Spanish three-cushion powerhouse David Martinez (32-Crown Hae Taek) pulled off a thrilling upset over Japanese “dark horse” Yusuke Mori (30) to win his fourth career PBA title.
Martinez battled Mori to a full-set victory in the final of the Eswai PBA Championship at the Goyang Kintex PBA Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, Korea, on Nov. 11, winning 4-3 (8-15 15-3 15-8 9-15 9-15 15-12 11-0).
It was Martinez’s first title in 10 months after winning the Huon’s PBA Championship in the fourth round of the 2022-23 season last November. The title was worth $100 million.
With his four wins, Martinez moved into sole possession of second place on the PBA’s all-time wins list. The top spot belongs to Frederick Koudron (BEL), who left the PBA for a while, with seven titles.
Mori, who entered the PBA as a priority registration player for the 2021-22 season, had to settle for a runner-up finish after coming close to winning his first career title. The runner-up prize is worth 34 million won.
If Mori had won, she would have joined Ayako Sakai as the first Japanese player to sweep the men’s and women’s LPBA titles. But it didn’t happen.
Mori had flown under the radar until this tournament, with her best result being a round of 32 finish. But with his runner-up finish, he has emerged as a new force to be reckoned with in the big-name PBA.
Martinez, who reached the final with a hard-fought 4-3 set victory over Oh Tae-joon in the semifinals, had a tough battle with Mori. In the semifinals, Mori also defeated Park Ki-ho, a former Third Division Tour player, in straight sets, 4-3, to reach the final.Mori took the first set 15-8 in just four games to take control of the match 바카라사이트.
Martinez fought back to take the second (15-3 in six) and third (15-8 in eight). However, Mori battled back to take the fourth (8 games) and fifth (5 games) to win 15-9.
Mori then took the sixth set 12-5 in eight games and looked to be on the verge of victory. Martinez scored three in the eighth, one in the ninth, and then a five-run 10th to take a 15-12 lead and force a sixth set.
With his confidence boosted by the sixth-set win, Martinez scored 11 points in just four innings in the seventh to close out the match. Mori, psychologically broken after losing the previous set, fell to his knees without scoring a single point.