Gabriel downs Martinez twice to go undefeated on Midwest 9-Ball Tour; Kent wins Ladies event

Rafael Martinez put up a double hill fight in the finals, but John Gabriel ended up going undefeated to win the March 23-24 stop on the Midwest 9-Ball Tour. In a concurrently-run Ladies event, Wendy Kent, as well, survived a double hill final to go undefeated. The $2,100-added Open event drew 76 entrants to Jamaica Joe's in Midwest City, OK. The $400-added Ladies event drew 14.

Gabriel and Martinez met first in one of the two winner's side semifinals. Joey Gray and Joseph Tomkowski met in the other. Gabriel took the first of two against Martinez 9-4 and in the hot seat match, met Tomkowski, who'd downed Gray 9-6. Gabriel sent Tomkowski to the semifinals with a 9-2 win and waited on Martinez.

Martinez moved to the loss side and picked up Shane McMinn, who'd gotten by Chip Compton 9-3 (a matchup rarely seen in the battle for a 9-12 slot), and Richard Pierce 9-7 to reach him. Gray drew Sean King, who defeated Mark Dimick 9-3 and Mike Kuykendall 9-6. It was Gray and Martinez squaring off in the quarterfinals, once Gray had eliminated King 9-2 and Martinez ended McMinn's day 9-4.

Martinez then downed Gray 9-7 and got a second shot at Gabriel with a 9-4 win over Tomkowski in the semifinals. In the potential, double elimination final that followed, Martinez and Gabriel battled to double hill before Gabriel prevailed to capture the event title.

In the Ladies' event, the final four matches were decided by the sinking of the 9-ball in a double hill game. Wendy Kent got into the hot seat that way against Michele Davis, who moved to the semifinals to face Kat Snelling. Snelling had just defeated Jenny Shafer in a double hill, quarterfinal match, and repeated that with a double hill win over Davis in the semifinals. Snelling forced her third straight opponent into a single deciding match, but wound up on the wrong end of the last one. Kent won the match to claim the title.

OPEN

1st John Gabriel $1,150

2nd Rafael Martinez $800

3rd Joseph Tomkowski $600

4th Joey Gray $400

5th Sean King $225

Shane McMinn

7th Mike Kuykendall $180

Richard Pierce

9th K.C. Massey $150

Mark Dimick

Chip Compton