Three times across the table. Clean stroke, yeah. I believe he uses the same shaft as you, Ralph. The Z-shaft. No, I don't use a Z. Oh, yeah. But you did, right? Back in the day. I think I used it maybe a couple of months. Okay. Not really. Okay. No, I'm actually playing with a vented shaft nowadays. Oh, really? It looks quite a thin taper. It is, yeah, customized, so to speak. Okay. I have like 12.4, 12.3 millimeters. Okay. I used to play a 3.14, 3.4. Yeah. Probably 15 years. So did I, yeah, for 15 years. But yeah, my luggage got lost in an event earlier the year in, where was it at? Arizona. So I had to borrow a cue. Oh, wow. Thorsten Holman. I borrowed his cue and he was playing with a vented shaft. So I played with it and I played actually great. Okay. Two matches with it. So you didn't look back. You just stuck with it. Well, obviously I had to, you know. Modify it a little bit. Modify. Well, but his was already also modified. Okay. Yeah. Now we have the mandatory break after nine racks. Have you tried the carbon fiber shafts? Don't like them? I've tried. You tried once. Yeah. Yeah. I've actually used. It's not for everyone. Well, when I tried it, at the beginning, I was not using a glove and without using a glove and it just didn't work. Totally different alien feeling. Yeah. Really weird. And I was actually trying it out at the China Open and I had to play in the basement and it was so freezing cold there that the shaft even felt colder than a regular wooden shaft. Okay. Obviously. So it was really awkward. And then in the middle of the match, I unscrewed it and put my wooden shaft back on and that was it. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Everyone has their own cup of tea, you know. Yeah. That's just not me. I mean, even though now I'm playing with a glove since, yeah, I would say. Are you? Yeah. Roughly a year now. Not even a whole year. Yeah. I was at the Eurotour in Slovenia in Lasko last year. Okay. And how do you like it? Finding a little bit consistency with the feeling at least? Well, now I'm used to it. So now it's better. Okay. Good. I still prefer the natural feeling of the wood in my hands. But yeah, I guess now that I've played so many tournaments with the glove, I will definitely stick with it. Okay. Yeah. So it's, yeah, now I got used to it. At least you have some consistent feeling all the time. Exactly. Be in Alaska or you can be in the desert in Dubai. You'll have the same feeling. Yeah. Even though obviously still the temperature in the room and everything might be different and your hands might get still sweaty when it's really warm. So that could be tricky as well. But yeah, it's okay. I mean, I never liked it. I mean, it took really many, many years for me to get used to it or feel comfortable with it. But now it's okay. I know a little story about Joshua. He actually was using a carbon fiber Revo shaft and he won the China Open with it, beat all the best players in the world, beat Changjun Lin in the final. He won the tournament and said, oh, I don't like this shaft. And he went back to wood. I don't know exactly if that were the words he used, but yeah. I remember he got a nice bonus from Predator back in the days. Most people, if they won a major event with a shaft, they would stick with it. But I did the same. Oh, you did? Well, not exactly the same, but I won the European Championships eight ball last or two months ago, still with my 314 shaft. And afterwards I switched to the Vantage. But I have to say that the 314 was 30 inch and I experimented a little bit with lots of things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't 100% happy with the situation. I said, okay, if I switch shaft and play a little thicker shaft and we go from there. Okay, we're back to the match. And Victor scratches on the break. Put a lot of draw on that one. Seemed like it. Obviously it was unintentional and ominous signs for Victor because he is 6-3 down. Joshua will play a combination. I was wondering why he didn't play the combination 2-6 right away, but maybe he goes for the... No. That was a good point because he has to get from the 5 to the 6 now, which was not hard, but he could have took that out of the equation. Yeah. Because it looked like it was straight in. Yeah. It wasn't really much to do with it. But maybe he likes to play position for the 7 easier off the 6. See, that's what could happen if he was dead straight on the 6. It becomes a little bit challenging now. I mean, I wouldn't say it's difficult, but... And the side pockets can be really tricky. Tricky. Yeah. Yeah. In the dynamic table. Yeah. Yeah. I've missed a few in past events. Yeah. Yeah. We all have. Especially when you have to put a little pace into it. As long as you just roll the ball in, it's fine. But when you need to play with a little pace, then they can be really tight. So, looking for our center table position here. Touch of left-hand spin. Okay. He's going for the side now. It looks to be pretty, pretty good. Yeah. Natural angles will just follow through a little bit. That should not be a big issue now. But even on this ball, you could see... It bubbled a bit. Yeah. It bubbled a bit. Yeah. 7-3 to the killer. Extends his advantage by four racks. Yeah. A couple of unforced errors from Viktor Zelinsky. Hasn't played his best pool in the set so far. But let's not count him out. Strangest things have happened. We've seen some great comebacks. Absolutely. Yeah. I was actually surprised to saw... Because he was on the loser side. He lost to his countryman, Radoslav Babica. By quite a big margin. 9-1 or 2. Yeah. 9-1 or 2. Exactly. Yeah. That was a little bit surprising to me. I mean, I was playing, not next to him, but across from him. So, I didn't really see much of the match, obviously, because I was focusing on my match. But, yeah, he didn't seem to be in his game there as well. At the races, yeah. Because, yeah, I saw him giving away at least twice, where like three balls were on the table and he packed in, you know. All right. Wow. Another good break. Kubel Central has got a shot on the 2. Yeah. Feels very comfortable. Only needs to get the cue ball on the 50-yard line in between the 8 and the 9, so he can see the 6 ball. Yeah. Maybe a little too straight here. Yeah. Looks like he can follow, but he wanted like a... The angle to the other side. Angle to the other side. Maybe half ball or three-quarter ball to the other side. Okay. That's not the way most people play it, but presenting the angle he had on the 5, that was maybe the best option. He hit it super hard and go off like five rails. That'll do nicely. Because he was looking to get the position into the side pocket again. I saw with this angle. Yeah. I don't know. And this will put Joshua on the hill. There you have it. 8-3 to Joshua. Quite a commanding lead in the race to 9 with an alternate break format. Yeah. Absolutely. Even though he doesn't seem to be happy with his own game, according to his mimic, but I think he can. He's breaking good. Yes. Of course he made a, you know, a couple of errors, but it didn't really cost him much. Here we have the nice opening shot after the break. It was not so easy because he had to hit it with speed. The thing I've noticed about Joshua, he's always brimming with confidence. I mean, his body language always suggests that he's confident. Yeah. Absolutely. Which is a very good sign. Very, very good asset to have. Now let's see if Victor can put a little more pressure on Joshua. At least with this break. Looks good. Yep. Someone says, who is the other guy? So it's Ralph Zakei and my name is Imran Majid, the Maharaja. I haven't played on the Eurotour for about three years, so excuse my absence, but I'm back now. Yeah, good to see you back. Yeah, thanks Ralph. Not too many British players on the Eurotour anymore. No, myself and... Elliot Sennes and... Elliot, Darren played the last one, but he said he's not going to play here at all, so you'll probably just see me and Elliot, maybe a couple of others. I thought, wasn't Chris Alexander here as well? Yes, yes, yes. If you can call him England, he's from Jersey, which is an island off the country. Yeah, he's a good player as well. Yeah, up and coming. Yeah, he can be dangerous. He beat Albin in the U.S. Open a few years ago. Looks like Victor's gonna peg one back. 8-4 now. Yeah, you can never count him out. Exactly, yeah. As fast as he plays, I mean, he even plays faster than Joshua, which is hard to believe that people actually can be fast. They can, yeah. Except from Tony Drago, but that's a different story. I was talking to Tony about two hours ago. He's looking back to get back into action. He's still a little bit worried about the COVID, because obviously he worries a lot and he's vulnerable, you know. He's, yeah, he's just had his heart surgery, so he's more vulnerable. So that's why he's a little bit worried, but hopefully we'll see him back on screen soon. Is he also not playing on the snooker tour? He was playing on the seniors tour, right? He's entered a couple of seniors tournaments and other events, but he's just too scared to come out of the country at the moment. Oh, now a nice break. Yeah, the seat. Yeah. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that could be it. That could be. I don't see any real problems, but with his break, you cannot fail to get out, really. You know, if you're just like, connect the dots. It's like a drill, practice drill. Even easier than that. Yeah. Most drills are tougher. Yeah. And we have a question. Yeah, I used to commentate a lot about with Mark Gray at the Euro tours, but he's stopped playing. He plays the English pool now. Oh, he does? Yeah. Yeah. He plays on the ultimate pool tour in England, and they have a series of 12 events with some pretty good prize money. I think 10,000 every event, so some pretty decent money in it. Yeah. Each to their own. I don't like that game as much as this game, so. Yeah. Well, Mark, coming from the snooker side, he might like the game a bit more than regular pool players. Yeah. I also came from snooker, yeah. That was my first Q sport. I've had five 1-4-7 breaks. Mark's had like 15 or 16. Yeah. So, Joshua on the winning nine ball to be the first player in the finals of the Dynamic Billiard Treviso Open. Well done. Joshua Fila takes it down with a score of 9-4, and he will play the winner of the next match, which is coming up shortly with Ekhan Khachy from Albania versus Thomas Kaplan from Poland. Don't go away, guys. We'll be back very shortly. It's been a pleasure, Ralph. I don't know if you're commentating on the next one. I will. Okay. So, yeah, we'll be back in action very soon, guys. Ciao for now. Bye-bye.