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Euro Tour Men / Dynamic Billard Tallinn Open
Presented by the City of Tallinn
Kalev Sports Hall
12 Juhkentali Street
Tallinn
10132
Estonia
www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour - facebook - live stream
www.tallinn.ee/en/services/kalev-sports-hall

Thursday 15 - Saturday 17 February 2024

Daniel Maciol wins in Tallinn.
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Dynamic Billard Tallinn Open - It’s Maciol over Vogel in Tallinn

Reporter: Luke Riches on behalf of the EPBF
Photography: ©EPBF

DANIEL MACIOL IS the 2024 DYNAMIC BILLARD Tallinn Open champion as he edged out 16-year-old Felix Vogel by 9-7 in an exciting finale to a terrific season-opener on the Euro Tour. Germany’s Vogel became the youngest-ever finalist in the long and storied history of the Tour, managing to break Wiktor Zielinski’s record which had stood since December 2017.

Vogel had led most of the way at the Kalevi Sports Hall in Tallinn but faltered down the home stretch as the 23-year-old Pole came on strong for his maiden Dynamic Billard Euro Tour title. Vogel, from Marburg Germany, who is just 16 years and a couple of months old, was playing in his sixth Euro Tour event and can take great pride in his performances this week.

But the day belonged to Daniel Maciol, who also moved from #3 to #1 on the ranking; “I’m over the moon to be honest! I remember when I was 15 years of age and I played in my first Euro Tour at the time and my goal was to get to the last 32 round. So, after eight years, I finally reached a final and won it. I’m really, really happy about this.”

Maciol made two balls off the opening break to get the match underway. A miss on the 2-ball though got the young German to the table but he too faltered and the rack went to the Pole. However, nicely in stroke from his semi-final match finishing minutes before, Vogel got his first point on the board to level the match. 1-1

A scratch from Maciol gave his opponent ball-in-hand and Vogel looked completely confident as he ran out to take the lead. That became 3-1 after Vogel got the better of a safety battle as Maciol had a bash at the 5-ball but left it in the open. A push-out in the next from Maciol ended up working against him and Vogel negotiated a tricky table to sit pretty at 4-1.

An illegal break from Vogel, despite two balls going down, gave Maciol a good opportunity to eat into the deficit. He lost shape though and needed to play a safety on the 5-ball. Vogel nearly fluked the 9 in, kicking out of the safety but a table-length bank effectively secured the rack for Maciol.

That soon turned to 4-3 after a tidy runout from Maciol but a successful break from Vogel gave him an opportunity to restore a two-rack lead and he executed it well. Stroking the cueball around like a seasoned pro, Vogel looked set to take the next rack but he lost some position going from the 8 to the 9-ball and his tight cut was underpowered and left the 9-ball hanging for Maciol.

Vogel though, kept the pressure up as he won the next game for a 6-4 lead. In the 11th game, Maciol had the first good look at the table after a kicked safety from Vogel left the 1-ball on and he duly ran out to very much stay in the match at 6-5. A dry break from Vogel was a gift for his opponent at a critical point in the match and Maciol, full of composure, cleared up to level the scores.

With two balls off the break, Maciol went all-in on a combo on the 2-ball and successfully set himself up for a runout as he took the lead for the first time since the opening rack as the score moved to 7-6 in his favour.

They went back and forth with safeties in the next before a huge fluke from Maciol saw the 2-ball drop into the centre pocket and the rangy Pole was on his way as he reached the hill first at 8-6. A dry break in the next from Maciol got Vogel jumping out of his chair. Vogel played safe on the 3-ball and with so much at stake, both players became a little cagey as the safeties went back and forth. Seizing the moment, Vogel speared home a long 3-ball to set up a rack-winning opportunity and take the match to 8-7.

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