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Nau downs Andoni twice to take Amateur Predator stop; Shaw does likewise to win Open

Jayson Shaw

Both Victor Nau and Jayson Shaw survived double hill battles for the hot seat in the Amateur and Open portions of the November 2-3 stop on the Predator Tour, and went on to win the finals, against the same opponents. Nau took two against Borana Andoni in the Amateur event, while Shaw defeated Tony Robles twice in the Open event. The $500-added Amateur event drew 20 entrants, while the $500-added Open portion of the proceedings drew a short field of 10 entrants to Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ.
 
From among the winners' side final four in the Amateur event, Nau downed Antonio G.errero 7-3, as Andoni sent Bogie Uzdejczyk west 7-2. Nau took command of the hot seat match, sending Andoni to the semifinals 8-3.
 
On the loss side, Geurrero met up with Giovanni Hosang, who'd gotten by Kyle Bubet 7-3 and survived a double hill battle against ChristIan Smith, to reach him. Uzdejczyk faced Stewart Warnock, who'd defeated Keith Adamik, double hill, and Koka Davladze 7-5. Guerrero and Uzdejczyk advanced to the quarterfinals with identical 7-5 wins over Osang and Warnock.
 
Uzdejczyk won the quarterfinal match 7-2 over Guerrero and got a second crack at Andoni.  He put up a double hill fight against her, but she prevailed for a second shot at Nau. Nau finished things with an 8-4 win in the finals.
 
In the Open event, Shaw, still nursing wounds inflicted by back-to-back victories by Shane Van Boening and Lee Van Corteza in the US Open 9-Ball Championships,  advanced among the winners side final four and met up with Scott Simonetti. Tony Robles squared off against room owner, John Trobiano, in the other winners' side semifinal.
 
Shaw defeated Simonetti 7-4, as Robles advanced to the hot seat match with a 7-2 win over Trobiano. Shaw won the double hill, hot seat struggle against Robles in their first of two.
 
On the loss side, Travis McKinley was working his way to the semifinals against Robles. He got by Keith Adamik 7-5 and Vikram Dasari 7-4 to pick up Simonetti. Trobiano faced Shpendi Kaba, who'd defeated Paul Spaanstra 7-1 and Daniel Dagotdot 7-4.
 
Kaba and McKinley handed Trobiano and Simonetti their second straight losses, both 7-4. McKinley then defeated Kaba in the quarterfinals 7-5. Robles ended McKinley's loss-side streak in the semifinals 7-3, and was then, himself, eliminated by Shaw in their second meeting 7-4.

See downs Robles on Predator Tour; DeBreo goes undefeated in Amateur event

Huidji See

Huidji See and Tony Robles battled twice during the $500-added Open portion of the September 21-22 Predator stop, which drew only eight entrants to the Cue Bar in Bayside, Queens. They split the two matches, but See captured the event title by winning the second one, the finals. In the concurrently-run, $500-added, A-D handicapped event, Raphael Dabreo went undefeated through a field 50 to take the top Amateur prize.
 
See and Robles met first in the hot seat match. Robles had sent Frankie Hernandez west 8-3, as See was busy with an 8-4 win over Dave Grau. Robles took the first of his two against See 8-4 and sat in the hot seat, awaiting his return.
 
Hernandez moved over to take on Adrian Daniel, who'd defeated Vikram Dasari 8-4. Grau picked up Nigel Francis, who'd gotten by Jim Yonge 8-6. Grau and Hernandez moved on to match up in the quarterfinals with identical 8-1 victories over Francis and Daniel. Hernandez took the quarterfinal 8-5, but was stopped by See in a double hill, semifinal match.
 
In the extended-race final, Robles need to reach 8 games, ahead of See, to chalk up an undefeated run. He almost got there. Ahead by four, and on the hill at 7-3, Robles admitted to missing numerous opportunities, which allowed See to close the gap, pass him and eventually win 10-9 to claim the event title.
 
As in the Open event, the Amateur finalists – Raphael DaBreo and Tony Liang – met twice; once in the battle for the hot seat and again, in the finals. Unlike the Open event, the hot seat occupant, DaBreo, won both matches to go undefeated and claim the amateur title.
 
DaBreo had downed Meshak Daniel 7-5, as Liang was sending Bogie Uzdejczyk west 7-1. DaBreo gave up only three racks to Liang in the hot seat match and sat in that seat, waiting for the re-match finals.
 
Daniel and Uzdejczyk moved west and immediately picked up their second straight loss. Daniel went down 7-5 to Tommy Hagan, who'd first defeated Silver Fret 7-2 and Rene Villalobos 7-3. Uzdejczyk fell, also 7-5, to Eric Grasman, who'd gotten by Keith Adamik and Justin Muller, both 7-4.
 
Hagan took the quarterfinal match against Grasman 7-4, but was eliminated by Liang 7-2 in the semifinals. DaBreo completed his undefeated run with a second victory over Liang, 7-5.

The Iceman comes back to defeat Saez in Predator Open finals

Mika Immonen

Robb Saez sent the Iceman, Mika Immonen, to the loss side in the opening round of play in the Sunday, June 2 Open event on the Predator Tour. Immonen came back from a five-match march on the loss side to meet and defeat him in the finals to claim the top prize. The $750-addded event, run in conjunction with an Amateur event (story elsewhere), drew a short field of 11 entrants to Raxx Pool Room, Sports Bar & Grill in West Hempstead, NY. 
 
With Immonen out of the way, Saez advanced to face Steve Wright among the winners' side final four. Tour director Tony Robles, in the meantime, squared off against Vikram Dasari in the other winners' side semifinal. Saez downed Wright 7-3 and in the battle for the hot seat, met up with Robles, who'd sent Dasari west 7-1. Saez got into the hot seat with a 7-5 victory over Robles, and awaited his re-match against Immonen.
 
Immonen opened his loss-side campaign with a 7-1 victory over Frankie Hernandez, and followed that with a shutout over Rich Lang, which set him up to face Wright. Dasari drew Keith Adamik, who'd gotten by Jerry Tarantola 7-5 and Anna Grintsuk 7-4. 
 
Adamik handed Dasari his second straight loss 7-3, as Immonen did likewise to Wright 7-1. Immonen took the quarterfinal match versus Adamik 7-2 and then defeated Robles in the semifinals 7-3. 
 
In the extended-race finals, the Iceman reached nine games first, extending the match to 11 games. He completed his successful bid 11-9 over Saez to claim the event title.