Gray day for Mark at the World 9-Ball Pool Championships as he suffers a last-frame exit

On the opening day of the 128-player event last Sunday, Gray lost 9-6 to Russian star Ferdor Gorst before beating Julio Burgas of Puerto Rico 9-1 to set up an elimination match against Austrian star Jasmin Ouschan last night (June 7).

Ouschan is one of the best female players in the world and she just edged Gray out 9-8 after a terrific tussle shown live on satellite television.

It wasn’t Ouschan’s first win over Gray as she once knocked him out of a European tour event, but this was a special performance as Gray led 7-1 at one stage and looked in command.

But in a ‘winner breaks’ format big leads can be overhauled and Ouschan finished in style.

To be fair to Gray he hadn’t played competitively for 16 months since taking part in a European Tour event in Italy early in 2020.