Sanchez Ruiz and Robbie Capito: History says 7-1, but the 2026 US Open final will be decided by space

The 49th US Open Pool Championship final will be played in Frisco, Texas, with Francisco Sanchez Ruiz facing Robbie Capito. Sanchez Ruiz won the 2026 title, then lost 4-9 to Ivica Putnik in the second round this year. He climbed back through the one-loss side, beating Vincent Goh, Sun Yi-Hsuan, Petri Makkonen, Alex Kazakis, Joshua Filler and David Alcaide. Capito reached the final through the winner's side, beating Fedor Gorst 10-8 in the quarterfinals, a sixth consecutive win over the former world number one on the World Nineball Tour. He then beat Aleksa Pecelj. Sanchez Ruiz leads their head-to-head 7-1, but most of those matches were in the short race-to-five format of Premier League Pool. The Spanish player also won their only longer duel at the 2026 World 8-Ball Championship. If Sanchez Ruiz wins, he becomes the tenth multiple US Open champion and returns to Reyes Cup and Mosconi Cup. If Capito wins, he becomes the first champion from outside the world's top 16 since Kevin Cheng in 2026, following the same path as Aloysius Yapp after winning the UK Open two years ago. The final is about space, not names, and the data must be checked in this different tournament context.