Favorites fall at World Pool Masters

Tony Drago scored a hil-hill win over Niels Feijen

Van Boening, Souquet and Feijen were all eliminated in early play today at the World Pool Masters competition being held at the Riviera Hotel and Casino.

Van Boening was the first fall after he lost a 4-2 lead against Imran Majid from England. Van Boening looked to be in complete control of the match, but a rushed 7-ball in the eighth game by Van Boening started a downward slide that ended with an 8-4 win by Majid.

Next to fall was Ralf Souquet who ran into a red-hot Pin-Yi Ko from Taipei. Ko rushed out to an early 3-0 lead and never looked back on his way to an 8-3 win.

The last match of the early session saw two Mosconi Cup teammates face off with Tony Drago taking on Niels Feijen. Drago took control of the match early and held a 3-1 lead. Feijen cut the lead in half at 3-2, but Drago won the next three games to take complete control at 6-2.

Feijen fought back to tie the score at 7-7, on his break but was unable to get anything going in the final game and Drago ran the rack for the 8-7 win.

In the evening matches, Corey Deuel will face Christian Reimering and World 9-Ball Champion Daryl Peach will take on Mika Immonen. One match in the second round will take place tonight with Rodney Morris vs Alex Pagulayan.

Real time scoring and brackets are available online at www.worldpoolmasters.com