Melissa Little
Melissa Little ran into the Texas Open's defending champion, Ming Ng, in the second round of play, and was sent to the one-loss side 7-3. Much as Ng had done last year to win the title by double dipping Kim Sanders in the finals, Little moved over, won seven straight and then won both sets of a true double elimination final against Ng to capture the event title. The $800-added Ladies event on September 4 and 5 drew 32 entrants to Skinny Bob's Billiards in Round Rock, TX.
Following her victory over Little, Ng defeated Vivian Villareal 7-3 and moved among the winners' side final four, for a matchup with Nicole Keeney. Gail Eaton, in the meantime, was squaring off against Cristina DeLaGarza. Ng moved into the hot seat with a 7-4 win over Keeney, and a double hill victory over Eaton, who'd sent DeLaGarza west 7-5.
First up for Keeney on the one-loss side was Little, who'd gotten by Helen Hayes, Nicole McDaniel, Yvette Reyes, and Kim Pierce to meet her. DeLaGarza faced Jennifer Kraber, herself in the midst of a six-match winning streak on the one-loss side, that included a 7-4 victory over Villareal, that set her up against DeLaGarza. Little and Keeney locked up in a double hill battle, before Little prevailed, advancing to the quarterfinals. DeLaGarza joined her after ending Kraber's streak 7-5.
Little downed DeLaGarza 7-2, and then defeated Eaton in the semifinals 7-3. She took the opening set of the true double finals against Ng 7-3, as well, and then, allowed her only a single rack in the second set to deny her a second straight Texas Open win.
