Qi Liu defeated Andrew Cleary twice, once in the battle for the hot seat and again in the finals, to take top honors in the Predator Tour’s A-B handicapped event on the weekend of June 2-3. The $500-added event drew 52 entrants to Raxx Pool Room in West Hempstead, NY.
In the winners’ side semifinals, Liu sent Raj Vannala west 7-6, as Cleary was busy defeating John Greslik 7-5. Liu took the hot seat match 10-8 and waited for Cleary to come back.
On the loss-side, Vannala met up with Giovanni Hosang, who’d defeated Shawn Sookhai and Lionel Rivera, both 7-5, to reach him. Greslik drew Charles Young, who’d gotten by Tony Ignomirello, double hill, and Steve Wade 7-3. Young made Greslik’s loss-side trip short with a 7-3 victory, as Vannala downed Hosang 7-5. In the quarterfinals that followed, Young ended Vannala’s weekend 8-6.
Cleary, though, finished Young’s loss-side streak with a 7-4 victory that gave him a second crack at Liu. Cleary battled in the single set finals, but Liu prevailed 10-9 to capture the event title.
Wellington Reyes won three straight double hill matches to finish an undefeated, March 24-25 weekend on the A-D handicapped Predator Tour. In a concurrently run Open/Pro event on Sunday, Mika Immonen stopped a loss-side challenge from Tour Director Tony Robles to also go undefeated. The $500-added handicapped event drew 52 entrants, while the $500-added Open/Pro event drew 14 to Carom Cafe and Billiards in Flushing, NY.
The first of Reyes’ final double hill wins came among the winners’ side final four, when he sent Lidio Rasta to the loss-side 7-6. Andrew Cleary, in the meantime, defeated Wilfredo Albay 7-4 to join Reyes in the battle for the hot seat. Reyes chalked up his second straight double hill win with a 10-9 victory over Cleary that left him in the hot seat.
Albay and Rasta moved to the loss side and lost no time getting back into the swing of things. Albay shutout Hector Ruiz, and was joined in the quarterfinal match by Rasta, who’d eliminated Tony Liang 7-4. Rasta then squeaked by Albay double hill and defeated Cleary in the semifinals 9-7. Reyes, though, ended Rasta’s three-match, loss-side bid with his third double hill victory in the finals to complete his undefeated weekend.
The Iceman’s journey through the short field on-hand for the Open/Pro event went through Robb Saez among the winners’ side final four. Saez moved west on the heels of a 7-5 Mika victory, as Jeremy Sossei was busy sending Zion Zvi over, 7-4. Immonen and Sossei battled to double hill before The Iceman sunk the 9-ball that left him in the hot seat.
Over on the loss-side, Tony Robles, who’d been sent over by Zvi, was at work on a five-match streak that would set him up against Immonen in the finals. He got by Brian Russell 7-1 and Frankie Hernandez 7-3 to pick up Saez. Zvi drew Jorge Rodriguez, who’d defeated Jennifer Baretta 7-2 and Greg McAndrews double hill. Robles gave up only a single rack against Saez, and a Zvi/Robles re-match was avoided when Rodriguez eliminated Zvi 7-5.
Robles downed Rodriguez in the quarterfinals 7-3, and then survived a double hill semifinal match against Sossei for a chance against The Iceman. Immonen allowed Robles only a single game in the match that completed his undefeated day.
Tour director Robles thanked the owners and staff of Carom Cafe and Billiards, as well as sponsors Predator Cues, The National Amateur Pool League, Delta-13 racks, Poison Cues, PoolOnTheNet.com, and NYCGrind.
