Si Ming Chen (Photo courtesy of LTSports)
Si Ming Chen is the 2017 Amway eSpring International Women’s 9-Ball Champion.
Chen emerged from group play with an untarnished 4-0 record, earning her a first round bye in the single elimination stage of the event. While sixteen ladies were battling it out for their tournament life, Chen joined Jasmine Ouschan, Allison Fisher, Karen Corr, Xiao Ting Pan, Han Yu, Ga-Young Kim and Kelly Fisher as one of the eight players with first round byes.
The next round of play saw Chen face “The Hurricane” Ho-Yun Chen. Si Ming controlled this match early and raced to a 6-1 lead before Ho-Yun was able to mount a comeback. Ho-Yun got things back to 6-3, before Si Ming closed out the match at 7-3.
The round of eight saw Chen taking on Kelly Fisher in a rematch of last year’s China Billiard World Championship final match. Just like the event in China last year, Chen came out on top of this match 9-6.
Chen’s next match, against Ga-Young Kim, was even closer with Chen scoring the 9-7 win to book her place in the finals.
Chen’s opponent in the finals, Xiao Ting Pan, had an equally tough road to the final match. Pan was also undefeated in group play, and scored wins over Chieh Yu Chau, Karen Corr and Sha Sha Liu on her way to the finals.
The final match was a close one, but Chen emerged with the 11-8 win and first place. The $34,000 first prize launches Chen to the top of the AzB Woman’s Money list, but the upcoming "Yaqi Group Cup” Chinese Pool World Championship’s $59,000 first prize could drastically change the make up of that money list.
