Upsets Galore at U.S. Open as Former Champs Drop to One-Loss Bracket
The giants all fell from the winners’ bracket on Friday night at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship in Chesapeake, Va., as Johnny Archer, Francisco Bustamante, Efren Reyes, Ralf Souquet, Niels Feijen and Jeremy Jones dropped to the one-loss side in the same round of matches.
The carnage started at 9 p.m. Friday with Filipinos Alex Pagulayan and Francisco Bustamante lagging on the TV table. The wily Pagulayan jumped to a quick 5-0 lead, allowing his foe near the table only once – and that was for a push. Regaining his world-beating form after two years of ho-hum play, the resurgent Bustamante rocketed back to take the lead at 9-8, but a hung 4 ball in the 18th rack brought Pagulayan back to the table, where he ran out and then ran the next two racks for an 11-9 victory.
“At the end I got lucky with the 4 ball,” Pagulayan said. “That was the key to the match. I was thinking when it was 8-8, just give me one more chance.”
On the next table over, Filipino expatriate Jose Parica kept one step ahead of countryman and longtime rival Reyes to win, 11-9. Reyes was joined soon on the one-loss side by several other former Open champions: Johnny Archer fell to Troy Frank, 11-6; Jeremy Jones lost to Andreas Roschkowsky, 11-9; and Ralf Souquet dropped a hill-hill slugfest with upstart Sylver Ochoa, 11-10.
This was all in the same round, mind you, and all within an hour of each other. Other significant winners’-bracket results from the 9 p.m. round included Nick Van den Berg smashing Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant, 11-4; Viet Nam native Tang Hoa elbowing Holland’s Feijen, 11-8; and Charlie Williams halting Ernesto Dominguez.
That left eight men still in the winners’ bracket, and dozens left to brave the extraordinarily deep one-loss bracket in this field-of-256 competition with a $200,000 prize fund. At 3 p.m. EST, Tang will play Roschkowsky, Pagulayan will face Frank, Van den Berg will meet Parica, and Williams will lag against Ochoa.
U.S. Open Field Down to Half
Ochoa’s play is turning some heads.
Reno Open winner Marlon Manalo and 2003 BCA 9-ball Open titlist Tony Robles found themselves slugging it out deep in the one-loss bracket on Friday afternoon. Nearby, major event winners Marcus Chamat and Mike Davis faced off as red-hot Robb Saez and 2004 BCA champion Thorsten Hohmann battled for survival in the one-loss bracket.
Playing on diamond tables with 4 1/2 inch pockets and an absolutely unforgiving cut the finesse players and most experienced pros seemed to have an edge.
“You aren’t seeing a lot of guys breaking and running out,” said pro Tony Crosby.
Among the 16 players left in the winners’ bracket was Efren Reyes, who dropped defending U.S. Open champ Gabe Owen to the one-loss side, 11-8 on Thursday night. Reyes will meet Filipino countryman Jose Parica on Friday night. After a weak showing at the World Pool Championships, the Filipino contingent is performing quite well here; Alex Pagulayan and a resurgent Francisco Bustamante will meet in a winners’-bracket match on Friday night as well.
So far, the surprise of the tournament is young Sylver Ochoa, 19, a college sophomore at Texas-Pan American and a mainstay on the Fast Eddie’s regional tour. Ochoa beat Keith McCready Thursday night, 11-8, to stay undefeated. He will face Ralf Souquet on Friday night in a winners’-bracket match.
The sixteen players now left in the winners’ bracket are:
Nick Van den Berg, Charlie “Hillbilly” Bryant, Jose Parica, Efren Reyes, Ernesto Dominguez, Charlie Williams, Ralf Souquet, Sylver Ochoa, Tang Hoa, Niels Feijen, Andreas Roschkowsky, Jeremy Jones, Alex Pagulayan, Francisco Bustamante, Johnny Archer and Troy Frank.
“Rocket” Lone US Medal Hope
Rodney Morris overcame an early 4-1 deficit against Germany’s Thomas Engert Friday evening to win 11-8 and advance to the semifinals of the men’s 9-ball division at the 2005 World Games in Duisburg, Germany. With the ousters Friday of Charlie Williams and Vivian Villarreal, Morris is the only U.S. contestant remaining in the four cue sport medal categories.
Morris will face former world 9-ball champion and reigning Billiard Congress of American Open 9-Ball Champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany on Saturday for the right to play in the Gold Medal game. Hohmann squeaked past Sweden’s Tom Storm, 11-10, to earn his semifinal spot. The other Saturday semi in the men’s division will pit China’s Pei-Wei Chang against surprising Vangelis Vettas of Greece. Vettas, who shocked Germany’s Ralf Souquet in the opening round of the 16-player single-elimination field, dumped Williams, 11-7, on Friday. Chang, 2004 World Pool Championship runnerup, beat Holland’s Niels Feijen, 11-7.
In Women’s 9-Ball, Korea’s Sung-Hyun Jung beat Villarreal, 11-8, to earn a spot in the semifinals. She’ll be joined by Jennifer Chen, who upended Allison Fisher, Jasmin Oschan of Austria, and Norway’s Line Kjorsvik.
Two Turks, Semih Sayginer and Murat Coklu, earned semifinal spots in the Men’s Carom discipline, along with Dick Jaspers of Holland and defending champion Danny Sanchez of Spain.
Men’s Snooker saw 18-year-old Jun-Hui Ding post a 138 clearance enroute to a 3-0 win over Germany’s Lasse Munstermann. Ding reached the semis along with Amateur World Champion Mark Allen of England, countryman Gerard Greene and Belgium’s Bjorn Haneveer, who overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat England’s Gavin Pantall, 3 sets to 2.
World Games Quarterfinals Set
Americans Rodney Morris, Charlie Williams and Vivian Villarreal will take U.S. medal hopes into quarterfinal matches today at the World Games in Duisburg, Germany.
In men’s 9-ball, Morris, who routed Aruba’s Roland Acosta, 11-4, on Wednesday, will face Germany’s Thomas Engert, and Williams, an 11-7 winner over Japan’s Massashi Hoshi, will battle Vangelis Vettas of Greece. Vettas shocked Germany’s Ralf Souquet, 11-10, in the opening round of the 16-player single-elimination event.
Villiarreal, the lone U.S. competitor in the women’s 9-ball division, faces Korea’s Sung-Hyun Jung. Defending champion Jeanette Lee pulled out of the competition at the last minute because of impending back surgery.
Sweden’s Tom Storm, Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann, Holland’s Neils Feijen and Chinese star Pei-Wei Chang round out the final eight in the men’s division.
Top-ranked Allison Fisher, Taiwan’s Jennifer Chen, Italy’s Tiziana Cacciamani, Austria’s Jasmine Ouschan, Japan’s Yukiko Hamanishi and former WPBA regular Line Kjorsvik of Norway make up the remaining women competitors.
Men’s carom billiards and men’s snooker is also being contested at the international sports festival, which is seen as an important stepping stone for the cue sports’ Olympic Games hopes. Two high-ranking officials, Kelly Fairweather, Sports Director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Ron Froelich, President of the International World Games Association (IWGA), were on hand at the Saalbau arena in Bottrop for the opening matches of the billiard competition.
WPC Knows No Favorites as Big Names Fall
As round-robin play at the World Pool Championship draws to a close, some big names are arranging for flights out of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Top performers like Mosconi Cup veterans Ralf Souquet (Germany) and Charlie Williams (USA) are packing their bags, and Steve Davis (England) and Filipino legend Efren Reyes are hanging on by a mathematical thread.
The ranks of the undefeated include Johnny Archer (USA), the Philippines’ Marlon Manalo, Taiwanese hopes Po-cheng Kuo and Che-wei Fu, Japan’s Satoshi Kawabata and Scottish challenger Michael Valentine.
There’s one more day to go in the round-robin stage, which pares the 128-man field to 64 players, who then will brave the single-elimination stage.
World Pool Championships Underway
The round-robin stages of the 2005 World Pool Championship are under way in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and a few big names in the 128-player field are already in danger of missing the cut. Ralf Souquet, Steve Davis and Efren Reyes have already lost three times each, and will need sparkling records from now on to proceed into the knockout stage, featuring the top half of the field.
Archer Regains His Place With Florida Open Win
After unexpectedly taking a 7-0 drubbing from Thorsten Hohmann in the final of the BCA Pro 9-Ball Open last week, No. 1 ranked Johnny Archer got back into the groove with a title win at the 5th Annual Predator Florida Open, at Bankshot Billiards in Jacksonville, Fla., May 25-29.
Archer bested Mike Davis, 10-5, to take the hot seat. While Archer waited, Davis took on Hohmann in the one-loss bracket and beat him, 10-9. In the final rematch, Davis put up a fight, but in the end, Archer triumped, 11-8, for the $10,000 win.
Davis accepted $5,000 for second, and Hohmann took home $3,200 in third place, followed by Ralf Souquet, who collected $2,400 for a fourth place finish.
European Pool Championships Wrap-up
The European Pool Championships, held April 20-30 in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, has wrapped up the last of the divisions, with 9-ball and team competitions finishing up over the weekend.
The 9-ball competitions began with double-elimination brackets, and became single-elimination showdowns in the final 32. On the men’s side, the final four were Alex Lely, Thorsten Hohmann, Mika Immonen and Ralf Souquet. Lely beat Souquet, 9-8, in the final. In 9-ball, Jasmin Ouschan, Kim Shaw, Katrine Jensen and Charlotte Sörensen were the last four women in the arena. Ouschan took the title, making her a double-title winner in Veldhoven (the first being in straight pool).
In the men’s team championships, Team Germany looked like the team to beat from the start, with Souquet, Hohmann and Oliver Ortmann, among others, on board. Indeed, they beat the team from the Czech Republic, 4-0. In the women’s team event, Germany was again the victor, with The Netherlands in second.
9-Ball Finals Approach at European Pool Championships
The 8-ball and straight-pool divisions completed, and 9-ball fields are narrowing in on a champion at the European Pool Championships. The multi-part event being held in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, started April 20 and goes through tomorrow, April 30th.
Both men’s and women’s 9-ball will play a single-elimination semifinal early this evening, with a final following at 8pm, Netherlands local time.
In the women’s division, Jasmin Ouschan will play Kim Shaw and Katrine Jensen will play Charlotte Sorensen in the semifinals. The men’s semifinals pit Alex Lely against Thorsten Hohmann and Mika Immonen against Ralf Souquet.
Team competitions are ongoing, and will wrap up tomorrow evening.
Results Rolling in for European Championships
The European Pool Championships are well underway, with winners in from many divisions. The multi-part event started April 20, in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, and goes through April 30th. An all-time high of 34 countries are represented.
The men’s and women’s straight pool and 8-ball divisions have crowned champions. On April 26, Alex Lely bested Thomas Kaplan, 8-7, in the men’s 8-ball final. The same day, Cristine Naeff took the women’s 8-ball, 6-2, over Wendy Jans. It is Naeff’s first European title.
Friday the 24th, In straight pool, Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann beat countryman Nicolas Otterman to the title by a lopsided 125-3. On the women’s side, former WPBA National Amateur champion Jasmin Ouschan squeaked by Diana Stateczny, 75-60.
The 9-ball divisions, men’s and women’s, are still in progress, and will conclude on Friday. The team competitions wrap up on Saturday evening. Among those still alive in the single-elimination men’s final 32 are Ralf Souquet, Mika Immonen, Niels Feijen, Hohmann, and Marcus Chamat. Among the women, Ouschan and Jans are still in action, as is WPBA regular Kim Shaw.