Andrew Cleary, Michael Yednak & Javier Colayco
Michael Yednak found himself at double hill against Paul Raval in his opening match of the Tri-State tournament on the weekend of June 26-27. He prevailed in the final game, and deciding, apparently, that he'd had quite enough of that double hill action for one weekend, did not allow anyone else to get that close. He finished the tournament undefeated to take first place in the $1,000-added, all-class amateur event, which drew 35 entrants to Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan, NY.
In the finals of the A-B bracket of the all-class tournament, Yednak sent Michael Wong west 7-5, as Andrew Cleary, playing in the finals of the C-D bracket, defeated Sandie Patarino in a double hill match. The handicap disparity in the hot seat match that followed – A+ versus D+ player – gave Cleary six games at the start, racing to 11. Cleary won just a single game, as Yednak chalked up the 11 necessary to gain the hot seat.
Over on the one-loss side, Yednaks's eventual opponent in the finals, Javier Colayco, was in the midst of a nine-match winning streak that had begun when Patarino sent him over in the opening round of play 7-3. With four under his belt, Colayco got into the money rounds with a double hill win over Antonio Navarro and then defeated Luis Nova 6-4, to face Patarino a second time. Wong drew Jacob Schwartz, who'd defeated Carl Sallo double hill and shut out Emily Duddy to reach him. Colayco turned the tables on Patarino in their second meeting, defeating her 6-4 to get into the quarterfinal match. He was joined by Schwartz, who'd defeated Wong 7-5.
Colayco advanced to the semifinal versus Cleary with 7-6 win over Schwartz, and then chalked up his final win of the event, defeating Cleary 7-5. Spotting Colayco five games at the start, Yednak proceeded to win 10 in a row, punctuating his undefeated weekend.
