Szewczyk ousts champion Magpantay; Poland lands three in quarters
The world No. 1 beat the defending champion 11-5 — the exact scoreline Magpantay won by in the same round a year ago — on a morning that also ended the runs of Fedor Gorst and Carlo Biado.
DOHA, Qatar — Wojciech Szewczyk ended Jonas Magpantay's title defense in the coldest possible fashion on Wednesday, beating the Filipino 11-5 — the exact scoreline by which Magpantay had beaten him in the same round a year ago — as the Qatar World Cup 10-Ball cut its field to eight at the Ezdan Palace Hotel.
Revenge, rack for rack
Last November, Magpantay swept past Szewczyk 11-5 in the last 16 on his way to a shock title. Twelve months on, the world No. 1 and reigning world 10-ball champion returned the compliment in full, pulling away to win by the same 11-5 margin and book a quarter-final against Canada's John Morra, who ended Rocky Tullao's run 11-9.
Poland lands three in the last eight
Szewczyk is joined in the quarters by two compatriots, and both arrived by knocking out bigger names. Konrad Juszczyszyn produced the round's biggest upset by seeding, eliminating former world champion and No. 2 seed Carlo Biado 11-7, while 2024 champion Daniel Maciol closed out Vietnamese hope Duong Quoc Hoang's fine week 11-6.
Juszczyszyn and Maciol now meet in an all-Polish quarter-final — guaranteeing Poland a semifinalist before Szewczyk has even played Morra.
Hsieh survives Gorst in hill-hill epic
The tightest finish of the morning belonged to Hsieh Chia Chen, who edged No. 4 seed Fedor Gorst 11-10 in a hill-hill decider. The Chinese Taipei player now meets Albert James Manas after the Filipino beat Jundel Mazon 11-5.
Filipinos split their derbies
The Philippines brought seven men into the last 16 but two all-Filipino ties guaranteed losses: Miguel Salvilla outlasted Jerico Bonus 11-9, and Manas took out Mazon. Salvilla's reward is a quarter-final with Joshua Filler, who won the day's all-German derby 11-8 against Tobias Bongers.
The quarter-finals play out from 3:00 PM Doha time on Wednesday: Szewczyk vs Morra, Salvilla vs Filler, Juszczyszyn vs Maciol and Hsieh vs Manas. The winners return for the semi-finals later on Wednesday; the race-to-13 final is Thursday, with $100,000 to the champion.
Verified results via QBSF live scoring on Rack 9 Pool; see also the event hub.