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Stevens goes undefeated on Predator Amateur stop; Open cancelled due to weather threat

James Stevens picked up his first win on the Predator Tour; in fact, based on information at our disposal, his first win in any tournament, with an undefeated run through 90 entrants, on hand for the $500-added, March 1-2 stop on the Predator Tour, hosted by Steinway Billiards, in Astoria, NY. Responding to concerns about the arrival of seriously inclement weather, the tour stop did not include an Open tournament.
 
Stevens faced different opponents in the hot seat and finals. Once he'd defeated Diana Rojas 7-5, among the winners' side final four, he faced Steve Wright, who'd just sent Stevens' eventual finals opponent, Victor Nau, to the losers' bracket 7-4. Stevens got into the hot seat with a 7-3 win over Wright and waited for Nau, who'd come later.
 
On the loss side, Nau picked up Luis Novas, who'd survived a double hill battle versus Dave Shlemperis, and defeated Roberto Mendoza 7-4. Rojas drew Chicky Romero, who'd gotten by Gus Iliotoulos 7-4 and Josh Friedberg 7-5. Nau and Rojas got right back to work, downing Novas (7-4) and Romero (7-3), and advancing to the quarterfinals.
 
Nau then navigated his way through two straight double hill matches; against Rojas in the quarterfinals, and then, Wright, in the semifinals. It gave him the shot at Stevens that he'd been looking for, although the end result was not what he'd expected. Stevens gave up only a single rack to Nau, completing his undefeated run with a dominating 8-1 performance to claim the event title.

Sanchez comes back from semifinals to down Shlemperis on Predator Tour

Dave Shlemperis, Juan Guzman, Mrs. Guzman, Junior Sanchez & Tony Robles

Dave Shlemperis put up a good double hill fight in the finals of the Predator Tour's Amateur event on the weekend of November 9-10, but it wasn't enough. Junior Sanchez came back from the semifinals to avenge an earlier loss in the hot seat match and won the $500-added event that had drawn 64 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria, NY.
 
They got into their first match, following Shlemperis' victory over Meshak Daniel 7-3 and Sanchez' 7-5 win over Keith Adamik. Shlemperis took the first of his two against Sanchez 7-5 and waited in the hot seat for his return.
 
Daniel and Adamik moved west and had their weekend ended in their first, loss-side matches, both double hill. Daniel came up against Jorge Bivanco, who'd gotten by Manny Stamatakis 7-4 and Steve Persaud 9-5. Adamik's final match came against Juan Guzman, who'd been sent west by Shlemperis, and then defeated Tony Ignomirello 9-6 and Luis Novas 8-4.
 
Guzman, making short work of Bivanco in the quarterfinals that followed, gave up only a single rack, and turned to face Sanchez. Sanchez won the semifinal fight against Guzman 7-4 to earn his second shot against Shlemperis, and then took full advantage with a double hill win in the finals that earned him the event title.