Wiktor Zielinski Goes Undefeated to Take the 2026 Diamond Open NineBall at Super Billiards Expo

Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski put together one of the most dominant runs the Super Billiards Expo has seen in years, finishing eight matches without a loss to claim the 2026 Diamond Open NineBall Professional Players Championship at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania, April 9 to 12. The event drew a packed 176-player field and carried a $100,000 purse on the World Nineball Tour ranking schedule, and Zielinski never let the brackets squeeze him into a hill-hill scrap.

His final opponent was Hubert Lopotko, a young pro who had been quietly stacking wins all weekend on the loser side. Zielinski jumped out, traded racks, and at 5-4 he flipped the switch. From that 5-4 score line he ran out the rest of the match without dropping another game, closing the championship six racks later and walking off the table with the trophy and the WNT points.

Why This Result Matters for Working Players

Zielinski has been on the cover of every nineball preview for two seasons running, but the SBE Diamond Open is a brutal pressure test because the field is loaded with American touring pros, Filipino veterans, and European young guns who all show up for the prize money. An undefeated bracket through that mix is rare. The fact that he never lost a single match means his break, his ball-pocketing, and his patience under pressure all held up across three days of long matches.

For league players and weekend tournament regulars watching the stream, the most useful takeaway is not the trophy. It is the way Zielinski managed his pace. He plays at one speed whether he is up two racks or down two, and the cue he carries does not change between the practice room and the TV table. That consistency is something every player can chase, and the equipment side of it is one of the few things you can control.

The Predator Connection

Zielinski plays under the Predator banner, which means his butt and his shaft both come from the same lineup that QKB stocks. Predator’s recent product cycle has leaned hard on the Throne and P3 lines for production cues, and on REVO carbon fiber shafts for the players who want low deflection and a stiff hit. If you have ever watched a slow-motion replay of a Zielinski break and wondered how the cue ball stays so flat, that is the REVO doing exactly what carbon shafts are designed to do.

The Predator Throne3 5 is a strong reference point for anyone who wants the look and feel of a TV-table Predator without going custom. It runs through the production line with the same Uni-Loc joint, the same rear weight bolt system, and the same shaft compatibility as the higher-end models. The Throne3 lineup as a whole, browsable in the Throne Series collection, sits in a sweet spot for league players who want a cue that will read on stream and still survive case time.

For the carbon shaft side, the Predator P3 REVO Red Tiger Pool Cue with Leather Luxe Wrap shows what a finished Predator playing rig looks like when it is built around a REVO 12.4 shaft. The leather Luxe wrap does not slip in humid rooms, the points are real wood, and the joint is the radial pin Predator built its low-deflection reputation on. If your hands sweat under tournament lights, this is the wrap most pros gravitate to. The full P3 Series page shows the wrap and finish options the playing cue is offered in.

Break Cue and Jump Cue Lessons from the Stream

Watching Zielinski on the SBE feature table, the break is a clinic. He does not swing for the fence. The cue ball lands in a tight diamond near the center of the head string, the rack opens predictably, and he either gets a clean wing ball or sets up a safe with the cue ball on the bottom rail. That is what a break cue and a soft phenolic tip should produce when you stop trying to bash the rack and start trying to score it.

The Predator Black BK Rush Break Cue is the production version of the break cue Predator pros use under the lights. The shaft is engineered to throw less English at impact, which is how you keep the cue ball from going on a tour of the rails after the rack opens. For players going through league nights and tournaments back-to-back, this is the break-only cue that pays for itself in scratch-free racks. The Break Cues category has the rest of the production break-cue lineup if you want to compare the BK Rush to a Jacoby Monster Crush, a Bull Carbon BCBK, or a Joss Thor Hammer at the same price band.

Jumping is the other often-overlooked weapon at the SBE. Zielinski cleared two clean jumps over a stuck blocker on stream. The cue he uses for this is light, short, and tipped with a hard phenolic, and the Predator Air Rush BLACK Jump with Sport Wrap is the production cue that mirrors the spec. If you have ever doubled a kick attempt because your jump cue was too heavy or too long, the Air Rush is the corrective. The full Air Rush family lives inside the Rush Series page.

What an Undefeated SBE Run Tells Us About Cue Choice

Eight matches without a loss takes more than a hot streak. It takes a cue that hits the same in the first match Friday morning as it does in the final Sunday night. That is harder than it sounds. Wood shafts move with humidity, layered tips break down differently after a thousand strokes, and ferrules can shift their hit profile after a banner of break shots. The reason carbon fiber shafts and radial-pin joints have crowded the top boards on the WNT is that they reduce the random variables. Whether you play once a week or every night, fewer variables means fewer mid-match adjustments to your stroke.

If you are buying your first serious playing cue and you watched Zielinski clean the SBE bracket, the practical lesson is to match your cue to your skill arc, not to your favorite shirt. Production Predator playing cues sit in the same lineage that fed the Diamond Open trophy, and the price ladder runs from sneaky-pete style starters all the way to the playing cue Zielinski actually swings. The full Predator Cues category at QKB shows where each model sits in that ladder, with shaft and wrap options listed for each.

How to Watch a Match Like a Player

The next time a Diamond Open or a Pro Billiard Series stream comes up on YouTube, ignore the score for the first three racks. Watch the pre-shot routine. Watch where the cue ball lands after the break. Watch which shafts the player puts on the table next to their case. Notice how often a top pro chalks. Notice how often they rest the cue between shots. The pattern repeats. Every undefeated run on the WNT looks the same in the small details.

Zielinski’s win in Oaks is now the headline result on the way to the summer schedule, with the Pattaya Open, the US Pro Billiard Series stops, and the late-season majors still on the calendar. Fans who saw him stomp the SBE bracket can expect more of the same. For QKB customers who want the same gear, the production lineup is sitting on the shelves and the full Pool Cues catalog can be filtered by brand, joint, and shaft type without leaving the page. Pick the cue that matches your routine, then go put eight matches together yourself.

The Bottom Line for Diamond Open Fans

Zielinski’s 2026 SBE run is a reminder that production cues, when matched well to a player, can carry a champion across a major. He did not pull a one-of-one prototype from his case. He played the same Predator setup that any QKB customer can buy off the shelf this week. The cue does not write the script, but the right cue keeps you out of your own way long enough to write it yourself. Cue selection is one of the easiest fixes when you feel stuck, and the rest is reps, focus, and the patience to play one rack at a time.