Kelly Fisher and Siming Chen (Photo courtesy of WPBA)
In what proved to be her best recorded earnings year, to date (2017), China’s 24-year-old Siming Chen won five major events between March and November, opening with a win at the Amway Cup in Chinese Tapei, followed by victories in the China Open (June), the Dynamic Klagenfurt (part of the Euro Tour in Austria; Oct.) and a week apart in November, the Women’s World 9-Ball Championships (Nov. 8-11) and the All-Japan Women’s Championship (Nov. 16-26).
In the Women’s World 9-Ball Championships that year, there was only one competitor among the top eight finishers who was not from China or Chinese Taipei. That lone competitor, who finished in the four-way tie for 5th place was Britain’s Kelly Fisher. Five months earlier, Fisher had finished in the four-way tie for 5th place at the China Open, sharing the spot with Chihiro Kawahara (Japan), Rubilen Amit (Philippines) and Xiao-Ting Pan (China).
And this is just that one year, her best recorded earnings year, to date. Chen’s been winning money on the international pool scene since 2009, when she was 16. All this, by way of an introduction to who she is – the #1-ranked female pool player in the world right now – and why, to no one’s surprise, she went undefeated through a field of 64 entrants to win the 2019 WPBA Masters, held from February 27-March 3 at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant, MI. Also to no one’s surprise, Kelly Fisher recovered from an early round loss to Chen and fought back though nine matches on the loss side to face her a second time in the finals.
It’s not unusual for fans of the billiard sports to be more keenly attuned to players from their own countries and/or players who compete regularly in their country. We here in the US of A are aware of many female competitors who are not native to this country, but are well-known by virtue of their presence competing (and in some cases, living) here. Allison Fisher (Britain), Karen Corr (Ireland), Kelly Fisher (England), Ga Young Kim (South Korea), and Jasmin Ouschan (Austria), as just a few examples of those who competed at this year’s WPBA Masters. The home-grown female talent on hand was larger and made its presence known, just not for as long, as the visiting competitors flexed their considerable muscle and advanced toward the finals.
Jennifer Baretta made it to a winners’ side semifinal (right after defeating Janet Atwell), and made it to the quarterfinals before giving way to Kelly Fisher. Gerda (Hoffstater) Gregerson, a member of the WPBA Hall of Fame, originally from Austria, later from Sweden and currently residing in Charlotte, NC made it to a winners’ side quarterfinal against Siming Chen.
Siming Chen’s trip started with the proverbial bang, as she shut out Indiana’s Tonya Wiser and then ran right into Kelly Fisher for the first, though not the last time. Chen gave up only a single rack to Fisher in their first meeting and then defeated Billie Billing 9-1 to arrive at her winners’ side quarterfinal match against Gregerson. A 9-3 victory over Gregerson gave Chen a 36-5 game winning record moving into her winners’ side semifinal match against Jennifer Baretta.
Chinese Tapei’s Tzu Chien Wei, in the meantime, who’d cashed in three of the four events won by Siming Chen back in 2017, worked her way through a slightly more resistant field of competitors, downing Caroline Pao 9-2 in her opening match, and Jessica Barnes 9-3 in her second. She then survived a double hill battle against 20-year-old Russian Kristina Tkach to sport a 27-13 game record, going into her winners’ side semifinal match against Allison Fisher.
Chen advanced to the hot seat match with a 9-2 win over Baretta, as Wei defeated Fisher 9-5 to join her. Chen claimed the hot seat 9-7 over Wei and waited for what turned out to be the return of Kelly Fisher.
Fisher, over on the loss side, was working on a nine-match winning streak that would carry her all the way back to a finals rematch against Chen. She started that trip with three victories in which she gave up only a single rack each to Ewa Mataya Laurance, Caroline Pao and Kaylin Wykoff. Jenna Bishoff put up a bit of a fight in the following round, chalking up more racks against Fisher (5) than her first three loss-side opponents combined. Fisher returned to form with a 9-1 victory over Janet Atwell and then gave up three to Kristina Tkach. This put Kelly Fisher into a match against Allison Fisher, fresh from the winners’ side semifinal.
Jennifer Baretta drew Jasmin Ouschan, who’d been defeated by Allison Fisher 9-7 in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Helena Thornfeldt 9-4 and Line Kjorsvik 9-7 to face Baretta.
Everybody got caught up in a double hill fight for advancement to the quarterfinals. Baretta eventually defeated Ouschan, and Fisher eliminated Fisher (that’s Kelly over Allison). Kelly Fisher ended Jennifer Baretta’s run 9-5 in those quarterfinals and then got wrapped up in another double hill fight, which she won, against Tzu Chie Wen in the semifinals.
As she’d describe it later from an airport in Detroit, awaiting a flight to Newark, and eventually, home to England, three matches in a row on that last Sunday just about did Kelly Fisher in, and “the wheels sort of came off.” Siming Chen completed her undefeated run at the 2019 WPBA Masters with an 11-2 victory over Kelly in the finals.
WPBA representatives thanked the Soaring Eagle Resort & Casino for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Outsville AccuRack, Aramith, PoolActionTV, Simonis Cloth and Diamond Billiard Products.
The winners alongside the runner-ups and organizers
Han Yu and Yu-Lung Chang are the 2014 China Open Champions. The China Open began with 64 men and 48 women, all of whom qualified to be here by their performance records in their home federations or qualifying tournaments. This makes for very tough fields as no walk-ons are there to ease the path. Every match is a showcase.
In both the men’s and women’s divisions the event began with the players drawn into groups. The eliminations that occur here leave us with a final ladder that has 32 names on it for the men and for the ladies there are 16.
From here on in any player can win or lose on any table. You only have 16 players left and they have shown themselves to be the cream of the crop. From this round Ronglin Chang progressed by eliminating Johann Chua 11-7. Thorsten Hohmann eased by Radoslaw Babica 11-9 and Yu Lung Chang defeated Bing Jie Chu 11-6.
The Round of Eight did not take long as every victory was decisive. Ronglin Chang shut down Thorsten Hohmann 11-6 while Yu Lung Chang dispatched Lee Van Corteza 11-8. Nearby Carlo Biado finished the event for Shane Van Boening 11-4 and Jeffrey Ignacio did the same for Mika Immonen 11-6.
Four men left and each were only a pair of wins away from the glory. We expected these matches to be close but instead were surprised by the dominance of our winners. Yu Lung Chang let his skills shout out an 11-4 trouncing of Ronglin Chang and Jeffrey Igancio left Carlo Biado behind in an 11-6 dust storm.
Yu Lung Chang was determined and his focus proved invincible as he took the crown 11-5 over our runner-up Jeffrey Ignacio.
On the ladies charts we were already down to 16 players and every name reflected many National or World Titles. This was an extremely impressive field. The first eight matches found Rubelin Amit slipping past Chieh-Yu Chou 9-8 while Han Yu had an easier time with Yichen Liu 9-4. Sha Sha Liu continued her march besting Xinmei Liu 9-5 as Kelly Fisher bumped off Jing Wu 9-4.
The lower half of the bracket saw Siming Chen defeat Allison Fisher 9-5 and Akimi Kajatani keeping it close with a 9-8 escape from Pei Chen Tsai. Xiao-Ting Pan squeezed past Szu-Ting Kuo 9-8 while Ga Young Kim obliterated Nataliya Seroshtan 9-1.
The four matches in the quarter-finals witnessed Han Yu beating Rubelin Amit 9-7, Sha Sha Liu ruining the afternoon for Kelly Fisher 9-6, Siming Chen punching the ticket for Akimi Kajatani 9-2 and Ga Young Kim finding dead punch to best Xiao-Ting Pan 9-7.
What a powerhouse group for the semi-finals! All of these players have proven their ability to win the Big One. This time Han Yu prevailed over Sha Sha Liu 9-4 and Ga Young Kim earned her berth in the final with a 9-7 win over Siming Chen.
Our final match between Ga Young Kim and Han Yu found Han Yu pulling away and winning the title 9-5. AZB wishes to congratulate our champions and thank the promoters and all involved in putting this event on annually.
The China Open begins on Thursday, June 5, and we have received the draw for the first round. Players that play one another in the first round are grouped together.
