by InsidePOOL Staff

Gerda Hofstatter went all the way through the 64-player field at the WPBA San Diego Classic unscathed to win the title over Shu-Han Chang of Chinese Taipei. This event was hosted by the Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA, March 10-14.

Hofstatter’s path to the finals included wins over Lisa Davids, Angelina Paglia, and Kyoko Sone. Once in the final 16, she bested Monica Webb and advanced to the quarterfinals, where she eliminated the tour’s number-one player, Ga Young Kim. In the semifinal match Hofstatter ousted Karen Corr, and then “G-Force” claimed the title over Chang in the finals.

After a first-round victory over Laura Smith, Chang was sent to the one-loss side by Corr. From there she fought back to the finals with wins over Jasmin Ouschan, Jeanette Lee, and Xiaoting Pan in the semifinals.

Hofstatter went all the way through the 64-player field at the WPBA San Diego Classic unscathed to win the title over Shu-Han Chang of Chinese Taipei.

by InsidePOOL Staff

The WPBA San Diego Classic, held this weekend at the Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA, has wound down to its final four players.

Three of the four players survived to the semifinals without a loss; one comes from the one-loss side of the chart. After a second-round loss to Karen Corr, Shu-Han Chang of Chinese Taipei fought her way back, defeating Miyuki Sakai, Lisa Marr, and Helena Thornfeldt to face off against China’s Xiaoting Pan in the semifinals.

Ranked third on the WPBA, Pan has so far had little troubles reaching the semifinal match against Chang. She has delivered losses to Kim Benson, Morgan Steinman, Tracie Hines, Melissa Little, and Sarah Rousey.

Hofstatter eliminated Kim in fifth place and now will play Corr to see who will move on to the finals.

Hofstatter also enjoyed an undefeated run to the semifinals. She bested Lisa Davids, Angelina Paglia, Sone, and Monica Webb to reach the quarterfinals. Her opponent there was top-ranked Ga Young Kim, who had already suffered one loss. Hofstatter eliminated Kim in fifth place and now will play Corr to see who will move on to the finals.

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by InsidePOOL Staff

Some surprises surfaced on the way to the final 16 players remaining in the WPBA San Diego Classic, held this weekend at Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA.

Number-one-ranked player on the tour, Ga Young Kim was toppled by Line Kjorsvik of Norway after a hill-hill battle. Kim went over to the one-loss side to face Laura Smith to see who would make it back to the right side of the chart. Kim won, only to now face Kjorsvik in the round of 16.

Gerda “G-Force” Hofstatter will meet Monica Webb after going undefeated so far. Webb won her first two matches but then fell 9-6 to Melissa Herndon. From there Webb eliminated Amy Chen to make it back.

The tour’s fourth-ranked player, Karen Corr, is undefeated and has so far bested Cristina De La Garza, Shu-Han Chang, and Sarah Rousey. Her next challenge will come from Kyoke Sone of Japan. The winner of that match plays the winner of the Kelly Fisher versus Liz Ford match.

Xiaoting Pan, who is third on the tour, defeated Tracie Hines 9-6 to make it to the final 16 unscathed, where she will face Melissa Little. Little recently won both women’s divisions at the U.S. Open Bar Table Championship in Reno. She lost her second-round match to Kim 9-2 and worked back from the west side, ousting Supadra Geronimo, Jennifer Chen, and Hines.

Some surprises surfaced on the way to the final 16 players remaining in the WPBA San Diego Classic, held this weekend at Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA.

After her win over Webb, Herndon made it to the final 16 and will face Lee, who rebounded quickly from her loss to Fisher with a victory over Vivian Villareal. The winner of that match moves on to face the winner of the tour’s second-ranked player, Jasmin Ouschan, and Shu-Han Chang.

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by InsidePOOL Staff

The WPBA San Diego Classic kicked off March 11 at the Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA, with a full field of 64 of the top women players. The winners’ bracket is down to 32, while the other half of the field is making the uphill battle through the one-loss side.

The tour’s number-one-ranked player, Ga Young Kim, is at the top of the bracket and has won her first two matches. Her first victim was Stacy Novack, and her second was recent U.S. Open Bar Table Championship winner Melissa Little. Kim’s next match will be against Line Kjorsvik. The tour’s number-two player, Jasmin Ouschan, is also undefeated, having bested first Jennifer Chen and then Julie Kelly to face Helena Thornfeldt in the next round.

The WPBA San Diego Classic kicked off March 11 at the Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA, with a full field of 64 of the top women players.

Number three on the tour, Xiaoting Pan is set for her third-round match against Tracie Hines, having bested Kim Benson and then Morgan Steinman. Hines was responsible for sending Veronique Menard and Erin McManus to the left side of the chart. The tour’s fourth-ranked player, Karen Corr, will play Sarah Rousey in the third round of this event. Corr earlier bested Cristina De La Garza and Shu-Han Chang, while Rousey defeated Dana Aft and Lisa Marr.

A featured third-round match will be between recent Hall of Fame addition Allison Fisher and Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee, who just won the St. Louis Louie Award at the Derby City Classic. In the first two rounds Fisher sent Mary Rakin and Jennifer Barretta to the west side of the chart, while Lee defeated Amy Chen and Nicole Keeney.

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By InsidePOOL Staff

Monica Webb won the Women’s Professional Billiard Tour’s (WPBA’s) San Diego Classic in the finals over Ga Young Kim, taking home her second first-place title in less than a year. The San Diego Classic was hosted by Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA, this past week.

In the semifinals, Webb earned an early lead over Jeanette Lee, though Lee did mark a game when Webb missed a key 2 ball. However, that was the only rack she was able to put under her belt. At 3-1 in her favor, Webb was able to pocket a 3-8 combo and run out from there, and some excellent safety play and a nice bank shot helped her to the hill. In the final rack, she pulled off a solid 5-9 combination to cement her place in the finals.

The second semifinal match between Kim and Gerda Hofstatter was more hotly contested. Kim took an early lead and never relinquished it. Though Hofstatter took the second rack, it was mainly Kim who shone in this match. Up 3-1, Kim watched as Hofstatter played an 8-9 combo to draw within a rack. However, after Hofstatter almost sank the 9 ball on her following break, Kim cleared the table to go up 4-2. Hofstatter answered with a solid bank on the 5 to run out and make it 4-3. Yet another combo on the 9 ball gave Kim the next rack, with Hofstatter replying by running out after Kim scratched on a 6-9 combo. Though Hofstatter broke and ran the next rack, Kim dealt one back to her by doing the same. In the final game, Kim was awarded ball in hand after Hofstatter scratched and cleared the table to advance to the finals.

Kim drew first blood in the final rack after Webb fouled, and she won the next game as well. Webb retaliated by capitalizing on an open shot after Kim attempted a jump, getting on the board. Things looked dismal for the Webb camp when Kim took the next two racks in a row, but Webb was unfazed, implementing two jump shots and a 3-8 combo to win the next rack. She scored the next two racks as well, tying the score at 4 apiece. Kim broke and ran the next rack, but Webb again was let back in after Kim missed the 7 ball in the next rack. When Kim came up dry on her next break, she cleared the table to reach the hill 6-5, and on her final break, she was able to dish up for the 7-5 victory and her second WPBA title.

Monica Webb won the WPBA’s San Diego Classic in the finals over Ga Young Kim, taking home her second first-place title in less than six months.

Results:
1st Monica Webb
2nd Ga Young Kim
3rd Jeanette Lee
Gerda Hofstatter
5th Kelly Fisher
Xiaoting Pan
Yu Ram Cha
Sarah Rousey
9th Kim Shaw
Helena Thornfeldt
Jennifer Chen
Tiffany Nelson-Crain
Karn Corr
Allison Fisher
Holly Sholes
Iris Ranola

Women’s Professional Billiard Association San Diego Classic / Alpine, CA

by InsidePOOL Staff

Saturday night’s matches have left only four standing at the Women’s Professional Billiard Association’s (WPBA’s) San Diego Classic to fight it out for top honors. The four-day event is hosted by the Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA, and will crown a winner Sunday.

Ga Young Kim recuperated from her second-round loss to Holly Sholes 9-7 to make a triumphant return to the final 16 in fine fashion. Once there, she decimated Iris Ranola 9-3 and then eliminated the WPBA’s former number-one player, Kelly Fisher, in a close match that ended in her favor 9-6. Kim will face off against Gerda “G-Force” Hofstatter.

Hofstatter is another who came back through the one-loss side—her first defeat came from Sarah Rousey, who bested her 9-4 in the third round. She returned to a hill-hill nail-biter with Allison Fisher, in which she advanced 9-8. From there she ousted Xiaoting Pan 9-5 and will play Kim in the semifinals.

Kim shot her way into the final four to join Webb, Lee, and Hofstatter.

In the other semifinal match, both contestants went undefeated through the field. After a 9-2 drubbing of Line Kjorsvik, Monica Webb eliminated Tifanny Nelson-Crain 9-4 in the final 16. Then, in the quarterfinals, she and Yu Ram Cha had a closely fought match that Webb won 9-7. Webb’s opponent in the semifinals will be Jeanette Lee.

After dealing blows to Tracie Hines, Tamara Rademakers, and Jennifer Chen, “The Black Widow” was faced with Kim Shaw in the final 16, whom she sent packing with a 9-7 victory. Then she eliminated Rousey by a stunning 9-2 margin in the quarterfinals.

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by InsidePOOL Staff

The WPBA’s San Diego Classic has reached the final 16, single-elimination stage of their season’s first event. This tournament is being hosted by the Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA.

Defending champion Allison Fisher will be faced with Gerda Hofstatter in a featured Saturday evening match. Though she suffered a third-round loss to Sarah Rousey, Hofstatter fought back through the one-loss side, defeating Joanne Ashton 9-2, to return to the final 16.

Rousey will face off against Helena Thornfeldt, who lost a third-round, hill-hill match against Holly Sholes but eliminated Jasmin Ouschan 9-6 in the west side. Sholes will face off against Kelly Fisher in the next round after Fisher recovered from her second-round, hill-hill loss to Jennifer Chen.

Jeanette "The Black Widow" Lee is still going strong in th eSan Diego Classic.

Chen lost her next match to Jeanette Lee 9-5 but made a comeback to the final 16 after ousting Liz Ford 9-6. Her next match will be against Yu Ram Cha. Lee went unscathed through the winners’ bracket and will next play Kim Shaw.

After a forfeit to Iris Ranola earlier in the day, Karen Corr made a triumphant return to the event, besting Kim White 9-6. Her next match will be against Xiaoting Pan. Ranola will play Ga Young Kim, who was defeated 9-7 by Sholes and then rousted Vivian Villareal 9-2.

Monica Webb remains undefeated in the event and will face off against Tiffany Nelson-Crain in the next round. Nelson-Crain was sent west after her hill-hill battle against Allison Fisher, where she then bested Cristina De La Garza 9-2 to return to the final 16.

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by InsidePOOL Staff

The upsets continue at the WPBA’s San Diego Classic, held at the Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA. Friday’s matches left eight undefeated players on the winners’ side, with twenty-two fighting it out on the one-loss side to return to the right side of the chart.

Sarah Rousey led the pack on the winners’ side with a 9-4 victory over Austria’s Gerda Hofstatter and now awaits an opponent to come over from the one-loss side. But the bigger story seems to be the match between Karen Corr and Iris Ranola. Corr, who recently had neck surgery, found herself in so much pain in the match she had to forfeit 5-2. She is scheduled to play in the one-loss side at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, and as yet, it is unknown whether or not she will be able to do so.

Corr forfeited her match against Iris Ranola, while trailing 5-2, due to neck pains.

Holly Sholes squeaked by Helena Thornfeldt 9-8 to join Ranola and Rousey, while Allison Fisher also survived a hill-hill bout against Tiffany Nelson-Crain to make it through to the final eight as well. Jeanette Lee dealt Jennifer Chen a 9-5 loss, Monica Webb defeated Line Kjorsvik 9-2, and Xiaoting Pan bested Melissa Herndon. Rounding out the final eight, Yu Ram Cha sent Vivian Villareal to the one-loss side in yet another hill-hill match.

Still alive on the west side, Kelly Fisher faced down Orietta Strickland 9-3 and will next play Tamara Rademaker. Jasmin Ouschan dealt a donut to My-Hanh Lac and next will play Brittany Bryant. Ga Young Kim and Vivian Villareal will fight for one of the final sixteen slots, as will Kim Shaw and Line Kjorsvik. The rest of the field is still playing down.

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The Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) went west to sunny Alpine, CA, for their San Diego Classic, being hosted by Viejas Casino April 2-5. Defending champion Allison Fisher is looking to not only hang on to her title but to move up in the WPBA rankings, as this event, being the first of the season, will see the tour’s rankings points reset to zero. This means that whoever wins this event will have a head-and-shoulders start over the rest of the field in the race to be top dog on the tour.

The event has been chock-full of upsets so far, and it’s only one day in. Top-ranked tour player Kelly “KwikFire” Fisher whitewashed Stacy Novak in her first match 9-0 only to fall 9-8 to 24th-ranked Jennifer Chen in the second. In the first round, four-time National Collegiate 9-ball champ Eleanor Callado defeated Austrian wunderkind Jasmin Ouschan 9-7, sending her to face a long trek back through the one-loss side. However, in the second round, Callado was bested by Tiffany Nelson-Crain 9-6. In yet another upset, Holly Sholes met Ga Young Kim in the second round and dealt her a 9-7 loss.

The Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) went west to sunny Alpine, CA, for their San Diego Classic, being hosted by Viejas Casino April 2-5.

However, most of the top-ranked ladies have made it through unscathed to the third round. Second on the tour, Karen Corr won her first two matches over Susan Williams 9-5 and Ewa Laurance 9-7 and will next face off against the tour’s 2008 Rookie of the Year, Iris Ranola, who earlier defeated Kim Shaw 9-7.

Sweden’s Helena “Sledgehammer” Thornfeldt is going strong, having bested Nicole Keeney 9-4 and then decimating Alice Rim 9-1. Her next match will be against Sholes. Allison Fisher sent Brittany Bryant to the west side 9-1 and then defeated the young Liz Lovely 9-4 and will face off against Nelson-Crain in the third round.

Xiaoting Pan’s next challenge will come from Melissa Herndon, who just survived a hill-hill match against Debbie Schjodt 9-8. Pan defeated first Liz Taylor 9-2 and then Liz Ford 9-6 to reach the third round. Vivian “The Texas Tornado” Villareal is also still going strong, having bested Miyuki Sakai 9-1 and then eking out a 9-8 win over My-Hanh Lac.

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WPBA San Diego Classic / Alpine, CA
by InsidePOOL Staff
Allison “The Duchess of Doom” Fisher has triumphed at the Women’s Professional Billiards Association (WPBA) San Diego Classic, winning 7-4 over Austria’s Gerda Hofstatter in the finals to cap off a four-day run of excellent play. This event was hosted by the Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA, and began Thursday, April 9.
Having come through undefeated to the semis by virtue of wins over daunting opponents such as Jennifer Barretta, Vivian Villareal, and Helena Thornfeldt, Fisher was primed for her semifinal match against Karen “The Irish Invader” Corr. In the shortened race to 7, Corr was the one to take an early two-rack lead, which she kept until the fifth game when she missed a 4-9 combo. Gaining momentum with every ball she sank, Fisher climbed back until the score stood at 4 apiece. She then took the next two games as well to reach the hill. Fisher, however, missed a key 5-9 combo in the next rack for the win, and Corr fought back to make it a double-hill nail-biter. The last rack was a real killer: Fisher broke and ran out to the 5 ball but locked her cue ball up on the 6. She tried to play safe, and Corr reversed it on her, playing the 6 and the cue to opposite end rails. Fisher went for the uncompromising shot and attempted the long bank but missed; however, Corr was unable to capitalize, missing a straightforward shot on the 8 ball in order to get position on the 9 ball, and Fisher finished the match off with a 7-6 win.
In the second semifinal match, Hofstatter and former Player of the Year Ga Young Kim matched up for the right to meet Fisher in the finals. Kim took command from early on, but her aggressive play caused some unexpected errors that Hofstatter benefited from to make the score 6-4 Kim. Two more key missed by Kim brought the score to hill-hill with Kim breaking in the final rack. She made the 1 ball on her last break but opted to play a bank on the 3 ball, having missed position off the 2. Kim missed, and Hofstatter calmly picked her way through the final six balls for a 7-6 victory.
Having made their way to the ESPN-televised final match, Fisher and Hofstatter squared off to fight for first place. It was a great match, but in the end, Fisher walked away the 7-4 winner, taking home yet another first-place trophy to add to her collection.
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