On the long weekend of Sept. 21-25 in Battle Creek, MI, Caroline Pao became the top-ranked USA player on the WPBA, moving ahead of Jennifer Baretta into fourth place behind the UK’s Kelly and Allison Fisher and Canada’s Brittany Bryant. She did this after finishing in the eight-way tie for 9th place at the Predator US Pro Billiard Series at the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek. Her rise to this pinnacle in her career, her best-recorded earnings year since she began appearing on our payout lists over 20 years ago, has been the result of hard work, dedication, practice-practice-practice, and the assistance of a number of sponsors. Not to mention a little bit of luck related to recent WPBA history, which saw the number of yearly events diminish over the past few years and gradually, over the past year or so, saw the event-numbers go up, dramatically, in part due to the tour’s ongoing association with the Predator US Pro Billiard Series.
The WPBA ranking system doesn’t work the way many regional-tour ranking systems do, confining its rankings to a single season and starting over when a new season begins. The WPBA allots points to its members over a series of associated events, and as the points associated with a recent event are recorded, the oldest event on the ongoing list drops off the ranking radar. The ranking list that was updated after the Michigan event listed 10 events, dating back to Wisconsin’s Aramith/Doctor Pool Classic in November, 2019, at which Pao finished in the tie for 17th place. The next event, moving forward in time occurred in 2020 and the next in 2021. The next seven have occurred in this calendar year; three of them (so far) associated with the Predator US Pro Billiard Series. The number of offered events had a way of drawing more foreign competition back to the North American WPBA Tour, which accounts for some of Pao’s surprise that in the midst of this rejuvenation of the tour and the return of many competitors, she has somehow managed to move from 11th place on the ranking list when the year started, to 4th on that list, and as it turned out, the top American on it.
She wasn’t surprised because she had any doubts about her skills or dedication to the task(s), but because of this particular year’s worth of challenges. It is, she’ll tell you, something that she loves to do and given the fact that she also holds down a full-time job as a representative for Mezz Cues here in the US, her status as a member of the pool community is 24/7.
“I feel really lucky to have this ranking as the top USA player on the WPBA,” she said, “However, I want to say that the competition has been a lot more stern than it has been over the last few years because of all of the international players who’ve come back to play.”
Along with the top three on the WPBA ranking list (the Fishers and Brittany Bryant) who’ve been here right through the tour’s ‘lean’ years, are (among others) such players as Taipei’s Tzu-Chien Wei (runner-up to Kelly Fisher in Michigan), Spain’s Amalia Matas and Indonesia’s Angeline Ticoalu (tied for 4th in Michigan), and in a welcome return that could signal more events to come for her, Ireland’s Karen Corr.
According to Pao, coming to terms with playing that level of player requires a kind of mental adjustment that is not easy to accomplish. As standard as the ‘play the table, not the opponent,’ may be, it is definitely easier said than done.
“I think that whenever you do play big-time players, (the Fishers, Tzu-Chien Wei, Barretta and others), their presence is known,” she said. “Whether you like it or not, or try not to focus on it, they’re there and you know it. For you to forget about that and focus on you is harder with them, just because of who they are.”
It’s a strange human trait to note the presence of a particular human being across the table from you and allow that to affect the skills, concentration and focus that as a player, you’ve put in so much time to accomplish.
“It really is and no matter how hard you try to fight it and tell yourself (not to be influenced), this game is about 80% mental,” she said. “There’s skill involved, but overall the mental process overtakes it all and while you might make a certain shot nine out of 10 times, in one moment, your percentage might fall.”
“I’ve seen so many countless players miss a key shot like that, but it’s not the same scenario,” she added. “This one moment might be the shot that can make or break you and you might have made it a thousand times, but this one time, you twisted your wrist, or your timing’s a little off, or you shanked it a little bit or held your cue too tight. It could be any of those reasons to throw that one shot off, at that particular time.”
Though she has yet to win a WPBA event, she is a regular competitor on them and is regularly among the top players at the end.
“I think it’s just that my play has been consistent and I tend to come into the top 16,” she said of her advancement to the top US spot in the rankings. “That’s how the points add up to do it.”
She is already looking ahead, not only to specific events in the future, but to ways that she can improve her skill set and approach to the game. And though “grateful and excited” with her recent results, she’s not quite where she wants to be. Yet.
“My dream, and it’s a long shot, is to win a WPBA event,” she said. “It is so hard with (the likes of) Kelly, Allison and Kristina (Tkach). It’s great to come out on top with one of these players in a match or event, but to do it consecutively is Hard!!”
“I think I still need to fine-tune some things in my game,” she added, “things that they’ve already taken care of. For me to beat them consistently, aside from confidence and a strong mentality, I still need to work on a lot of aspects of my game.”
“Pocketing the balls and running out, for example, is one big part of the game, but defense, safety play, kick safes, kicking balls in, all of that also is a big part of the game. The (higher-level players) are better in that part of the game. Even if I play a decent safe, their chances of kicking it in or kick-safing it back to me are a little higher in percentage than me.”
She’s also looking ahead to some events that will not offer her WPBA opportunities in pursuit of the dream, like an upcoming stop on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour and continuing to compete on the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour, at which she has had considerable success over these past couple of years. She’ll also continue her dream quest at the WPBA’s Sledgehammer Open, a Helena Thornfeldt Memorial event at Janet Atwell’s room (Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN; Oct. 19-23), could compete in another of the Predator US Pro Billiard Series event in Puerto Rico (Nov. 15-19) and travel to Rothchild, WI to compete in the Dr. Pool Classic (Dec. 7-11).
She is immensely grateful to her sponsors – Mezz Cues, Sugartree Cues, Raxx Pool Room (West Hempstead, NY), Kurweil’s Country Meats, Three-Second Cases.
“Without them,” she said, “honestly, it would have been pretty rough to attend all the events.”
Aloysius Yapp successfully defended his Seybert’s Michigan Open title with a 4-2, 4-1 win over Robbie Capito in the final, and Kelly Fisher won her fourth Pro Billiard Series event with a shootout victory over Wei Tzu Chien in the women’s final at the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek.
Fisher, previously a Pro Billiard Series winner in Austria, Las Vegas and Germany, came back from losing the first set against Wei to win a high-quality final by shootout and admitted that, given the way she played earlier in the week, she hadn’t been expecting to take home the title.
Yapp had defeated Chang Jung-Lin by shootout in his semi-final earlier on Saturday but didn’t allow the final to go that far as he took every chance offered to him to earn the trophy for a second successive year.
Capito had reached the final with a 4-0, 4-1 win against Vitaliy Patsura in the semi-finals earlier on Saturday and when Yapp missed a jump to the 1, it was Capito who had the first opening of the match, and he took full advantage to clear for the first rack.
However, a dry break presented Yapp a shot on the 1 and this time it was the Singaporean who took a rack on his opponent’s break.
A break and run took Yapp into the lead for the first time but he broke dry in the fourth. Capito had a clear shot at the 1 but after finding perfect position, missed a simple 3 to the middle. He would get another chance when Yapp left a long effort at the 3 and Capito made a tough shot down table.
At the recent Predator Canada Open, Capito was in the corner as partner Chia Hua Chen took the title, and this time it was roles reversed as ‘Amber’ was supporting Capito from the bleachers. She watched on as he made it 2-2 but Yapp regained his set lead when Capito overhit a 5, which had only required the feintest of touches to find the middle pocket. Yapp then completed the set, despite breaking dry, after executing a jump shot on the 1.
The Singaporean continued his run into the second set, taking the first rack and then cutting the 4 with plenty of speed to land perfectly on the 5 as he doubled his set advantage to 2-0, and another break and run took him to the hill before Capito could register a rack.
Capito finally got an opening when Yapp left him sight of the 4, but after making the 5, the cue kicked the 7 to the side rail. A glance off the 10 helped Capito line up position for the 7, but he overhit it and the cue ran into the 8. A thin cut made it to the left corner but Capito then needed to jump the 10 in order to make the 9. He executed that shot superbly, and then made a difficult, high-pressure 10 to give himself hope.
However, unable to afford a mistake, Capito came up dry on his break again. Yapp had a clear shot at the 1 but missed a 2/7 combo he called. Yapp didn’t have to wait too much longer; a chance to seal the title for a second consecutive year came after Capito played an aggressive bank but left a straight 3.
It was a nervy runout at times from there, but Yapp completed it to earn the $20,000 prize and keep hold of his Seybert’s Michigan Open title.
The final of the women’s event was a fitting finale to a high-quality event, with Wei and Fisher both in fine form as they battled for the $13,000 title.
After Wei took the first rack of the opening set, a brilliant 8/10 carom had Fisher level. Wei’s lead was reinstated after Fisher’ dry break left an open table, and 2-1 soon became 3-1 after Fisher scratched when making the 6 ball in the fourth rack.
A great bank to make the 4 got Fisher on her way to 3-2 and the Brit, gold medal winner at The World Games this summer, got the better of a safety battle in the sixth rack to tie the set at hill-hill.
Fisher had the advantage of the break but, despite making the wing ball, found herself with the cue tied to the 9. Wei took out a difficult 1 down the rail to earn herself an opening and followed it up with a long 3. The 6 presented another challenge but Wei found no problems in completing the rack to take the set and a big step towards the title.
A high-quality final showed no sign of abating in the second set. Both players won two of the first four racks but when Wei snatched at the 3, it clipped the 8, missed the pocket, and Fisher cleared to lead 3-2.
Breaking for the last time, Kwikfire Fisher took the 1 down and had nice position on the 2. She had work to do in the rack and played the 5 nicely along the top rail to gain position on the 6 and from there completed a controlled clearance to win the set 4-2 and take the final to shootout.
Having won the lag, Wei was first to shoot and found the heart of the pocket from the spot. Fisher did exactly the same but Wei’s second clipped both jaws and returned up table. Fisher seized the advantage with her second shot, piling the pressure on Wei, who missed again with her third.
That meant Fisher needed one successful shot to win the title. However, she then missed for the first time herself. Wei would still have to make her fourth shot and hope Fisher missed again for the shootout to go to sudden death, but it didn’t go that far as Wei missed for a third time, crowning Fisher a Pro Billiard Series champion for the fourth time.
“I am a bit in shock,” said Fisher. “I got to the final and that was unexpected of me this week. I never got settled until my last match last night against Angeline Ticoalu, that was the first match where I felt I got flowing, so I had a battle all week just trying to find myself, find my game, let alone expecting to go on and win it.
“Once I got that gear it carried on today, thankfully. Today, I performed really well against Karen and pretty steady in the final. Wei came up with all different shots, put me under pressure and I held it together through the shootout.
“I am really ecstatic to win and get another title under my belt. These events, the excitement they create, I really like; when we have a shootout and the crowd is crammed around the table. The format is tough on the players but it is the future to put this sport on the map. It has been a great event and I am looking forward to the next one.”
Fisher had beaten Karen Corr 4-1, 4-0 in an impressive semi-final performance, while Wei had reached the final with a shootout win over Allison Fisher. The Duchess of Doom won the first set 4-1, but Wei took the second 4-2 before winning the shootout 2-1 to reach her second final of the month.
The next US Pro Billiard Series event is the Fargorate Ohio Open, October 19-22 in Wilmington, Ohio.
Karen Corr will face Kelly Fisher and Allison Fisher will take on Wei Tzu-Chien in the Seybert’s Michigan Women’s Open semi-finals, while the open division is down to the last eight with Jayson Shaw, Chang Jung-Lin, Fedor Gorst and defending champion Aloysius Yapp all still standing.
Vitaly Patsura, Joven Bustamante, Robbie Capito and Mika Immonen are also into the quarter-finals at the Kellogg Arena, on what is the fourth stop of the year on the Predator US Pro Billiard Series, presented by CSI.
Both the open and women’s events will play to a conclusion on Saturday, and the semi-finals on the women’s side have a very British feel after a trio of decorated Hall of Famers all made it through.
On the TV table, Corr was up against Margaret Fefilova. After the first two racks were shared, Corr took the third and banked the 1 for a 1/7 combo to open up the fourth rack and run the table for a 3-1 lead. Fefilova pulled one back but a scratch on the break brought the Brit back to the table, and the three-time Women’s World Snooker Champion took advantage of an open table to take the set 4-2.
Corr had stayed on the winners’ side to qualify for the last 16 and had claimed some big wins on her way to the quarter-finals, including a shootout victory against Canada Open champion ‘Amber’ Chia Hua Chen.
She began the second set as she ended the first, adding two racks to the board to leave Fefilova needing a quick turnaround. However, a foul during a safety battle allowed Corr to line up the 1/10 with ball in hand to reach the hill 3-0 up.
A dry break afforded Fefilova an opportunity she couldn’t afford to let slip. The 25-year-old, who has played so well this week, didn’t have a clear path and both players had several visits during the rack before Corr attempted and brilliantly executed an 8/10 combo to the middle to wrap up a 4-2, 4-0 win.
“It’s amazing,” said Corr. “It’s one match at a time and I have been nervous all the way through but in that match I felt comfortable. I felt like I have nothing to lose; I didn’t expect a lot of myself coming into this event because I haven’t played for four years.”
Corr is certainly no stranger to her semi-final opponent, fellow Hall of Famer Kelly Fisher. The pair have met many times in major pool and snooker events over the last three decades and will face off for a place in the final after Fisher won four matches on Friday.
Starting the day on the losers’ side of the brackets, the three-time Pro Billiard Series champion beat Cristina Schneider 4-1, 4-0 and then knocked out Kristina Tkach 3-1 in a shootout. The Brit was then forced to come from behind to defeat Silviana Lu 3-4, 4-3, 3-1 by shootout but she ended the day with a straight-sets win against Angeline Ticoalu, 4-1, 4-0.
Allison Fisher will face Wei Tzu-Chien in the streamed semi-final after both won quarter-final shootouts. Wei was runner-up in the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship earlier this month and made the semi-finals with a win against Amalia Matas. Wei took the first set 4-2 but Matas inflicted Wei’s first set defeat of the week by taking the second 4-3, only to lose 3-0 in the shootout after missing her first two spot shots.
Fisher lost the first set of her quarter-final 4-2 to Jasmin Ouschan but a reversal of that scoreline in the second set took the match to a shootout, and the Brit, finalist at last month’s Canada Open, made all four of her spot shots for a 4-2 shootout success.
“I’m ecstatic to be in the semi-final,” said Fisher. “Today wasn’t my best day at the table so I am really, really delighted. I have come through two good shootouts this week and made four in a row tonight; I can’t believe it.”
In the open event, Aloysius Yapp’s defense of his title continued with a shootout win over John Morra. Yapp took the first set 4-1 but Morra clinched a hill-hill second set after the 2021 champion conceded ball in hand by failing to hit a rail after a safety shot.
Both players were faultless with their first two spot shots, as many in attendance at the Kellogg Arena gathered around the TV table to witness the drama. Yapp made it three out of three before the first mistake was made by Morra, allowing the Singaporean a spot shot for a place in the quarter-finals, which he made to complete a perfect shootout.
Yapp will face Jayson Shaw in the quarter-finals after the Scot defeated Sharik Sayed 4-1, 4-2. A monster semi-final is in store in the bottom half of the draw with Shaw or Yapp to face the winner of the Chang Jung-Lin vs. Fedor Gorst quarter-final. Chang has only lost one set all week while Gorst has won two shootouts to remain undefeated.
Ukraine’s Vitaliy Patsura recently won the biggest tournament check of his career so far at the Texas Open and has carried his form on to Michigan. Like Chang, he has only lost one set this week, against Alex Pagulayan, and will face Jovan Bustamante in the quarter-finals.
Robbie Capito takes on Mika Immonen in the other quarter final after both players won shootouts in the last 16. Immonen was 4-2, 1-4, 4-3 winner over Kang Lee while Capito defeated Wu Kun Lin 3-4, 4-2, 4-3.
Play continues from 10am local time on Saturday, with six more matches to be broadcast live on watchbilliard.tv and the World Billiard TV YouTube channel.
Rubilen Amit is out of the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship, while Jasmin Ouschan suffered her first defeat of the event at the hands of Germany’s Pia Filler.
It means Ouschan will now face Bojana Sarac, the runner-up of last year’s Austrian Open, in the losers’ qualification round on Friday. Allison Fisher will also have to return on Friday morning having lost to ‘Amber’ Chia Hua Chen for the third time in the last four weeks.
Amit won the World Women’s 10-Ball last time it was staged – in 2013 – but her long-awaited title defense came to an end at the hands of Poland’s Monika Zabek, who won 7-3 against the Filipino but was later eliminated herself when she lost 7-3 to Norway’s Line Kjorsvik.
After Amit’s defeat to Zabek, a re-run of the recent Canada Open final between Allison Fisher and Chen took center stage on one of the two feature tables. Chen had also faced Fisher in the opening round in Canada, and both matches in that event went to shootouts won by Chen. There was no chance of a shootout in this tournament though, but it was another very close match. It nipped and tucked with neither player able to establish more than a one-rack advantage at any time, but Chen pulled away at the end to win 7-5.
The session’s final match on the main table saw Ouschan take on Filler. Ouschan had registered two 7-2 wins to remain in the winners’ side of the draw, but things wouldn’t be so easy against her German opponent in the qualification round. Filler is European 8-ball champion and stayed neck and neck with Ouschan, treating the spectators to a hill-hill thriller.
Filler’s break left a layout which promised a dramatic final rack and it delivered some nail-biting drama. Ouschan twice missed the 5 but was first to get an opening on the 6, which had been tied on the side rail with the 8, however, in the end, it was Filler who landed the victory, and with it a place in the last 16. For Ouschan, she’ll return tomorrow with another chance to qualify against Bojana Sarac.
Play continues from 9am on Friday.
The draw and brackets for the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship can be seen here: https://probilliardseries.com/event/1677/. Play continues at 9am on Wednesday.
The event is broadcasting two tables with full live coverage and commentary every day. One will be available on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel and another will be at watchbilliard.tv. All tables can be viewed live at Kozoom.com.
Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter to follow the next events.
When Jasmin Ouschan returned to compete in events on the Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA), no fan of the game expected that it would take long for her to reach her stride and return to the top of the results. They would have been right.
Ouschan’s return to the WPBA was in mid March where she turned in an uncharacteristic 17th place finish at the WPBA Northern Lights Classic, Ouschan then travelled to Las Vegas in late March where she finished third in the WPBA Predator event, losing in the semi-finals to Kelly Fisher. The Predator Germany Women’s Open last month was Ouschan’s next major event, and she again lost to Fisher, finishing in 5th place.
That brings us to the WPBA Soaring Eagle Masters that took place July 22nd – 24th at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Ouschan kicked things off with comfortable wins over Susan Williams and June Maiers before drawing Fisher in the winners side final eight. To say that Fisher had been a nemesis to Ouschan this year would be a huge understatement. Fisher has been a nemesis to every player on the tour, as she has won five straight women’s events and not only dominates the Women’s Money List, but is also in the top 10 on the overall Money List for 2022.
None of those accolades helped her on the table though, as Ouschan toughed out a close 8-6 win to send Fisher to the one loss side. Next up for Ouschan was Florida’s Kaylee McIntosh. Ouschan had eliminated McIntosh from the Vegas event with a lopsided 4-0/4-1 scoreline, but McIntosh’s game has been rising by leaps and bounds all year. “Playing her (Jasmin) in Vegas was my first match against a very well known top rank player and I let the nerves get to me and didn’t play my best game.” said McIntosh. Although McIntosh dropped their rematch 8-4, she says she will learn from it. “This past weekend I again, didn’t play my best against her and it showed. I had many opportunities where I should have gotten out but didn’t. I’m taking my matches against Jasmin as learning experiences. I’m just trying to get over whatever mental hurdle I have when playing her because I have yet to bring my best game against her. I respect her game a lot and look forward to playing her again in the future.”
The hot-seat came down to Ouschan vs WPBA newcomer Margareta Fefilova. Fefilova has recently relocated from Belarus to America and had been patiently waiting for the WPBA to allow her to play on tour. With the recent World Confederation of Billiards Sports decision to lift the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, Fefilova was able to play. While American fans are quickly learning about Fefilova, she is no stranger to the winners circle as she has many top finishes over in Europe. Ouschan took that match 8-5 to sit in the hot-seat and await an opponent.
On the one loss side, Fisher was on a tear. In back to back matches, she eliminated Caroline Pao, Angeline Ticoalu, Jennifer Barretta, McIntosh and Fefilova to earn her place in the finals against Ouschan. “It was a grueling schedule, playing five matches back to back on the one loss side” said Fisher. The match against McIntosh stuck out for Fisher. “We’ve never played before and she impressed me. She really has got a great game and etiquette! One to watch for the future.” said Fisher. For McIntosh, it was yet another learning experience. “After losing my match to Jasmin I really went into a mindset of ‘I have nothing to lose’. I was getting the opportunity to play the #1 ranked player in the world and not many get to experience that. I played with confidence and I felt as though I could win. Even though I lost, I was extremely happy with my play during the match.” said McIntosh after the match.
The finals was a repeat of the first clash between Ouschan and Fisher, as the match was decided by small mistakes. “When Jasmin beat me on the winners side, we both played very well. She was playing great and I couldn’t shake her off. That’s pretty much the exact same thing that happened in the final match. There were just a couple little kisses that didn’t work out for me. We both played great and I thought I was playing well enough to win. She was just more consistent and won. It was a well deserved win for her and I guess I will just try to start a new roll in the next one” said Fisher.
Next up for the ladies on the WPBA, is the CSI / Predator US Pro Billiard Series event on August 17th – 21st and the Cambridge Red Deer Hotel in Alberta Canada.
Fresh off her undefeated win two weeks ago at the WPBA’s Northern Lights Classic in Minnesota, where she faced Allison Fisher for the first time in a final match since 2016, Kelly Fisher came to the CSI/Predator US Pro Billiard Series’ Alfa Women’s Las Vegas Open, held this past weekend (March 31-April 3) and went undefeated a second time to capture her second straight WPBA title. Though Allison Fisher was, once again, ‘in the house,’ the two did not meet up at this latest event. Allison was eliminated in the opening round of the single-elimination final phase to which they’d both advanced. The event drew 64 entrants to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The event was divided into two phases; an opening, 64-entrant, double-elimination Phase 1, followed by a 16-entrant, single-elimination Phase 2 that eventually crowned Kelly as the champion. The format was best-two-out-of-three races to 4. If the competitors were tied after two matches, a “spot shootout’ followed to determine the winner.
Kelly, who was in a 16-player, Phase 1 bracket that included eventual runner-up, Brittany Bryant, advanced to be among the eight winners’ side entrants in Phase 2 without having to play a third match. She played a total of 27 games against three opponents in Phase 1 and gave up only three of them, downing Sarah Kapeller (4-0, 4-1), Ashley Burrows (4-0, 4-0) and Cathy Metzinger (4-1, 4-1). To join Kelly in advancement to Phase 2, Bryant, in the meantime, had to play 44 games and lost 18 of them. She got by Anna Riegler and junior competitor Savannah Easton, both 4-2, 4-2, before facing Jennifer Baretta, who won the opening set 2-4. Bryant came back to win the second set and the “spot shootout,” both double hill.
Angela Ticoalu got by Jeannie Seaver, Nicole Keeney and Woojin Lee with an aggregate score of 24-15 to qualify for Phase 2, as did Susan Williams from the same 16-entrant section of the opening bracket. Williams sent June Maiers, Vang Bui Xuan and Joanne Ashton to the loss side to join Ticoalu in the winners’ side advancement to Phase 2.
Allison Fisher chalked up an even more impressive Phase 1 than Kelly had. She, too, advanced to Phase 2 without having to play a third match against any of her three opponents, downing Susan Wilbur, Veronique Menard and Naomi Williams and giving up only two racks (to Menard, in their second race-to-4). Kyoko Sone joined Allison in advancement to Phase 2 from the same 16-entrant section of the opening bracket, downing Sandy Badger, 13-year-old junior competitor Sofia Mast and Amalia Matas Heredia.
Rounding out the field of eight winners’ side competitors to advance to Phase 2 were Jasmin Ouschan and Line Kjorsvik. Ouschan got by two of her opponents without having to play a “spot shootout” third match, downing Tamami Okuda 4-2, 4-1 and Beth Fondell 4-1, 4-2, before splitting her first two against Mary Tam 1-4, 4-3. Ouschan won the shootout 3-2 to advance. Kjorsvik did not play a third, tie-breaking “spot shootout” against any of her first three opponents either, joining Ouschan in advancement after defeating Gigi Callejas (4-1, 4-2), Camille Campbell (4-2, 4-0) and Melissa Helland (4-0, 4-1).
After five losers’ side rounds, Kaylee McIntosh, Woojin Lee, Angela Janic, Heather Cortez, Melissa Helland, Mary Tam, Amalia Matas Heredia and Ashley Burrows joined the eight winners’ side competitors in advancement to Phase 2, which in some ways, was notable for those left behind as much as for those who advanced. Among those who failed to make the cut were long-time WPBA veterans (in no particular order) Stephanie Mitchell, Teruko Cucculelli, Monica Webb, Jeannie Seaver, Liz Cole, Kim Newsome, Emily Duddy, Dawn Hopkins, Loree Jon Brown, Janet Atwell and Caroline Pao. It should also be noted that while both 13-year-old junior competitors, Sofia Mast and Skylar Hess, failed to advance, one (Mast) fell to an opponent (Angela Janic) who was among the final 16 and the other (Hess) was eliminated by someone (Cucculelli) who arguably should have been. It was the first appearance for these two extraordinarily talented and professionally-composed young women and WPBA competitors should be on notice that these two will be back and barring any unforeseen life changes, for many years to come.
The Final Four in this event competed in plenty of time for those so inclined to turn their attention to the NCAA Final Four, which got started well after the four ladies in Vegas got underway at about 2 p.m. on Saturday. It was an International Final Four, which was absent representation from the United States.Kelly Fisher, representing the UK was matched up against Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan. Spain’s Amalia Matas Heredia, who, in February, chalked up her first win on the European Ladies’ Tour, faced Canada’s Brittany Bryant.
Kelly Fisher had kept her no-third-match streak going through the opening round against Heather Cortez, whom she defeated 4-1, 4-0 before drawing Angeline Ticoalu, who took the opening set against Fisher 4-2. Fisher came back to win the second set 4-1 and then, in something of a nail-biter, the “spot shootout” 6-5. Ouschan, who got by Kaylee McIntosh 4-0, 4-1 in the opening round of Phase 2 had her own nail-biter in the second round, where she won two straight double hill fights against Kyoko Sone to draw Kelly.
Advancing to the other semifinal, Bryant had played 24 games against two opponents, eliminating Woojin Lee 4-2, 4-1 and then Ashley Burrows 4-2, 4-3 to advance. Heredia proved to be Allison Fisher’s downfall in the opening round of Phase 2. Fisher took the opening set, double hill, but Heredia came back to win the second set and the “shootout,” double hill. Heredia went on to down Mary Tam 4-1, 4-3 to pick up Bryant.
Kelly Fisher downed Ouschan 4-2, 4-1 in their semifinal matchup. She was joined in the finals by Bryant, who’d defeated Heredia 4-2, 2-4 and 4-2 in the “shootout.”
It’s not hard to imagine Fisher’s “I’ve got this,” and Bryant’s “Uh, oh, trouble right here in Sin City” when Fisher shut Bryant out in the opening set of the final. It’s also not hard to imagine the spectator’s rooting for Bryant in the second set when she and Kelly finished the 6th game, tied at 3 apiece. Fisher, though, completed her undefeated run by winning the second set to claim the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, as well as sponsors and partners the WPBA, Alfa Coin, CueSports International, Predator Group, Kamui, Seybert’s, Medalla Light, Rums of Puerto Rico, BCA Pool League and the USA Pool League.
After one day of play at the Woman’s Poison VB 9-Ball Championship, Bulgaria’s Kristina Zlateva has booked her place in the final six player bracket. Zlateva went undefeated on Thursday, with wins over Monica Webb, Eugenia Gyftopoulos and Turkey’s Eylul Kibaroglu. Kibaroglu had wins over Webb and Gyftopoulos on Thursday and will hope to earn one of the two wildcard spots when group play is complete.
Day two of the event on Friday will see another four players competing in round robin play, with Taipei’s Wei Tzu Chien, Japan’s Yuki Hiraguchi, Indonesia’s Angeline Ticoalu and Belarus’s Yana Halliday all in action.
All of the ladies will be competing in 8 racks of 9-ball against the ghost, hoping to run more balls than their opponent. The top finisher in the four player group will earn her place in the final bracket, with two wildcards who don’t win their groups also making the final bracket.
The Amway eSpring International Women 9-Ball Championship 2017 continued its action today (Mar 3 local time) at the Taipei Gymnasium. All matches in the round robin stage were completed, with the leader of the respective group advancing directly into the last 16, while the players in second and third place will have to play in the last 24.
FURY sponsored Kelly Fisher (GBR) won the last match on the TV table against WEI Tzu-Chien (TPE) to gain a direct entry to the last 16 of the tournament. Kelly was one of the players that had 4 wins in her respective group after the initial round robin stage. Wei and Veronika Ivanovskaia (GER) came in as 2nd and 3rd place respectively in Group H, hence advancing to play in the round of last 24.
Sandy LIU ShaSha (CHN) and Angeline Ticoalu (INA), the other two FURY sponsored players, were drawn into the same group. They finished off 2nd and 3rd respectively in Group B, thus advancing into the last 24. Even though Sandy was leading most of the time throughout the stage, Allison Fisher (GBR) took her down on TV table to equal their scores in games and had a better rack-difference to snatch the first place and advanced directly into the last 16.
In Group D, PAN XiaoTing (CHN) was another player that had 4 wins after whitewashing the three times Amway Cup champion and the local favourite Rita CHOU Chieh-Yu, giving as much pleasure as well as shock to the audience both at the stadium and on TV. During an interview earlier on, Pan reviewed that this was a match long expected, while the result was a pleasant surprise as she expressed in the post-interview. Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) came in as third and will follow Rita into the next round.
In the other groups, despite the fact that Jasmine Ouschan (AUT) lost to the defending champion Chezka Centeno (PHI) yesterday, Jasmine had more wins in the end and therefore became first place in Group A. Chezka finished second after making a couple of critical errors to lose two hill-hill matches against Kristina Tkach (RUS) and WU Hsiso-Wen (TPE). Wu successfully made it into the last 24 after qualifying from stage 1.
Japanese leading lady Chihiro Kawahara had a rough ride in Group C, with only one win against Claudia Von Rohr (SUI), the new face in the tour. All of the other three players had the same result of 3 wins, but in the end it was Karen Corr (IRL) that secured a seat in the last 16 with a 2-rack difference. FAN Yu-Hsuan (TPE), who had made her appearance in stage 2 through qualifiers, fell short marginally by one rack against her local senior CHEN Ho-Yun.
Current world #1 Han Yu (CHN) gave no chance to HSIEH Yu-Wen(TPE) on the TV table yesterday, then went on to win all the matches in Group E. HSIEH, who came through from the Taiwanese qualifier, and LEE Woo-Jin, the rising star from South Korea that made her way through stage 1, were on the same page before their last encounter with each other. In the end, it was HSIEH that had a better day, turning an hill-hill excitement into an entry ticket to the last 24 for herself, leaving her opponent out of the tour. Two times world champion Rubilen Amit (PHI) finished second in the group.
KIM Ga-Young (KOR) stood out in Group F with 4 straight wins, thus advancing to the last 16. For the remaining players, it was a close call amongst Natalia Seroshtan (RUS), CHEN Chia-Hua and qualifier Bean HUNG Meng-Hsia, with all three of them winning 2 games and losing 2. Natalia was the lowest one after rack counts and therefore the two Taiwanese girls went through to the last 24.
It was not exactly a joyride but CHEN SiMing (CHN) still surfed through Group G by winning all of her matches. Twice Amway Cup winner LIN Yuan-Chun had a close one, lost in the decider against Chen, but still managed to win all of her other matches to go through to the next stage. Kristina Grim of Germany, who took down qualifier KUO Szu-Ting (TPE) on the first TV match yesterday, came third in the group.
Upon the completion of the last match on the day, all players gathered at the TV table to draw for the positions tomorrow in the last 16 to 24 stage.
Round-robin stage Results & Draw for last 16 to 24 stage: click here
Ga-Young Kim ousted the favorite Austrians Jasmin Ouschan and Ho-Yun Chen of Chinese Taipei from the tournament with 9:5, 9:6 victory in the single elimination.
In the semi-finals, Kim had a deal with Han Yu of China. Han was unlucky and made some dry breaks and illegal breaks, and Kim was played decent, won the match with 9:3 to make into the final. It was like a little revenge, Kim had lost to Han Yu in the final last year.
Fu Xiaofang made her way with smashed Angeline Ticoalu (INA) 9:0 in her first match in the single elimination. She defeated the new young Nation Team member Liu Yuchen with 9:7 in the quarter-finals, then to overpower Chen Siming in the semi-final with 9:4. That earned her a seat in the final match.
The final match played between Fu Xiaofang and Ga-Young Kim, the "Little Devil Girl". Both of them played well. Two of them break & clear every rack to 3:3. In rack 7, Kim missed the 6-ball, Fu cleared the table up to 4:3. Then Fu missed the 1-ball after her breaking rack in the rack 12, Kim take her chance to clean the table to get a 7:5, lead 2 racks plus kiss 9 in rack 13. Even Fu clear next rack still wouldn't save her match, Kim took down Fu with 9:6 to be the Champion of China Open 2015.
“I didn’t give up, I tried hard to maintain my confidence. I am enjoy the result. Seven years since I first played in this tournament in Shanghai, I finally WIN!” Said Ga-Young with smile after the match.
