China Open 9-Ball: Szewczyk and Kawahara Face a Test of Format, Not Just Opponents

Wojciech Szewczyk dropped the nine ball into the deciding pocket in last year's final and raised his cue as the applause rang out in Shanghai. Twelve months later, the WPA world number one returns as defending champion. But nine-ball does not follow an old script, especially when the organizers have extended the race distance in the knockout phase.

The 15th China Open 9-Ball Championship will take place from September 9 to 13 at the Tangzhen Cultural and Sports Centre in Shanghai. The event returns to a familiar venue after several years, with a total prize fund of more than $350,000 across the men's and women's draw. That figure places the tournament among the richest events on the WPA ranking calendar. Before discussing the champion, we should look at the playing conditions the organizers have set.

This year's format combines a double-elimination stage with single elimination. In the men's event, players compete in double elimination race-to-9 until 32 remain, then move to single elimination race-to-11. The women's event uses double elimination race-to-7 until 16 remain, then single elimination race-to-9. This design increases the total number of racks played and reduces early variance, unlike a pure single-elimination tournament.

The diagram printed on paper is only the residue of every decision that has already happened on the table. Every rack of pool begins with a break shot, and the WPA three-point rule is where the biggest difference emerges. This rule punishes fouls more severely than traditional pool, turning every poorly played safety into an expensive decision. In addition, the nine ball is racked on the spot and there is no break box, so the break must be powerful enough to create a chance but controlled enough not to leave an easy table for the opponent. This is not a contest for pretty shotmakers; it is a punishment for players who lose precision in deciding racks.

Szewczyk enters with world-number-one status, but the entry list shows his chasers have no shortage of experience. Germany's Joshua Filler has won this event three times; Austria's Albin Ouschan owns two world titles. Francisco Sánchez Ruiz just claimed the US Open and arrives in Shanghai with a different kind of mental energy. Hijikata of Japan, runner-up in 2026, has yet to show consistent form but remains dangerous in longer formats. In the women's draw, Chihiro Kawahara defends her title while Seo Seoa, the reigning world champion, and Wei Tzu-Chien, the world number one, are both present.

From my experience watching pool matches, the presence of multiple-time champions such as Filler and Ouschan reveals a key point: this hybrid format exposes the gap between winning one match and winning the whole tournament. Race-to-11 instead of race-to-9 in the knockout stage forces a player to sustain concentration over more racks. One poor decision in the fifth rack does not kill a match, but three or four accumulated poor decisions across a long match will. Historical WPA data shows that players with high run-out rates survive better when the race distance increases, because they depend less on opponents making mistakes.

The core insight is that the race-to-11 format does not eliminate upsets; it only changes the moment when upsets appear. In the double-elimination bracket, a loss does not eliminate a player, so the psychological pressure in the early stage is far lower than in single elimination. But this also means that players coming through the loss bracket accumulate extra racks, which helps them find their rhythm while creating physical wear. Coaches or fans who only look at the draw will miss this point: the real tactical plan revolves around energy distribution across consecutive matches, not within a single match.

The true blind spot this year is not the entry list but the silence of form data. From my experience following matches, the absence of current-season statistics on break-and-run rates or safety play makes every pre-tournament judgment relative. Szewczyk is the WPA number one, but a ranking is built across many tournaments; it does not directly tell us whether he can stay sharp during a week-long event. The prize fund of more than $350,000 attracts players from many regions, but it also brings in competitors who take high risks on the break, creating matches that cannot be predicted by ranking.

China's representatives Dang Jinhu, Liu Shasha and Fu Xiaofang appear as the domestic market develops. Broadcasting on the Kozoom Pool YouTube channel and Chinese platforms shows that the organizers are targeting Asian viewers, not just traditional pool fans in Europe or America. Yet there is a paradox: the home advantage for Chinese players may be smaller than expected, because the table conditions at the Tangzhen Cultural and Sports Centre are standardized to WPA specifications, and leading international players have spent years competing on every type of surface.

Champions are not undefeated; they are the ones who make fewer mistakes under the same pressure. When the double-elimination bracket allows one stumble, and the race-to-11 knockout phase demands patience, this tournament will separate winners by making the right decision in the tenth rack, not the third. The only open question: which of Szewczyk, Filler or Sánchez Ruiz reads the moment when the format tightens before his opponent realizes it during a match?