Hewitt and Martel cruise to Saturday Showdown
Danny Hewitt
Hewitt defeated Martin Daigle 11-2, while Martel defeated Craig Cochrane 11-1. Hewitt will face Martel on Saturday. Ronnie Wiseman did not fare as well on Friday, as he dropped his match to Erik Hjorleifson. Hjorleifson will face Paul Potier on Saturday.
On the one-loss side, Brady Gollan lost to Eddie Galati and was eliminated from the event. Another early elimination was Brad Poorman who lost to Glen Seesemann on Friday. Poorman opened the tournament with a win over Luc Salvas but lost his next two matches.
Photo courtesy of Diana Hoppe – Pool Pics by Hoppe
Canadian 9-Ball Championship Underway
Luc Salvas
Salvas, who has posted some nice finishes in recent events was shown to the one-loss side in the first round by Brad Poorman. Poorman was sent on his way to the left side of the board in round two by Martin Daigle. Daigle will have the unenviable task of taking on Danny Hewitt on Friday. Another top player upset on Thursday was last year’s runner up Chris Orme. Orme started with a win over Harold Rousseau, but then lost to Craig Cochrane in the second round.
Photo courtesy of Diana Hoppe – Pool Pics by Hoppe
Jeanette Lee Adopts Baby Girl
The happy family.
The Lee family’s new addition was born to an unwed mother of Korean descent and a Caucasian father. Lee was approached about the possibility of adoption through a member of her sister’s church. Lee and her husband George Breedlove have long wanted to be parents.
Cheyenne was born June 11, 2004, weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Lee contends that motherhood will not distract her from her pool career. “Cheyenne is a great source of inspiration for me and I can’t wait to play for her. I have never felt happier or more motivated in my life than I am now as a parent.”
Fisher Three-peats In Peoria
Fisher took a crushing victory.
Fisher took home $9,000 for the top prize, and Corr settled for $6,500 for second. Monica Webb and Kim Shaw took home $5,000 and $4,000 for third and fourth places, respectively.
For brackets, visit www.wpba.com
Japan Cup Day 1 complete
Shuji Nagata
After the first day of play, Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Ralf Souquet, Thorsten Hohmann and Mika Immonen are joined by Antonio Lining, Ramil Gallego, Young Hwa Jeong, Charlie Williams, Hiroshi Takenaka, Shintaro Sugaya, Terukazu Mukai, Go Takami and Syuji Nagata on the winners side.
Warren Kiamco and Dennis Orcullo did take early trips to the one loss side, but are still playing. Mike Massey has been eliminated.
Japanese players are performing well on their home turf. Go Takami upset Warren Kiamco 9-6 and Shuji Nagata beat Antonio Gabica 9-1 on day one.
The tournament runs until June 13th with a wheelchair event beginning Thursday and a Women’s division beginning June 12th.
Further information from the event is available on the official website at http://www.ibcjapancup.com/
Archer Takes Predator Central Florida Title
Johnny Archer earned his second big win this year with an undefeated run through the field of 64 players at The 4th Annual Predator Central Florida Pro Open, held at Pro Billiards in Orlando, Fla., May 27-30.
Archer went undefeated to the title at this same event last year. This year, after a first-round 9-8 win over Josh Degler, Archer did not let any opponent win more than 6 games against him.
Archer sent “Hillbilly Charlie Bryant to the one-loss side, 9-4, and then met Bryant again in the final, where Archer took a decisive 13-3 win for the title.
Archer collected $5,000 for first, while Bryant settled for $2,500 for second place. Danny Harriman and Charlie Williams filled out the top four places.
For details and brackets, visit www.azbilliards.com
Robles and Corr win BCA Open 9-Ball Championships
Tony Robles and Karen Corr won their respective divisions at the BCA Open 9-Ball Championships on May 22nd.
Robles went undefeated and beat Santos Sambajon 7-2 in the finals, which were taped for later showing on ESPN. Robles held a 4-0 lead before Sambajon was able to win a game and Sambajon finally “threw in the towel” at 6-2 after he scratched on the 8-ball.
Corr’s victory came at the expense of Allison Fisher who had gone unbeaten all week. Corr bounced back from a loss to Julie Kelly and defeated Fisher 7-4 in the finals. The alternating break match was close early, as the players traded games until the eighth rack when Corr won on Fisher’s break. Fisher came back to win the next rack on Corr’s break, but Corr won the next two racks for the victory.
The win was Robles’ first major tournament victory, while Corr has now won this title three consecutive years.
Reyes win San Miguel Tour Taipei Stop
It was a different opponent in the finals, but the same result for Efren Reyes over the weekend at the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour stop in Taipei.
Reyes, vieing for his third tour win this season, faced off against Young-Hwa Jeong from Korea in the finals and trailed 10-8 late in the match. Reyes lived up to his ‘Magician’ nickname and took advantage of some great shotmaking to win the next five games and the title.
Reyes won $10,000 for first with Jeong pocketing $5000 for second. Reyes countryman Warren Kiamco and Chatchawal Rutphae from Thailand finished in a tie for third.
Liu Takes Amway Title for Taiwan
Liu remained placid, even after winning a momentous title for her country.
This time, the British perennial champ took a brutal 11-2 loss . She did not score a point until a seventh-game run out brought the score to 6-1, and she failed to pick up momentum from there, scoring only once more. Fisher didn’t capitalize on several of Liu’s mistakes, including a 7-ball bank that left the ball sitting on the lip of the pocket.
Liu took the final game with a tricky run-out that included jumping out of a safety on the 1 and recovering from poor position on the 4. As icing on the cake, she sank the 5 and 7 in one shot before running what was left of the rack. She registered little emotion as she won the title, but did say that this was the first time that she had beaten Fisher in Taiwan.
Fisher took home $10,000 for second place, Monica Webb took $8,000 for third, Karen Corr took $7,000 for fourth, and Jeanette Lee and Korean Ga-Young Kim tied for fifth and $5,000 each.
Yang Ching Shun Takes Hong Kong
Yang took his second-ever San Miguel win.
The match between Hsai and Yang was the first all-Taiwanese final in the Tour. Hsia took the lead in the early part of the game until 9-6, when Yang started his comeback and won five racks in a row to defeat Hsia by 11-9. This is Yang’s second title on the tour (his first was last season); it pushed him to third in the tour’s rankings.
Yang took home US$10,000 for the win, while Hsia settled for $5,000. For more information, check out www.asian9-balltour.com.
(All information courtesy ESPN STAR Sports)