The draw for the 43rd US Open 9-Ball Championship has been made, with Jayson Shaw to begin his defense against Marcus Weston at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas on Sunday, April 21.
The draw was seeded with a golf-style category system adopted, which took in rankings from across the pool world including WPA World Ranking, BCA Standings and Fargo Rating. As defending champion Shaw was seeded No.1, while five-time US Open champion Shane Van Boening is seeded second as the highest ranked American player.
Broadcast details for the 2019 US Open 9-Ball Championship will be announced shortly. Live rack-by-rack scoring will be available throughout the event at www.matchroompool.com thanks to Matchroom Multi Sport’s partnership with CueScore.
Note: Should any players featured in the draw not participate in the event, they will be replaced directly by the first player on the event waiting list to accept a spot in the tournament, irrespective of where the new player would have featured in any seeding category.
All matches at the US Open 9-Ball Championship takes place April 21-26 at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas. Matches are race to 11, winner breaks, except the final which is race to 13. The draw and match schedule for the first stage of the tournament is available now at www.matchroompool.com.
Tickets for the 43rd US Open 9-Ball Championship are still available at www.matchroompool.com from as little as $10 with VIP packages also available for the final three days of the tournament.
The tournament will be split into two stages with the full field playing double elimination down to the final 16 from Sunday April 21st until Tuesday April 23rd across multiple tables. From Wednesday April 24th until Friday April 26th the final 16 players will play straight knockout in the TV Arena in front of a global television audience.
Play continued Wednesday at the U.S. Open and we are at that period of the event where some big names begin to fall away. Radislow Baica first took out Denis Grabe 11-2 and then eliminated Chip Compton 11-2. Next he will face Ramil Gallego. Maxim Dudanets of Russia sent Greek powerhouse Nikos Ekonomopoulos to the sidelines 11-7, ending his run for this year.
Eklent Kaci had a marvelous day. First he took down Karl Boyes 11-5 and then went on to ruin the evening for Jason Klatt 11-8. Now it gets really tough as he goes up against young Ko today. Ko took out both Amar Kang (11-3) and Ralf Bouquet (11-5) to rest on his current bracket perch.
Josh Roberts will play Jeremy Sossei today after Earl Strickland resigned the match against Josh with the score at 9-7. Roberts then went on to beat H.X. Han 11-8 and he is playing at the top of his game. Sossei had a rough road to get this far out on the charts. He had two double hill victories in a row against John Morra and Raj Hundal.
Players still unscathed by loss include Brandon Shuff who faces Jung Lin Chang and Alex Pagulayan who is to play a resurgent Jeremy Jones. One headliner match that has the buzz gong today is Jayson Shaw will be playing Pin Yi Ko. These two are both fan favorites to win the event so this match will be a thriller.
Our final two undefeated players are Abdulrahman Al Shammer and David Alcaide. They will face off in the winners rounds this afternoon or evening.
The matches just get tougher from here. Watch the best of them live at accu-stats.com.
Powerful matches lie ahead. Jayson Shaw will take on Carlo Biado, Oliver Ortmann faces Albin Ouschan, Warren Kiamco will stare across the table at Ralf Souquet, and Rodney Morris will do battle with Ruslan Chinakov.
For the rest of the week the matches will just get tougher and tougher. Which means it is a good time to slide over to Accu-Stats.com and purchase the remaining pay-per-view. The sound problems noticed earlier in the week have been solved and the broadcast is now pristine with nothing but world-class matches in every round.
The Mezz West State Tour was held in gorgeous La Mesa, California at its premier room, On Cue Billiards. The Nooris family welcomed 88 players including none other than “The Magician” himself, Mr. Efren Reyes. It was quite a treat for both players and spectators to watch and interact with the legend himself during the two day event.
The top half of the bracket was packed with talent as it contained not only Rodrigo Geronimo, Ramin Bakhtiari, Vilmos Foldes, Johnny Kang, James Cabal, Dan Wallace, Dave Gorham, Rodney Wynn and Victor Castro but also Efren Reyes. Foldes and Reyes met up in the final 16 of the winner side in a TV table face off. Foldes fought hard, but was out matched by Reyes with a score of 9-4. Reyes’ bracket got no easier, as Rodrigo Geronimo was waiting for him following his 9-3 victory over James Cabal. This Filipino match up went back and forth to the bitter end with Rodrigo pulling away a 9-7 victory and sending the Magician to the losers side. This win secured Geronimo’s spot in the final 4 of the winners side where he would defeat Victor Castro, who had tough wins over Mark Whitehead, Ray Pajarillo and Dave Gorham. Geronimo would go on to defeat Castro 9-6 to find himself waiting to battle it out for the hot seat.
The bottom half of the bracket was no cake walk either as Oscar Dominguez, Attila Bezdan, Kenichi Uchigaki, Ruben Bautista, Sal Butera, Beau Runningen and Melissa Hernadon made up just a few of the great players that filled up this portion of the chart. Second round of the winners side found Beau Runningen taking on Toyko player, Kenichi Uchigaki. Beau made a heart filled effort but fell short, sending Uchigaki further into the winners brackets and himself to the losers side. Uchigaki proceeded to find wins over Branch Talley, Larry Bohn and Sal Butera all of which allowed him to face off against Oscar Dominguez in the final 4 winners. Dominguez made his way there with wins over Melissa Hernadon, Amir Shoshan and Attila Bezdan. This was hard fought battle between the two international friends, but ended with Kenichi Uchigaki taking down Dominguez 9-6. This win ensured Uchigaki to face off with Geronimo for the hot seat. The match up one sided early on with Geronimo taking the win 9-5, putting him in the hot seat.
Meanwhile, the action continued on the losers’ side where team Hungary faced off. Vilmos Foldes defeated his best friend and road partner 9-4 knocking Attila out of the competition. Vilmos would then go on to beat Sal Butera in a hill-hill, nail bitter which came down to a safety battle on the 8 ball in the final game. However the hill-hill matches were not over for Foldes just yet, as Victor Castro played his heart out but fell short to Foldes in the following round. On the top side of the losers bracket, Oscar Dominguez found himself fighting back against Efren Reyes, who at one point led the match 8-2. Dominguez came with great out after great out, eventually tying the match at 8-8. In the case game, Reyes was up to break. Reyes broke in two balls and skillfully made an incredible out on Dominguez, forcing Oscar to settle for 5th/6th.
The 3rd/4th match found Foldes and Reyes once again. Foldes found his revenge on Reyes winning 9-6 and sending him to the losers side final against Uchigaki. Uchigaki, who was feeling ill and very jet lagged opted allow Foldes to move onto the finals by forfeit.
The finals between Vilmos Foldes and Rodrigo Geronimo was a match to be seen. In true double elimination format Foldes would have to defeat Geronimo twice to claim victory. Foldes easily handles Rodrigo winning the first set 9-3. The second set was much more of a grind with many break and runs, kicking and safety play. Rodrigo eventually grinded down Foldes and took his victory in a close 9-7 win. This win would make Rodrigo a three time tour stop winner this season.
Also, a congrats to Melissa Herndon for being the top female finisher and receiving a $100 bonus.
The MWST would like to thank their sponsors for their continuous support of bringing pool back to the west coast. In addition, a very special thank you to Daniel Bush and POV POOL for their hard work providing the live streaming. Mezz Cues (miki-mezz.com), West State Billiards Supply (weststatebilliardsupply.com), ZAN tips (Zan-tip.com), Kurzweils Country Meats (kurzweilscountrymeats.com), AZbilliards.com, NYCGrind.com, POVPool.com, Marty Carey Jump Q, POVPOOL.com, Turtle Racks, and fast&loose designs.
The new limited-field format at the Simonis/Aramith U.s. Open 9-Ball Championship has given us great matches much earlier than usual this week. Day three began with a "grudge match" between Jose Parica and Efren Reyes. Both men have their supporters who will argue long and hard about the superior merits of their man. It was a match between two of the giants of the game, and the stands were filled with anxious fans.
The contest started out with both men playing their usual strong pool. Reyes missed a ball in rack five that gifted Parica with his third mark and that seemed to strengthen Reyes' resolve. From that moment on it was all Reyes. The only thing Parica found at the table after that was either a kick or jump shot. Reyes kept him hidden and frustrated and controlled table after table, moving a bead on his side after every 9 ball fell. He took the match 11-3.
Mike Dechaine and Justin Bergman had a barn-burner. Dechaine went out to an early three game lead but Bergman refused to lie down or go away. He just kept pace with Mike on firepower and took advantage of opportunities when they were there to be had. Bergman drew closer as the match proceeded and in the end our combatants were sitting together on the hill facing a one-rack decider. Both men got to the table during the match but the last one standing was Dechaine who retained his position on the winner's side. Dechaine would go on to face another tough opponent late on Wednesday in Albin Ouschan. Ouschan led most of the way, but in the end it was Dechaine dropping the final 9-ball for an 11-9 win.
Two Canadians gave us a great show. Erik Hjorleifson and Jason Klatt are great friends off of the baize but they love to whip up on each other in tournaments. Hjorleifson led this one most of the way but Klatt never gives up the ship and he got stronger as the match went along. They gave us another double-hill match and Klatt played the final rack with the confidence his skills provide and took that final rack to slide by his buddy on the slimmest of margins.
Darren Appleton looks unstoppable. He has now won three matches while none of his opponents got past four games. He was able to hold Hunter Lombardo to only three games and that is a very tall order. Appleton just does not give his opponents any air. When he isn't rack-running he delights in putting you in a jailhouse safety.
We have seen a new name here that will become well known soon if he keep's playing like this. Alex Kazakis of Greece started this event by downing Rodney Morris 11-8, a feat that turned more than a few heads. He proved it was no fluke by dominating Kenichi Uchigaki 11-4. He fell to Appleton in round three, but looks poised for a run on the one loss side.
To the crowd's delight, Earl Strickland facing off against Shane Van Boening late in the day. Between these two players, they have eight US Open titles in their resumes and the room was packed with fans waiting to see what would happen. Although the crowd did their best to put Earl in the winner's circle, it was Van Boening looking like it was just another day at the office in an 11-7 win.
One match of note today was the one between Tony Drago of Malta and Chris Cantrall. Drago won 11-0 in a total time of 25 minutes. Think about that. That includes time for the racking. If it only takes a minute to gather the balls and rack them and get back up-table for the break shot that is 11 of those 25 minutes. He was running racks regularly in less than two minutes.
Day four looks to have even more great matches in store for us. Appleton vs Boyes, Reyes vs Orcollo, Kiamco vs van den Berg, Bustamante vs Hohmann and Morris vs Kennedy are just a sampling of the winners side matches scheduled for today.
The 39th Simonis/Aramith U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship saw a few changes this year. First, the 9-Ball is being racked on the spot to de-power the break shot and to remove soft breaking. Then, we are playing all-ball fouls this year and the 9 only counts as a win on the break if it does not go into the bottom corner pockets.
The break was a work in progress for almost every player as they experimented throughout their match with different break spots on the headstring, and different speeds and contact points on the 1 ball. This resulted in dry break after dry break, and certainly answered the organizers concern about stopping the wing ball dropping every time on the break.
The first top seed to get relegated to the losers bracket was World #1 ranked Niels Feijen who went down to Max Eberle 11-8 in the first TV match of the day. Feijen has been winning a lot of late, and played very well in his match against Eberle but Eberle kept making clutch shots at critical moments and scratches by Feijen at two critical points in the match spelled the end of Feijen's stay on the right side of the board. Eberle recently returned from a successful trip playing in the Philippines and the trip appears to have affected his game for the better. "The trip made me more resilient to pressure" Eberle said. "If you can run out with a sticky cue, sweaty face, talcum all over and players standing by the table, you can run out anywhere" Eberle explained.
This is an important event for the prospective USA Mosconi Cup team members. They are all here with coach Mark Wilson watching. The team members will be announced following this event, so they all want to show their stuff for the boss. Jeremy Sossei was first out and he had no opportunity to show his considerable skills as his opponent failed to show for the match.
Corey Deuel played well in his first match and won 11-8 over Sean Morgan. Oscar Dominguez was not so fortunate. He ran into a super-tough Jonathan Pinegar who came on very strong near the end of the match to send Dominguez to the one-loss side 11-9. Justin Bergman looked unstoppable in his 11-0 whitewash of Chris Cantrall, but Justin Hall had a much tougher time with Hanni Al Howri as the tough player from the UAE took Hall to hill-hill before Hall pulled out the win. John Schmidt fought hard, but couldn't get past Jason Klatt in their 11-9 match on the TV table. The night ended on a sour note for Mosconi hopeful Brandon Shuff as he came back from a late deficit to tie his match with Kenichi Uchigaki at hill-hill before Uchigaki won the case game.
One of the most colorful guys out there, Larry Phlegar, won his match against Canadian Randy Russell 11-8 but it could have been a larger margin if he had not missed several 9 ball shots. He would play well until the last shot and then get completely out of his normal rhythm and rush the last shot. Nevertheless, he hung in there and came out of the pits a happy man.
One match that caught the eye of the crowd was Majid V Majid. Popular player Imran Majid faced a new challenge in the form of Waleed Majid. W. Majid controlled this match the whole way, shot the lights out, and defeated I. Majid 11-4. He is a true force with which to be reckoned.
While a number of players struggled with the break, a handful of the top players seemed to have found the sweet spot, and are treating it as business as usual. Mike Dechaine and Darren Appleton seemed to be having no problem with the break. Mike trounced Tony Drago, who ended up on the wrong side of an 11-5 score line, and also having to watch Dechaine run a three pack in the process. Appleton also broke well against fellow Englishman So Shaw, and easily got the better of him 11-2.
Interesting matches coming up are: Skyler Woodward v Alex Pagulayan at 10:30 am Tuesday on the TV table and Efren Reyes v Jose Parica at 10:30 am Wednesday. While this match has not been announced on the TV table, logic dictates it deserves a home there.
The opening round of most any major tournament is normally devoid of drama as the seeded players rarely have to face off against anyone of consequence. The U.S Open is no exception to that rule, but Monday did find a match that had the room buzzing. The always dependable and strong Larry Nevel came to his match against Monica Webb a favorite, but Ms. Webb played a flawless match. Once tied at three she then put down a four-pack to lead Nevel 7-3 in their race to 11 games. She then simply refused to give up control of the table and Nevel just never got an opportunity to find his gear. At the end Webb put together three wins in a row to take the match down 11-4.
Another match that had the room abuzz, though not in a positive manner, was the match between Michael Wong and Michael Yednak. Both men played in slo-mo and the match, scheduled for two hours, took three hours and forty minutes. Two matches that started in the round after this match actually finished before the two Mikes could reach a conclusion. Yednak finally won 11-9.
The reminder of the morning rounds went as would be expected with the heavy-hitters pushing the cannon fodder out of the way as they made their way to the right of the charts.
The evening session saw three more abbreviated rounds of play. The 6:30 round featured a great match up between Stevie Moore and Japan's Kenichi Uchigaki. Uchigaki took an early lead, but Moore found his stroke and clawed back to take the lead in the middle section of the match. That only served to spur on Uchigaki, as he quickly retook the lead and did not relinquish it on his way to an 11-9 win.
The final match of the night was well worth staying for for, as young Jesse Engel looked to be having all sort of problems dealing with East Coast regular Raj Vannala. Vannala held an 8-4 lead and looked to be in control, when the wheels started to fall off. Sensing weakness, Engel ground Vannala down and won seven straight games for the 11-8 victory.
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: Berk Mehmetcik (TNC), formerly a "dark horse" but nowadays one of the favored players, just defeated Kevin Ferreira (LUX) with 100:64.
Mehmetcik was definitely favored. Ferreira gave him a tough fight in the early stage of the match and did not allow Mehmetcik to get away. When the score was 53:45 for Mehmetcik, he carried the ball and made his high run of the match with 27 points in order to get an 80:45 lead over Ferreira. The defense line of the youngster from Luxembourg seemed to be broken. He could not get back into action and fell to the sharp blade of the shooter from North Cyprus with 100:64. It took Mehmetcik 16 innings to oust his opponent from the round of the last 32 players in junior's straight pool.
Other notable results include Daniel Schneider (SUI) continuing his quest for glory with a victory over Haris Amini (NOR), 100:42. Earlier, Krystian Cwikla (POL) managed to defeat the defending Champion in the pupil's division, Raphael Wahl (GER) with 75:39. Daniel G.ttenberger (AUT) remained victorious over Sandro Kupper (SUI) with 75:20. The pupils are still in the double elimination stage of their 14/1 tournament while the juniors are already in the single elimination.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.billiardapps.com or contact our press office.
Dennis Orcollo has added a US Open One Pocket title to his already impressive resume.
Orcollo never allowed an opponent to the hill in an undefeated run through the winner's side. A Friday night win 4-2 win over Chris Bartam left Orcollo facing Derby City One Pocket Champion Corey Deuel for the hot-seat. That match would be fairly anti-climactic with Dennis defeating Deuel 4-0.
After Deuel's five hour 3-2 win over Carlo Biado on Saturday night, the fans knew they would get an Orcollo/Deuel rematch in the finals.
The final race to five on Sunday started out with Orcollo taking a 2-0 lead in a defensive battle. Neither player seemed willing to go for anything risky and Deuel fought off his usual desire to go for the home run shot. Deuel finally won a game in rack three and then tied things up at 2-2 and again at 3-3.. The first six racks had been long tactical battles, but Deuel made a mistake on his break return in rack seven and allowed Orcollo a quick run to get to the hill at 4-3. Rack eight saw Deuel put togeher multiple small runs to take a 7-2 lead in ball count and most fans on the rail were certain we were in store for a hill-hill match. Deuel passed on multiple semi-risky shots that Orcollo baited him with, but it was finally a fairly straight forward safety that spelled the end for Deuel. He left Orcollo a shot with a very tough table and Orcollo ran the final six balls on the table for the 5-3 win and first place.
Orcollo won't be able to enjoy his $7500 check for long, as he is now two rounds behind in the ongoing US Open 10-Ball Championship where he is attempting to defend his title. He will have a 10:00 am match against Kenichi Uchigaki with the winner taking on Shane Van Boening later in the day on Monday.
Deuel settled for $4800 in second place prize money.
The CSI US Open 10-Ball Championship has eliminated the chaff from the field and the winner's side is down to only four men left standing. Today Pin Yi Ko will take on Lee Van Corteza while Wu Jia Qing faces Rodney Morris to determine the hot-seat match.
The brackets are a bit behind in this discipline due to the necessity for Orcoolo to miss his match last night in order to compete in and win the One Pocket finals. That time will be made up this morning as he will play Kenichi Uchigaki and then will take on Shane Van Boening should he win that battle.
