Allison Fisher Locks Up First and Throws Away The Key
Allison Fisher continued her domination of the Women’s Professional Billiards Association’s Classic tour at the Mueller Recreational Products Great Lakes Classic in Michigan City, Ind., March 2-6.
While Fisher’s continuing reign at the top of the rankings is far from unexpected, other pros made waves at the Great Lakes, too. Most notable was Fisher’s final-match opponent, Tiffany Nelson, who’s last trip to the television rounds was in 1994, when Nelson was just 14 years old.
Nelson defeated Texas tornado Vivian Villarreal in a television round in order to get to the final. In the final, Nelson played well and looked cool and unflustered under the lights, but she couldn’t get a look at the 1 ball after her breaks in the alternate-break format. The result was a 7-1 win for Fisher.
Fisher collected $10,000 for first prize, while Nelson settled for $7,000. Villarreal took home $5,500 for third place, and snooker import Kelly Fisher collected $4,500 for a fourth-place finish.
Duchess Continues Her Reign in Carolina
“Duchess of Doom” Allison Fisher won the season-opening Women’s Professional Billiards Association’s Carolina Classic, defeating Helena Thornfeldt, 7-4, in the final to collect the $10,000 prize.
This is the tour’s first visit to the community of Rocky Mount, N.C., where the event was held, Feb. 9-13, at Nash Community College. The town responded with enthusiastic, sold-out crowds. After her win, Fisher (who lives just outside of Charlotte, N.C.) commented, “I hope we’ll be back next year, especially as it’s home turf for me. I haven’t quite picked up the accent yet, as you can tell, but I’m working on it. This is a very good way to start my year.”
Karen Corr took third and Monica Webb came in fourth place.
Corr Wins Nationals
Karen Corr won the Women’s Professional Billiards Association’s National 9-Ball Championship, held at the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, Ore, Nov. 9-14.
Her triumph over Gerda Hofstatter in the final match solidified her lead over formerly dominant Allison Fisher, who took third in Oregon. Recent snooker import Kelly Fisher came in fourth place.
Corr won $12,500, while Hofstatter settled for $9,000. Allison Fisher and Kelly Fisher took home $7,000 and $5,500 respectively.
For brackets from the event and updated rankings, visit www.wpba.com.
Julie Kelly Triumphs in Windsor
Julie Kelly finally broke through for a WPBA title win.
The ebullient Irishwoman took a 7-5 victory over perennial top-ranker Fisher at the Cuetec Cues Canadian Classic in Windsor, Ontario, Oct. 6-10. Kelly lost to friend and road partner Corr in round four and went to the losers’ side, defeating Gerda Hofstatter, 9-8, Romana Dokovic, 9-3, Vivian Villareal, 9-7, and Hsin Huan, 7-2, to earn a semifinal rematch with Corr, who she dismissed handily, 7-4, to move forward into the final and trump Fisher.
Kelly was ecstatic after her long-awaited win, and took the opportunity to thank members of her family back in Ireland, as well as Corr, for their help and support in reaching her goal.
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
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.
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.
Fisher Breaks Corr’s Winning Streak, and Her Own Losing Streak
Allison Fisher defeated first-seed Karen Corr, 7-1, to win the Women’s Professional Billiard Association Cuetec Cues Players Championship. This is Fisher’s first classic tour win since the WPBA Nationals in December 2000; her victory snapped Corr’s winning streak of six consecutive WPBA Classic Tour titles.
The Cuetec Cues Players Championship was held March 15-17, at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia, Pa. It was the first stop on the WPBA 2002 Classic Tour. Upcoming events on the tour include the Spring Classic on April 17-21 in Alpine, Calif. and the Midwest Classic on August 21-25 in East Peoria, Ill.
Fisher’s winning check was $10,000, while Corr settled for $7,000 and second place, followed by Helena Thornfeldt with $5,000 for third.
WPA Crowns World 9-Ball Champs
The 2001 World Pool-Billiard Association World 9-ball champions are Allison Fisher (representing Great Britain) and Brian Naithani (Germany).
Fisher, ranked No. 2 by the Women’s Professional Billiard Association, earned her fourth WPA world title by defeating WPBA No. 1-ranked Karen Corr (also representing Great Britain) 11-8 in the final held in Amagasaki City, Japan. Only one other player (Robin Dodson, with the 1990 and 1991 titles) owns multiple WPA women’s 9-ball titles. Fisher finished third last year while Corr placed second. The 2000 titlist, Julie Kelly, finished 17th, losing first to Anita Kuczma of Canada, 11-5, and then to Kyoke Sone of Japan, 11-4.
Naithani, who was the 2000 runner-up in the juniors’ contest, defeated Jung-Lin Chang of Taipei, 11-5, in the final. The defending champion, Dmitri Jungo, aged out of competition.
Also at the tournament, the WPA elected Ian Anderson of Sydney, Australia to a four-year term as its president.