Spain’s Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz wins his first ever Eurotour stop beating Greece’s Alex Kazakis in a thriller here in Lasko Slovenia. In a match that had it all, we were treated to everything, jumps, scratches, kicks and a lot of emotion as these two players put on one hell of a performance in front of an excited crowd. With so much happening, the last rack simply sums this match up.

With the score tied at 8-8, Alex has the crucial break but it’s illegal, handing the initiative to Francisco who then leaves the 1-ball hanging in the pocket. Alex makes that ball but hooks himself on the 3-ball and plays a good kick-shot to leave Francisco with a difficult jump. Francisco elevates the cue ball with such accuracy it pots the 3 into the side but the cue ball travels to the opposite centre pocket and clips the knuckle only just staying on the table, to the delight of the Spaniards watching who gave a loud cheer. Francisco was shaking and Alex was holding his head as Francisco just about held his nerve to run the remaining balls and clinch his first ever Eurotour title.

Francisco now joins an elite club of players who can claim they’ve been there, done it and got the badge to prove it. So it’s onto the next tour stop which is in Antalya on 28th – 30th October. Other results from earlier today are listed below.

Semi-final results

Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz vs Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) 9-3

(ESP) Alex Kazakis (GRE) vs Mohammad Soufi (SY) 9-5

Quarter final results

Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) vs Wiktor Zielinski (POL) 9-5

Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) vs Mario He (AUT) 9-5

Mohammad Soufi (SY) vs Besar Spahiu (ALB) 9-7

Alex Kazakhs (GRE) vs Joshua Filler (GER) 9-5

All results can be found at www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/