The Round of 24 wrapped up Thursday night at the 2026 PBA Illinois Classic, with eight best-of-seven matches deciding who would move on to face the top eight seeds in the Round of 16.
Finland's Tomas Käyhkö delivered one of the strongest performances of the round, sweeping Darren Tang 4-0. The Finnish two-hander took control early right from the beginning and never allowed the match to slip away, advancing comfortably into the Round 16, where he will meet AJ Chapman.
Meanwhile, Deo Benard survived a full seven-game battle against Matt Russo, winning 4-3. The tightly contested matchup went back and forth before Benard secured the deciding game to advance.
Brandon Runk also needed all seven games to eliminate Kyle Troup, closing out a 4-3 victory to earn a meeting with top seed Anthony Simonsen in the next round.
Canada's Zach Wilkins handled Julian Salinas in six games, winning 4-2 to move on, Shawn Maldonado edged 2026 U.S. Open champion Patrick Dombrowski in another seven-game thriller, while Ryan Barnes defeated Michael Davidson 4-2 to secure the spot in the Round of 16.
Kevin McCune advanced with a strong 4-1 win over Jake Peters, while Alec Keplinger a bit surprisingly knocked out Jason Belmonte in seven games.
Round of 16 Matchups
- Anthony Simonsen vs. Brandon Runk
- Bill O’Neill vs. Zach Wilkins
- Matt Ogle vs. Kevin McCune
- Ethan Fiore vs. Shawn Maldonado
- Santtu Tahvanainen vs. Deo Benard
- AJ Chapman vs. Tomas Käyhkö
- EJ Tackett vs. Ryan Barnes
- Boog Krol vs. Alec Keplinger
Round of 16 action begins Friday at 12 p.m. ET. The winners will move on to the evening Round of 8. The winners of each bracket, along with the highest-seeded loser in the Round of 8, will advance to Sunday’s stepladder finals.
The stepladder finals will air live Sunday, March 15 at 4 p.m. ET (3 p.m. CT) on The CW.
