Shane Van Boening completed his Florida redemption mission in emphatic fashion, defeating Alexander Kazakis 13-5 to be crowned Florida Open champion and finally claim the title that had eluded him one year ago.<\/p>\n
The five-time US Open champion returned to the Caribe Royale Resort for a second consecutive Florida Open final and this time made no mistake, producing a composed and commanding performance to finally get his hands on the title and add another major trophy to his illustrious collection.<\/p>\n
Van Boening said: \u201cI played great pool all week and I came here ready to win this tournament. After I beat Josh in the Last 16, I knew I had a real chance to go all the way. From that point, I just stayed focused and trusted my game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is huge motivation going into the rest of the month. There\u2019s a lot of pool coming up and I want to keep this momentum going. If I can win one Major, I believe I can win them all \u2014 including my sixth US Open.\u201d<\/p>\n
Final
Shane Van Boening 13 \u2013 5 Alexander Kazakis<\/p>\n
Van Boening made the perfect start to the final, taking the opening two racks before Kazakis responded in the third to threaten an early fightback.<\/p>\n
The American, however, immediately restored his advantage. A failed safety from Kazakis in the fourth rack handed Van Boening an opportunity, which he duly converted to move 3-1 ahead before continuing to apply the pressure.<\/p>\n
Kazakis was handed another opening in the eighth rack when Van Boening missed the 3-ball, allowing the Greek to return to the table. A crucial bank shot kept the rack alive before Kazakis completed the clearance to reduce the deficit to 5-3.<\/p>\n
Van Boening responded immediately. At 6-3, he produced a spectacular jump shot to escape a Kazakis safety before running out to extend his advantage once again. Kazakis continued to battle and was presented with another chance at 8-3, only to see his hopes of closing the gap disappear after a costly missed 9-ball. Van Boening punished the error to move within four racks of victory at 9-3.<\/p>\n
The Greek refused to surrender, snapping off the next rack after Van Boening\u2019s defensive attempt came up short. But Kazakis\u2019 momentum was short-lived as a dry break in the following rack handed control straight back to the American, who wasted no time in extending his lead.<\/p>\n
Van Boening surged to 11-4 before Kazakis fought for another opening, escaping a safety attempt to claim his fifth rack of the final.<\/p>\n
The pair then engaged in a tense safety exchange, with Kazakis eventually attempting a long bank on the 7-ball. The ball caught the edge of the pocket but failed to drop, leaving Van Boening with the opportunity to move to the hill.<\/p>\n
One rack later, Van Boening delivered the perfect finish. The American calmly completed the final break-and-run to seal a 13-5 victory and finally get his hands on the Florida Open crown.<\/p>\n
Van Boening added: \u201cI felt like I should have won this tournament one year ago. I learnt from those mistakes and came back with one goal \u2014 redemption. To reach the final again was special, but to finally win it today means a lot to me.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Van Boening produced another impressive performance to defeat Eklent Ka\u00e7i 11-6 in the semi-final, completing a remarkable run to the title that saw him overcome four former World Champions on his way to the final.<\/p>\n
The victory sees Van Boening collect the $40,000 top prize and a major haul of World Nineball Tour ranking points, while also moving him to the top of the Team USA rankings with the 2026 Mosconi Cup now firmly in his sights.<\/p>\n
For Van Boening, the triumph represents the completion of a redemption story that began with his defeat in the previous Florida Open final. A year on, the American returned to the same stage and left the Caribe Royale Resort as champion.<\/p>\n
The second edition of the Florida Open Pool Championship took place at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando from 4\u20139 August, bringing six days of world-class nine-ball action to Florida as part of the World Nineball Tour\u2019s August USA Swing.<\/p>\n
NEXT MATCHROOM MAJOR
The World Nineball Tour now heads to Yuma, Arizona for the inaugural Arizona Open Pool Championship \u2013 the newest Matchroom Major on Tour. A 128-player field will compete in a single-elimination format for a $125,000 prize fund from 13\u201316 August at Quechan Casino Resort.<\/p>\n
For all the latest updates, follow\u00a0 World Nineball Tour\u00a0on\u00a0Facebook,\u00a0Instagram,\u00a0X,\u00a0TikTok, and\u00a0YouTube.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane Van Boening completed his Florida redemption mission in emphatic fashion, defeating Alexander Kazakis 13-5 to be crowned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,148525],"class_list":["post-367276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-shane-van-boening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}