by InsidePOOL Staff

Samm “Cherry Bomb” Diep came back from a late loss to earn top honors at the Arizona Women’s Billiard Tour’s July 24-25 event, besting Susan Williams in the final match. The tour’s third stop of 2010 was hosted by Pockets in Tucson, AZ, and featured a $300-added prize purse.

Diep came back from a late loss to earn top honors at the Arizona Women’s Billiard Tour’s July 24-25 event, besting Susan Williams in the final match.

The west side saw Diep recover from her loss and eliminate Sunny Griffin, as Wagner ousted Ashea Erdahl. Diep and Wagner then went on to the quarterfinal match to face off, and Diep eked out a hill-hill win, sending Wagner home in fourth place. A rematch saw Diep go up against Lawless for the second time during the event, but this time Diep came out on top and advanced to the finals.

In the single race to 9, the players traded racks until the score was 5-3 in Williams’ favor. Then Diep went on a tear, winning the next five games in a row to tilt the score in her favor 8-5. After a few exchanges and some safety play, Diep came out on top to win the match 9-5.

Results:
1st Samm Diep $200
2nd Susan Williams $140
3rd Kathleen Lawless $90
4th Rebecca Wagner $60
5th Sunny Griffin $30
Ashea Erdahl
7th Jeri Engh $25
Sara Miller

by InsidePOOL Staff

“I feel like I just won an Olympic Gold Medal,” said an elated Kelly Fisher moments after capturing the 2009 Mohegan Sun International Tournament of Champions title. The spirited $20,000 winner-takes-all event was held at Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Uncasville, CT, October 28. Fisher, originally from England and the 2008 Player of the Year, defeated China’s Xiaoting Pan, the 2007 World 9-Ball champion, 4-3 and 4-2 in the final match and was crowned the new women’s “Champion of Champions.” The two semifinals and the championship match were taped for broadcast by ESPN beginning December 27.

“We may look cool out there, but the pressure is just incredible,” said Fisher. “You have to play your heart out when every player is a champion. One or two errors, and you lose twenty thousand dollars. Your emotions are just wild during the entire tournament.”

Nonetheless, of the four international champions in the event, Fisher fought her way to the title. She defeated Monica Webb, the 2008 WPBA Nationals champion, in the semifinal round 4-0 and 4-3. The semis and final matches require a player to win two sets, race to four games each set. In the event of a tie, the pressure becomes brutal with a one-game sudden death tie-breaker.

The other semifinal match also brought cheers from the crowd. Xiaoting Pan and legendary Allison Fisher, who was recently inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame, split sets 4-3 and 4-3. The tie led to a hair-raising one-rack sudden death shootout. Pan won the lag and the break, and after trading safeties, she ran the table to take the match.

Fisher snapped off the spirited $20,000 winner-takes-all International Tournament of Chammpions that was held at Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino in Uncasville, CT, October 28.

Kelly Fisher’s final match against Xoiating Pan was neck-and-neck, featuring precise run-outs and fierce safety play. Fisher narrowly won the first set 4-3, then took the first two games of set two. But Pan rallied the next two games to tie the score at 2-2. Fisher quickly ran the next two racks to close out the championship match.

The crowd gave Fisher a standing ovation when she won the final match. She raised his arms in victory and then accepted the highest single winner’s purse in women’s pool of $20,000. The trophy and the check were presented by Mohegan Sun and Fusion Billiard Tables.

The 2009 event was the Twelfth Annual International Tournament of Champions. Bob Yalen, Director of Sports & Entertainment for Mohegan Sun, was delighted with the brilliant play and the crowd of pool fans. “We will continue to host this event,” he said. “The crowds appreciate watching champions go head to head, and the players were a credit to the sport. We are extremely pleased.”

In addition to the tournament site at Mohegan Sun, the event was sponsored by Fusion Billiard Tables, Aramith Tournament Billiard Balls, Simonis Cloth, Mueller Recreational Products, Executive Billiards, and Silver Cup Chalk. The WPBA-sanctioned event was produced by Billiards International, Ltd.

by InsidePOOL Staff

Eastside Billiards in New York, NY, played host to the October 24-25 Predator 9-Ball Tour stop. This event drew some of the strongest players in the Tri-State area, including Sean “Alaska” Morgan, Mhet Vergara, and Jorge Rodriguez, with Marc “Spain” Vidal going all the way to the winner’s circle.

Morgan and Vidal played a spectacular match that including everything from strong breaking, good safety play, and picture-perfect run-outs. In the end, Vidal edged out a 9-8 win for the hot seat over Morgan.

After a hill-hill lost to Vidal, Ken Kerner was out for blood, winning his next two matches against Vergara and Frankie Hernandez to set up the semifinal match against Morgan. Both players were itching for a rematch with Vidal, but Ken found himself behind rather quickly in the match, and Morgan sealed Kerner’s exit from the tournament, defeating him 9-4.

In the final race to 11, Morgan’s break consistently failed to make a ball on the break, while Vidal seemed to be the break and run specialist. The two traded racks in the beginning, but with Morgan’s break disadvantage haunting him, it was only a matter of time before Vidal took control of the match. Vidal closed the match 11-5 for the win and title.

Gail Glazebrook was in dead stroke on Sunday as she dominated the 15-player B-D event. She started the day by defeating both Eddie Culhane and Rene Villalobos to set up a match against Ariel Rivera, who has reached the finals of the last three B-D events and won two of them. It was a back-and-forth battle, but with Glazebrook on the hill 5-4, she took a gutsy 5-9 combo and split the pocket for the 6-4 victory and a chance to play Dave Weinstein, the winner of the last BCD event at Eastside Billiards.

Glazebrook dominated this match, torching Weinstein 6-1 to earn her spot in the final. Weinstein and Rivera faced off in the semifinal match. Weinstein brought his A-game to this match, making very few mistakes and defeating Rivera 5-3 to earn another chance at Glazebrook.

A few strong outs by Glazebrook got her to the hill first. At 6-4, she made an on-the-rail, full-table-length backward cut shot on the 9 ball to seal the win. This was Glazebrook’s first B-D win of the year.

Eastside Billiards in New York, NY, played host to the October 24-25 Predator 9-Ball Tour stop.

Open Results:
1st Marc Vidal $900
2nd Sean Morgan $600
3rd Ken Kerner $400
4th Frankie Hernandez $300
5th Mhet Vergara $250
Jorge Rodriguez
7th Dave Pinkston $200
Jason Hunt

B-D Results:
1st Gail Glazebrook $160
2nd Dave Weinstein $110
3rd Ariel Rivera $75
4th Ramilo Tanglao $45

by Lea Andrews

On the penultimate day of the 34th Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, the final four on the winners’ side have come through, and on the one-loss side, Steve Moore came from behind two matches in a row to reach the final twelve. The remaining elite players are part of the original field of 216 who gathered October 18-24 at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, VA.

After falling to Ralf Souquet 11-4 on the winners’ side final eight, Moore faced Keith Bennett, who’d just edged out Kenichi Uchigaki 11-10. Bennett got to a 9-3 lead over Moore, who rallied to tie it up at 9, and the two traded off to make it hill-hill. In the final rack, Moore found himself sharked on the 5 ball by the red light on a spectator’s camera. “I got up and I got back down, and she did it again,” recalled Moore after the match. “I got up and I told her about it, but when I got back down, I was still thinking about it.” He missed. But he was back at the table after Bennett miscued on the 6, though he was looking at a kick. After Moore’s hit, Bennett was left with a shot, but his position was off on the 7 ball, and the cue ball found the side pocket. Moore was out, and his next match against Yukio Akagarivama was called nearly instantly.

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Once again Moore was down several games, then tied at 9 and at 10. After some safety play in the final rack, it was Akagarivama who had control, and he moved carefully through the rack. His shot on the 7 down the rail grazed the cushion, though, leaving the 7 hanging in the pocket and the crowd all gasping at once. Moore tapped it in for position on the 8 in the side, which he considered carefully before getting down on the shot. “There were so many options on the eight,” he explained afterwards. “And then I was like, ‘You know what? Just spin the ball in, three-rail it.’ It’s a pretty routine shot—I was just looking at all my options, and I hit it real well. I knew as soon as I hit it.” After getting perfect position on the 9, Moore dropped it in for the win and the right to face Imran Majid, who fell 11-7 to Lee Van Corteza on the winners’ side. About the rest of the tournament, Moore doesn’t care how the matches go—not exactly. “I don’t care if I’m behind and win or ahead and win—I just want to win. Whatever it takes.”

Morris admitted that he had a rather fortuitus set against Davenport.

On the other side of the bracket, 1996 U.S. Open champion “Rocket” Rodney Morris blew by Kim Davenport 11-2 on the TV table to reach the undefeated final four. Morris, who won his first match on the TV table 11-9 against Corey Deuel despite feeling nervous about the way it played, was prepared this time around. “My touch was better than his on the table, and it’s so lightning fast that it’s all touch,” he explained. “It’s easy to lose the cue ball on safeties, but mine were coming out perfect.” Morris faces Donnie Mills, who eased past Karl Boyes 11-3, while Souquet and Corteza round out the final four.

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by Lea Andrews

Niels Feijen, who fell in round one to Ramil Gallego 11-8, blew past Curtis Coleman 11-0 to face Raj Hundal in a tight elimination-round match on day four of the 34th Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships. Feijen is one of the field of 216 that is gathered at the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, VA, October 18-24, though that field is steadily dwindling.

Feijen opened up by getting ahead 3-0 over Hundal, but Hundal used some safety play to tie it up at three apiece. Feijen took rack seven, but his break, which is powerful and controlled, nevertheless did him no favors in the next three racks, though he was able to work around it with push-outs and safeties to make it 7-3. His break worked well for him in rack eleven, and he ran out to take a five-game lead. Rack twelve went to Feijen, but thirteen went to Hundal, and it was 9-4, at which point Hundal began putting the racks together. Three straight break and runs put Hundal on the path to a comeback 9-7, but he couldn’t see the 1 ball after the break in rack eighteen and chose a kick-safe, though it left Feijen a shot, which he pocketed and followed up with a safety on the 2 ball. Although Hundal managed to hit it, Feijen was out and on the hill, and a 9 ball that sailed into the head corner off of a ball sealed the match.

View the U.S. Open 9-Ball Double Elimination Tournament Brackets 1 (updated continuously)

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View the 2009 U.S. Open image gallery

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Feijen, who fell in round one to Gallego 11-8, blew past Coleman 11-0 to face Hundal in a tight elimination-round match on day four of the 34th Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships.

“It was nice,” said Feijen, who’d found himself in a similar situation in 2006 in the World Pool Masters against Hundal, though there situations were reversed—in 2006, it was Hundal on the hill. “It was the same nine ball break in the same corner, but his hit one more ball,” he explained. Feijen, who feels he’s getting more and more in stroke after getting some practice in the past couple of days, is ready to just “keep playing and keep enjoying it.” Hundal joins a growing list of those out of the running, including CJ Wiley, Jerry Calderon, and Shaun Wilkie, who fell 11-9 to Scott Tollefson after being up 9-8.

Upcoming winners’ side matches include Corey Deuel versus Rodney Morris, Roberto Gomez versus Kim Davenport, who sent Shawn Putnam west 11-8, Ralf Souquet versus Abdullah Alyousef, and Shane Van Boening versus Jose Parica.

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photo courtesy Rodney Andrews

by InsidePOOL Staff

The semifinal matches are set for the WPBA Pacific Coast Classic, held this weekend at the Chinook Winds Resort Casino in Lincoln City, OR. The first match will feature Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan against veteran player Allison Fisher, while the second will see Karen Corr face Xiaoting Pan.

In the final round of 16, Ouschan eked out a hill-hill nail-biter over Kim Shaw 9-8 to advance to the quarterfinals to play Line Kjorsvik of Norway. Kjorsvik had just sent Dawn Hopkins home 9-7. Both players were undefeated to that point. Ouschan quickly took a 2-0 lead, but Kjorsvik countered, tying the score at 2 apiece. From there the players traded racks until the score reached 4-all. Kjorsvik scratched off a jump shot in the next, giving Ouschan ball in hand and the game. Ouschan returned the favor in the following rack by giving Kjorsvik ball in hand after hooking herself and fouling, but Kjorsvik missed position on the 9 ball and ended up giving that game to Ouschan as well. In the final rack, both players had innings at the table, but when Kjorsvik missed a cross-bank on the 7 ball, Ouschan managed to pocket the remaining balls and advance to the semifinals.

In less than five minutes, the score between Allison Fisher and Ga Young Kim was at 2 each, as the ladies played speedily and efficiently. Excellent safety play peppered the next few racks, with the two trading games to bring the score to 4-all. Kim took the lead briefly after Fisher snookered herself behind the 5 ball, but Fisher came back to tie the score yet again in the next and then took the hill when Kim gave her ball in hand. Kim almost made the 9 ball on her next break but played safe behind a cluster of balls. Fisher jumped for the 1 and pocketed it in the side pocket, and from there she was able to clear the table to win the match 7-5.

Corr, who has not won a WPBA title in a couple of years, went after her quarterfinal opponent, Jennifer Chen, with a vengeance. An empty break and then a missed cut on the 5 ball by Chen put Corr up 2-0 from the beginning, and she continued to surge ahead, as a failed safety by Chen gave her ball in hand and another game. A spectator’s camera flash sharked Chen in the next rack, and Corr scooped up that one as well, making it 4-0 in the shortened race to 7. Chen made a spectacular jump shot on the 7 but rattled the 8 ball in the next, and then she missed a one-rail kick shot on the 7-9 combo, allowing Corr to reach the hill with Chen still at zero. Chen played safe after her last break, but Corr scratched on the 1 ball. However, while Chen was busily running out, her 7 ball drifted off and rattled in the pocket, and Corr easily pocketed the remaining balls to win by a stunning 7-0.

View the WPBA Pacific Coast Double Elimination tournament brackets

View the WPBA Pacific Coast Single Elimination tournament brackets

The semifinal matches are set for the WPBA Pacific Coast Classic, held this weekend at the Chinook Winds Resort Casino in Lincoln City, OR. The first match will feature Ouschan against veteran player Fisher, while the second will see Corr face Pan.

The last quarterfinal match saw Gerda Hofstatter start strong with a 3-0 lead over Xiaoting Pan, but a safety battle in which Hofstatter blinked first saw Pan get on the board 3-1. They traded the next two racks, and then Hofstatter got one rack closer to the finish when Pan missed a bank into the side pocket, making the score 5-2 Hofstatter. Both players exchanged several innings at the table in the following game, but when Pan missed the 3 ball, Hofstatter buckled down and cleared the table to reach the hill.

That was when Pan made her move. She won the next three racks in a row to draw within a game of the Austrian veteran player and then broke and ran the next to take the hill. A safety exchange saw Hofstatter scratch off the back rail out of massé, and Pan was given ball in hand and an easy layout for the 7-6 victory.

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by Brian Keller

Putting one third-place and two runner-up finishes under his belt in the last three years at the Virginia State 9-Ball Championships, presented by Inside POOL Magazine, Brandon Shuff had reason to think the tournament owed him. He came to Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA, with nothing but calm, confident thoughts about winning the championship. The July 18-19 weekend would prove his instincts to be correct, but he would still have a fight on his hands.

Sixty-four players started off Saturday morning with high hopes, and the upsets started immediately. Larry Kressel, the 2007 champion, went two and out. Matt Clatterbuck, strong tournament and money player from western Virginia, fell to the one-loss side.

By Saturday night, 12 players remained, including Shuff, Eric Moore, Matt Clatterbuck, and locals John Newton, Robert Benton, and 17-year-old Chris Bruner. Play began with Shuff and Bruner winning their matches to make it to the hot seat. Shuff prevailed 9-3, with Bruner unable to take advantage of mistakes and Shuff locking him down in safeties. Undefeated as yet, Shuff calmly waited for the final match.

Meanwhile, Newton worked his way through a tough match with Clatterbuck to get back to the semifinals against Bruner. There Newton’s experience paid off in spades as he shoved the youngster aside by a 9-3 margin playing solid safes, smooth position, and closing out every chance he had. Bruner’s play was so impressive throughout the event that Diamond Billiards offered to sponsor him in the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships this fall.

In the single race-to-11 finals, the players traded racks, neither able to grab more than a two-game lead as the table broke dry all but three of the first fourteen games and safety play abounded. At 7-7, Shuff seemed to catch another gear and was up 10-7 before Newton had a chance to blink scoring a 9 ball on the snap, a run-out and then taking advantage of a rare, loose safety by Newton. Newton was able to score one more game on his side of the ledger when Shuff dogged the 7 ball, but it was his last win as Shuff grabbed ball in hand and sank a 1-9 combination for the win.

Both finalists earned paid entry into the U.S. Open in October 2009 through the tournament along with $1,200 and $600, respectively.

Putting one third-place and two runner-up finishes under his belt in the last three years at the Virginia State 9-Ball Championships, presented by Inside POOL Magazine, Brandon Shuff had reason to think the tournament owed him.

Results:
1st Brandon Shuff $1,200 + qual.
2nd John Newton $600 + qual.
3rd Chris Bruner $400 + qual.
4th Matt Clatterbuck $300
5th Eric Moore $200
Eric Charlton
7th Bernie Kirby $150
RJ Carmona
9th Sean Millican $100
Cary Dunn
Chris Futrell
Robert Benson

by Lea Andrews

Karen “The Irish Invader” Corr, who was undefeated after two days of play at Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN, came back from a late loss Sunday to capture first in the WPBA Satellite Tour’s inaugural event. The $10,000-added event, held July 10-12, drew 64 talented ladies, pros and amateurs alike, 12 of whom returned for Sunday’s play.

Corr, who had given up only eight games upon reaching the final four on the winners’ side, allowed Monica Webb only five games, moving on to the hot seat match against Gerda “G-Force” Hofstatter, who on her way had knocked aside Line Kjorsvik, Ewa Laurance, and Julie Kelly. Corr turned out to be the last in the string of pros whom Hofstatter would defeat, and Corr joined the one-loss side with a score of 9-7.

On the left side of the bracket, Kelly Fisher, who on Saturday had gotten up 6-1 on Kelly before falling 9-7, was ousted by Allison Fisher 7-4. A. Fisher, though, was next pitted against BCA Hall of Famer Laurance, who was coming off of a hill-hill victory over Val Finnie. On a roll, Laurance held Fisher to five games, but she couldn’t get past Webb, who was trying to push her way to the finals. Meeting Webb in the one-loss quarterfinals was Kelly, who’d gotten past Kim Shaw 7-3. Kelly managed only two games, though, and it was time for Webb to try to exact her revenge on Corr. Taking the first three racks in the race to 7, Webb seemed Hofstatter’s likely opponent in the finals, but when nothing fell on the break for Webb in the fourth rack, Corr began her comeback. In a seven-game streak that included excellent cue-ball control, great safety play, and three break and runs, Corr moved on to the finals.

Having won seven straight games to get there, it seemed that Corr had adopted the same simple strategy in the single race-to-11 finals: Don’t let an opponent make a 9 ball. And for the first nine racks, she didn’t. In the tenth rack, though, Hofstatter cleared the table with ball in hand on the 1 ball to put herself on the board 9-1. But she’d hit the string for the last time, as Corr, coming out on top of the safety battles that followed in the next two racks, emerged the first-ever winner of a WPBA Satellite Tour event.

WPBA Satellite tournament brackets

Karen “The Irish Invader” Corr, who was undefeated after two days of play at Borderline Billiards in Bristol, TN, came back from a late loss Sunday to capture first in the WPBA Satellite Tour’s inaugural event.

Results:
1st Karen Corr $3,000
2nd Gerda Hofstatter $2,050
3rd Monica Webb $1,500
4th Julie Kelly $1,250
5th Kim Shaw $1,000
Ewa Laurance
7th Allison Fisher $800
Iris Ranola
9th Kelly Fisher $600
Val Finnie
Line Kjorsvik
Briana Miller
13th Denise Belanger $450
Morgan Steinman
Chelsea Hardwick
Brittany Bryant
17th Megan Smith $300
Tracie Hines
Janet Atwell
Tiffany Nelson-Crain
Stephanie Mitchell
Liz Ford
Liz Lovely
Belinda Calhoun
25th Liz Taylor $200
Lisa Davids
Sueyen Rhee
Julie Mason-Comitini
Mai Scheick
Tina Larsen
Karen Webb
Emily Duddy

Lombardo was in the hot seat and had been waiting over two hours before the final match had been called, which was at 11:00 p.m. Saturday evening. The tournament director, at the request of the two finalists, allowed the final match to be contested that same day immediately after the semifinal match, believing the match would conclude at about 1:00 a.m., which prevented that match from being streamed live online Sunday by Accu-Stats.

Lombardo needed 110 points for a victory, while Michas, playing at one skill level below Lombardo and coming to the final match from the one-loss side, needed to get 90 match points before Lombardo got to his 110 match points in order to cause the final match to go into “extend play,” which Michas did. Michas now needed to get to 120 points before Lombardo got to his extend match points of 145. Nevertheless, in this final battle Lombardo legally pocketed 177 balls to Michas’ 120 and still lost the match—Lombardo had been penalized twice for (unintentionally) having executed three consecutive fouls, thus losing 22 points (20% of his starting match points) on each occurrence, plus the lost 6 points also penalized for each foul.

The second three-foul penalty happened just when Lombardo had fought back to regain his losses from his first three-foul penalty and had taken the lead by the score of 97-90 after the 16th rack (23 racks were played in this contest). This second penalty was clearly an error on Carmen’s part, scratching into a corner pocket at the head of the table after attempting to make a safety play into the kitchen from a cluster of balls located within the rack area.

The North Jersey 14.1 Straight Pool Pro-Am Quarterly held its second quarter event for 2009 the weekend of June 6-7 at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ. Pictured is second place finisher Carmen Lombardo.

The first three-foul penalty however was really a sight to see. Lombardo was shooting while on two fouls, and Michas was on one foul. The cue ball was buried within an almost-full-rack cluster, providing no apparent shot and only one difficult safety that could possibly leave Michas an opening. Lombardo was just behind by 8 points (48-40). Lombardo found a four-ball combination into the side pocket but had to shoot away from the direction of the targeted pocket by almost 170 degrees. Well, after about two minutes of studying the shot, Lombardo fired away—two non-called object balls had been pocketed before the called ball made its way to the called pocket, only to have been eclipsed by the pocketing of a fourth ball—the cue ball.

Overcoming a 20-point handicap, two 22-point penalties, and 13 lost points from fouls was just too much for Lombardo—Michas took the victory by a score of 120-133.

During the final match, Lombardo had 27-, 25-, 19-, and 22-ball runs; Michas had 17-, 28-, and 14-ball runs. Michas also distinguished himself with tournament-high run of 49 balls playing against Pat Fleming, just 2 balls shy of a mandatory promotion to skill level 3. Lombardo’s high run for the tournament was 39 balls, which he obtained in his win against Gobind Daryanani.

Jason Michas hauled in first place honors.

Finishing in third place was John McCole, a skill level 3 player who was eliminated from the tournament by Michas by a score of 90-50. During the first round of the tournament McCole bested Michas by a score of 110-77.

Hall of Fame inductee Pat Fleming dusted off his cue stick to help round out the field to eight players but was clearly not in a fighting mood that day. He was defeated handily by Michas and Lombardo.

Player statistics and tournament flow chart for this tournament and prior events and tournament info can be viewed at NorthJerseyStraightPoolProAm.com. For those who are interested in playing in a North Jersey 14.1 Straight Pool Pro-Am Quarterly event please contact tournament Producer/Director Scott Abramowitz at 973-736-3435 or e-mail scott@northjerseystraightpoolproam.com.

Sponsors for this tournament were Jacoby Custom Cues (jacobycue.com) and the Blaze Pro-Am 9-Ball Tour (blazetour.com).

Results:
1st Jason Michas $325
2nd Carmen Lombardo $150
3rd John McCole $50
Tournament-High Run (49 balls) – Jason Michas $50

Final Four Set in Women’s World 10-Ball Championships

by Edward Asistin

Rubilen Amit (Philippines) lost her first match to Kelly Fisher (England) in the group stages of the Women’s World 10-Ball Championships and has not suffered another defeat. She won the next four of her group stage matches and the three matches played today in the single-elimination phase. The first two matches in the knockout round she won convincingly by a score of 8-3, the first over Julie Kelly (IRE) and the second to one of the five undefeated women, in the tournament Hsiang-Ling Tan (Taiwan).

Her third match in the quarterfinal round was against Jeanette Lee. Rubilen cruised out to a 4-0 lead, but Lee was able to tie it at 5-5. Lee the proceeded to take the lead and lead by scores of 7-5 and 8-6 but just couldn’t put the local away. At hill-hill it became a safety battle, with each player being extremely accurate with her safety play. Trading safeties on the 1 ball in the final rack, Lee was not able to touch the object ball and that was all for “The Black Widow.” Rubilen took ball in hand and in the pressure cooker of the Sky Dome ran out the final rack in front of the Filipino crowd. Now she carries the hopes and dreams of a country on her back into the final four of the tournament.

The first surprise of the day, and maybe of the tournament, was Charlene Chai (SIN) defeating Ga Young Kim (Korea) in the first round of single-elimination play. At one point in the match Kim was leading the match by a score of 6-3. The happiness did not last long for Chai as she lost her next match to two-time world champion Shin-Mei Liu (Taiwan).

Rubilen Amit (Philippines) lost her first match to Kelly "KwikFire" Fisher (England) in the group stages of the Women’s World 10-Ball Championships and has not suffered another defeat.

View the Women’s World 10-Ball Championship image gallery

View the round robin brackets

View the single elimination brackets

The next surprise of the day came in the round of 16 when Akimi Kajitani (Japan) rallied from 6-2 and 7-4 down to Yuan-Chun Lin (Taiwan) and won the match 8-7. Even though Kajitani received the first-round bye, most people would consider Lin to be the favorite to win the match, and she supported that thought early in the match by jumping out to an almost insurmountable lead. Kajitani somehow managed to win the last four games and maybe had executed the best comeback of the tournament against the reigning world 9-ball champion. Shortly after, Kajitani dispatched Corr in the quarterfinal round 9-7 to earn her spot in the semifinal round against Amit.

Allison Fisher (England) lost a hill-hill thriller to Yu Ram Cha (Korea) in the round of 16. Fisher was down 6-3 and managed to bring it back to 6-5, then she missed a 10 ball, making it 7-5. Fisher was then able to bring it back to 7-7 only to miss a 4-10 combo for the match, which Cha made to close out the match.

Cha’s opponent in the quarterfinals was a red-hot Jasmin Ouschan (Austria). Ouschan was yet another player who lost her first match in the group stage and hadn’t been defeated since. This match was of the highest quality with neither player missing shots and not getting more that one game ahead. Ouschan reached the hill first at 8-7 and broke dry. Cha proceeded to run the rack out but got slightly out of position on the 7 ball. She scratched, and instead of bringing it to hill-hill, Ouschan ran the rest of the rack out to earn her spot into the final four.

In the last match of the quarterfinals, Kelly Fisher (England) and Shin-Mei Liu went hill-hill after Liu led 8-6. Both missed the 8 ball in the final rack, but Liu then proceeded to run the last three balls to win the match 9-8 and earn her spot against Ouschan in one of the semifinals.

The stage is set for the Inaugural Women’s World 10-Ball Championship: Akimi Kajitani versus Rubilen Amit in one semifinal match, and Jasmin Ouschan versus Shin-Mei Liu in the other.