A full field of 96 players from the U.S, England, Spain, China, Canada, Japan and the Philippines are in the $25,000 Added 3rd U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Matches started Monday, May 16 at 6 pm. Spectators were greeted in the first two sets with line ups including Jose Parica against fellow countryman Alex Pagulayan. However most of the first round matches started Tuesday, May 17 and what a group of first round matches it has been.
In the first set of matches at 6 pm Monday, Marc Vidal (#33 BCA ranked player) nearly shut out Rodney "The Rocket" Morris (#7 BCA ranked player) with a score of 8-2 on the TAR live stream table. It was 7-0 before Morris clocked a win. While ahead 7-1, Vidal played a lock up safety that incidentally kicked the 9 ball in from the middle of the table. Though Vidal was able to kick in the 7 ball, he was left with a difficult 8, allowing Morris to get another game.
In the following match, "Hennessey" Jonathan Pinegar (#41 BCA ranked player) displayed a similar performance against another U.S. Open 9-Ball Champion, Gabe Owen (#17 BCA ranked player). Owen struggled throughout the match with the table speed and looked incredibly frustrated. Pinegar capitalized and at 7-1, after kicking and missing the 1 ball, Owen conceded the match.
Tuesday's matches has also seen 2010 Women's World 9-Ball Champion, Xiaofang Fu narrowly lose to Mitch Ellerman from Arizona (8-5). Ellerman has had a strong season going into this event recently winning the Seminole Pro Tour Stop just 2 weeks ago at the California Billiard Club. Ellerman was in the lead 6-5, when Fu missed a long off the rail shot on the 10 that proved to be critical allowing Ellerman to break and run the last game for the match win. Also in the shutout category, Darren Appleton from the UK took on and beat Hall of Famer Johnny Archer (8-0).
Tuesday evening matches will include Rob Saez against Manuel Gama, Max Eberle and Ralf Souquet, Mike Dechaine vs. Kenichi Uchigaki to name a few. For the complete brackets and scores of the 3rd U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship visit the CSI CueSports Tournament System at www.ctsondemand.com. The Action Report (TAR) is providing PPV live streaming at www.theactionreport.com.
Produced by CueSports International (CSI) the U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship is sponsored by Mueller Recreational Products, McDermott Cues, Diamond Billiard Products, Simonis, Aramith, the Magic Rack, and Billiards Digest.
CueSports International is dedicated to creating more choices for all players. CSI is the parent company of the BCA Pool League and the USA Pool League. CSI also produces independent events such as the U.S. Bar Table Championships, the Jay Swanson Memorial, the U.S. Open One Pocket Championship and the U.S. Open 10-Ball Championship. Visit www.playcsipool.com, www.playbca.com and www.playusapool.com for more information about CSI and its divisions.
