DAY TWO | Afternoon Session Highlights | 2021 US Open Pool Championship

All around this vast arena, a cacophony of spheres, music to the ears. Aoki, of course, delighted to see that, Phil. Yeah, it was the kind of mistake that, OK, can be made, but against these top guys, you can't afford to make them. Indeed. Lovely. Good stuff from Oi, looked pretty loose there, and with a really good run. Aoki, Oita break, one racket. And he broke very well in the first rack, he just got kicked in, so let's see, I believe he made three balls on break number one. Corner ball cooperates, and he gets kicked in again. And let's see if Al Muhammad can capitalize after missing that two on the side. He really needs to clear these and kind of get going. OK, it's a 30-second shot clock, and each player is allowed one 30-second extension per rack. He's coming around the world, Phil. Action on the nine hole. Unfortunately, he missed the one. Luckily for him, the eight impedes Oi's side of the one, so he'll have to kick in some capacity. He was able to see just enough of it to try to carom the seven off the one. And again, Mahana has a chance. Yeah, he caught the one ball actually just a little too thick. He's not going to be a pushover. That is quite apparent. Omar Al Shaheen showed what is possible for Middle Eastern football by reaching the final of the World Nine Ball Championship before succumbing to Albin Aushin in June. He played so well, did Omar. And I think that's made his fellow countrymen realise that they can also make an impact, and that's precisely what Al Muhammad is doing here. Good stuff. OK, he was a little lucky to get the fluke snooker, but nevertheless, when he got his chance, he took it with aplomb. It means that Naoki Oi, who was a big favourite to win this match, is being held to three racks each. Al Muhammad's had chances, Phil. He's just gotten a bit careless in a few spots. It's hard to do that versus this sort of ill. Indeed not. The elite players in pool will make short work of you if you make mistakes. And now, for the first time, Naoki Oi has a two-rack gap. He leads by three. Absolutely, and I'm sure as the tournament progresses, the Philippine contingent will be represented greatly on this feature table. They have a tendency to get down there in these things. Oh, my. He opted to bank it in, Phil. Well, Naoki Oi providing his own commentary there. Don't know whether you heard, he said, oh, my God. It was interesting, actually. The only other time I've seen a ball go in so delayed was into that very pocket, and it was also the seven ball Joseph Blyler in our first match yesterday. That's right. Oi now really in command. He leads by eight racks to three, almost with a victory in his pocket. That side pocket is awfully tight from this angle. He might elect to play it up the corner and try to hold the cue ball to play the seven in the bottom left or maybe even come across if it's too steep. And he handled that beautifully. Mr. Yates, pleasure watching this man work. Absolutely. In the land of the rising sun, the sun has already gone down. It is night time. But for Naoki Oi, it's a bright dawn. It really is. He's playing some of the best pool of his life. And I'm delighted to say he joins me now. Naoki, that was some stunning stuff. You must be very happy. Yeah, very happy today. First break and the miss scratch. Second break. Oh, my God. Scratch. Today, every time scratch. Bad image. But today, play good. Play very good. Do you feel this is the best you're playing at the moment? You've been playing some very good stuff. Yeah, very good stuff. Maybe stay in good condition. Maybe win. Chance I will win. Yeah, because you just got to the final of the ten ball. But how special would it be to get to the final of this? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I have a mic. I have an apple. Michael Appleman. Thank you. Do you love this man? Yeah. Exciting US album. How much you love this man? They love you here in the UK. So you love being in America, don't you? Yeah, I like it. All people, I like. You? Are you like me? Thank you. But they like you. And America loves you. You love America. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, you can't. Everybody know key. Oh, thank you. I love the phraseology Jeremy fish too far from the shore. Well, you know those types. I'll tell you what I've missed that sex and drawer sitting next to me. Now this is seven in a row. In the tournament, tournament play for Jason. That's pretty impressive. Jason Shaw. where's the pistol yeah you're right he's highly focused here badly wants to regain the title he captured in 2017 i think anyways that's gonna be rail yeah no rail so ball in hand to start for daniel probably like ideal after jason running the first two racks game number three jason will take on the thin cut here i believe in his see why not the six in the middle of the table there he should be in position if he makes the ball yeah he's such a good potter in this kind of thin snook tailor-made yeah i found the tables compared to yesterday a bit slower maybe the morning uh weather i'll tell you what though not only myself but many have commented maybe the best set of tournament tables i've ever seen to be honest with you well the setup is absolutely incredible and once again i must pay tribute to emily fraser and her team at matri multi-sport the backroom staff work so so hard and they deserve every credit they've put on a wonderful event here in very trying circumstances and they're going to be rewarded with a great week of pool can can bite you you know if you don't don't don't show it the respect it deserves well he's a joy to watch on the snooker table jeff trump he plays shots that the overwhelming majority of people in the world can only dream about in fact i think he plays some shots that no one else can pull off and for him to be here i think it's great for the world of pool and also great for the world of snooker so lung may continue as for this match continuing i think it might be continuing in the short term from russia christina to catch arguably two of the top top ladies in the game that'll be a treat to end the what a treat by jason shell so far really just uh one safety here but other than that it's been pretty picture perfect and i think he'll take on this this one real bank in the side feel if it if it plays i don't think he's going to back off here yeah backing off he's not in his vocabulary is it really although he doesn't push the yeah they're very calculated that's for sure but you know you do so many sports and you know the greats they stay aggressive right well we couldn't see it right but we could see his face well that was entirely unexpected okay the scratch occurred but the mistake occurred before that now then can daniel dagentote finally get off the mark well if you miss balls like that you don't deserve anything she's gonna leave a little soft kick for for jason i believe and jason oh well he may kick to the top rail here trying to make this four five combination if he can get a little underneath it i think it goes right on infield and the pennies drop for daniel as well daniel knows it's definitely possible so he won't kill this right but he wants to hit the maybe the rail first right before the pink should make the purple yeah there you go mental error by the filipino and nothing's gone his way a lot had to do with jason shaw but that's got to go and it's going to end up perfect nice five rail position there phil to probably end this match only five rails you can do better than that come on jason and it was totally intended the way he played it too there was not any luck it was just struck perfectly daniel dagentote is about to be blanked it is the most comprehensive whitewash you can imagine towards the end short pulled off some trademark shots he played very well he made very few mistakes and he came up against an opponent who seemed a little overawed to be out in the center of this vast arena i think he's a little steep he probably just takes the cut shot on the three one thing and dennis he has all the shots oh he took it to the other beauty there yeah if that gives you any clue about comfort right you know we see the top players of course some seated but you figure them some to get a you know some you wouldn't call them soft matches but matches where they're considerable favorite well guys like dennis it does a lot for to kind of get going getting that rhythm yeah get that time at the table i wouldn't say they would experiment on uh these types of matches but they will toy around with the break getting their mind right that's a great point if you feel like you're you know he's got to go over a piece of the seven now this is interestingly he could roll out here and not take this chance on the jump shot when you're considering if he's a pretty good favorite in the match very interesting i mean a hyper aggressive choice my goodness jeremy meanwhile dennis knows what he's i mean many have sort of held the position yourself included when he gets going he's right in that discussion with anybody we were talking about it the other night him versus the young guys let's say a long race you know in the pool room and so on i mean this guy is for real guys looks like he's banging that aggressive choice there yeah that may have a little something to with the scoreline and what he feels about this match like to see what he would have done if it was a little later in the tournament sure leave al shaheen was just defeated on the outer table nice navigation with the bridge there nice shot let's hear from our own call boys take one more look at that golden break jeremy one in the side then the nine on the side a little love from the yeah you won't see many of those with the template right here dennis loves it though i don't know if he takes it on it looks pretty pretty risky he may just pocket the ball and then you get to see him take a tough tough three ball jacked up though jeremy wow he out yeah this is the real deal ladies and gentlemen one of the very best in the world it looks like to me you can handle the cue ball a little easier to make so see how much speeds on the cue ball there really couldn't determine what was going to happen as you said he opted to go for the easier pocket and kind of let the cue ball go a little bit got away with it yeah he's feeling it now jeremy yeah showing it all really we're here at the boardwalk the nine was one heck of a shot but the two ball let's see one heck of a shot the two ball to start that rack that was a beauty display power and accuracy seven you can see it there got a things will change as the tournament goes on you know later in the tournament when we get to that final 16 and with the triangle rack of course the one ball be concerned but making balls is the main thing right so but here early you have to adapt and get shots on the one because everyone's going to make balls most likely and that's on the break i'm talking about of course you like coming three rails around jeremy or just pinching it out on the slick table i like coming two rails here withdrawal myself dennis concurs beautifully navigated yeah we talk about that shot all the time you know the top and sides cool and all but when you can use low outside that's the way to go it's kind of like when you learn how to draw the ball the side rail and spin it with three rails inside right you don't use that very often anymore though right eight to one for mr racoolio let's cut down you know tight match like we were talking about before he might think that jumping is uh is he coming around underneath the nine below the six one two into the two wow that's uh that's just outstanding there well you had mentioned there the filipinos probably the greatest players ever to go to the rail first with the cue ball i think this two ball goes you can see it'd be a pretty shot between the three seven oh beauty there from sponstra pretty shot indeed i think the two just between the three seven well no reason to hold back now right nick exactly winter side situation listen to the one lost side but a good look at what would think many or many would think that a guy that's going to run deep yeah he looks great confident as you said stroke looks loose found a little something on the break intriguing to see if racoolio can finally break through and and win a true major such as this one good thing for the filipino contingent they always have a great support system at these tournaments probably as great as any other foreigners okay nice watching dennis handle his business here on the feature jeremy it's been a pleasure