Gorst eliminates Diamond Open’s defending champion Shaw in a blowout

Fedor Gorst (J. Sturgis)

Final Four semifinals – Gorst versus Kaci, Feijen against Alcaide are underway 

Holy . . . shinola!!

Not only did Fedor Gorst defeat the Diamond Open’s defending champion today (Sunday, April 13), he did so in a way that made you wonder whether that defending champ’s (Jayson Shaw’s) ‘eagle eye’ had failed him somehow. Shaw didn’t even get on the board until Gorst was up 8-0.

In his defense, Shaw didn’t have a lot to work with as Gorst not only kept dropping balls into holes, but when he couldn’t (and that didn’t happen very often), he left Shaw with difficult options. And when Shaw returned the favor, leaving him with difficult options, which he did frequently, Gorst managed to not only respond by hitting the right ball, but would generally leave Shaw (again) with another difficult option. And on and on it went. 

An encapsulation of how things went for Shaw was epitomized in the third rack. Down 0-2, Shaw broke to come within a hair of dropping the 9-ball, leaving the 1-ball in a position he had to jump to reach and even if he hit it, would have to have come off a rail for a long bank. He hit it but didn’t drop it. Gorst ran to the 7-ball and used it to drop the 9-ball that Shaw had left in the teeth of a corner pocket on the break. 

In rack #4, Gorst broke, dropped one ball and in a matter of seconds, used a 3-9 combo to go up 4-0. Shaw broke rack #5, scratched and Gorst ran ‘em to go up 5-0.  Gorst broke dry and Shaw played safe right out of the gate. Gorst jump-safed and when, right afterwards, Shaw did what he could, shy of sinking a ball, Gorst ran ‘em again to be up 6-0.

Two more racks went Gorst’s way, one that saw Shaw execute some excellent safety play, which eventually Gorst got around and another (off of Gorst’s break) in which Shaw did some more fancy safety work, Gorst worked his way out of that, too and was up 8-0.

Applause from the arena crowd had been generally subdued to that point, but that was about to change. And it came at the end of a rack that Shaw had broken, dry. There was initially some back and forth, ‘chase the 1-ball’ action, before Gorst broke free and ran them to the 5-ball, which he missed (at that juncture, it was almost shocking). Shaw picked up the ‘ball’ and ran with it to get on the board. And the crowd went wild, thinking ‘comeback’ as one (Gorst included) might well do when Shaw’s at the table, even if he is down by seven racks at 1–8. 

Gorst broke, dropping one and left himself with a tough shot on the 2-ball. Now in ‘take no prisoners’ mode, Gorst made something of an unbelievable shot to hit it, but did turn the table over to Shaw. Shaw’s ‘eagle eye’ seemed to be in working condition when he dropped the 4-ball and moved on. Looking at the 6-ball and its possible hole, and now in ‘make no mistakes’ mode, he opted for a safe that put Gorst in the position of having to jump just to hit it. He didn’t. Shaw took over and it was 8-2.

Again, typical of what was happening to Shaw that really had nothing to do with his ‘eagle eye’ or his well-functioning brain, he broke dry shooting at rack #11. Gorst ran to the 7-ball and rattled it in a corner pocket; his first directly unforced error. Shaw jumped up and dropped it. Still behind by 5 at 3-8, the crowd and possibly Shaw himself was being sold on the idea of a potentially unbelievable comeback.

Gorst broke rack #12, silencing the crowd by running the table to reach the hill at 9-3. Shaw broke what proved to be the last rack, and again, typical of the way things had been going, he broke dry and scratched. Gorst ran the table to complete a remarkable race to 10 with eight in a row and two at the end.

The less dramatic other semifinals (one exception) bring field down to Final Four

Albania’s Eklent Kaci and Spain’s F.S.R battled to within a game of double hill in another quarterfinal. Kaci got out in front near the end to win it 10-8 and join Gorst in one of the semifinals.

Neils Feijen got out in front early in his quarterfinal match against John Morra. Not ‘Gorst-like’ out in front, but enough to win it 10-7. We have to pause here for a minute, waiting for Lukas Fracasso-Verner and David Alcaide to finish their quarterfinal. As we write, they’re tied at 8-8. As that sentence was being written, Alcaide reached the hill. And now has won.

Feijen versus Alcaide is underway, while Gorst is taking a short break ahead of meeting Eklent Kaci. Both matches are available at digitalpool.com by following the site’s link to the live stream.

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