Two rounds were completed on Saturday at the Kappa 209 Women's World 9-Ball Championship. In the first round the field was reduced from sixteen players to eight. This round found number one seed Chieh-Yu Chou (CHN) upset 9-4 by Doudou Zhou (CHN) and Allison Fisher (GBR) eliminated from the field 9-8 by Xue Chen (CHN). The top-bracket action also found Xiafang Fu (CHN) beating Fang Han (CHN) 9-8 and Karen Corr (GBR) rolling over Pei Chen Tsai (TPE) 9-3, making Ms. Corr the only western player to survive into the round of the great eight.
The bottom bracket found crowd favorite Xiaoting Pan (CHN) defeating qualifier Meng Gao (CHN) 9-4, Korean powerhouse Yu Ram Cha beating Shu Pin Gao (TPE) 9-3, Shasha Liu (CHN) getting by Siming Chen (CHN) 9-7 and former world champion Shin-Mei Liu (TPE) progressing 9-5 over Gerda Hofstatter (AUT).
The round of the great eight began with five Chinese players still in the mix, an incredible feat for the representatives of the host nation. But Karen Corr kept western hopes alive as she defeated DouDou Zhou (9-3) to make the final four. She is joined in the elite group by Xiofang Fu, who easily escaped Xue Chen 9-2. The last two slots are filled by Xiaoting Pan with her victory over Yu Ram Cha (9-4) and Shasha Liu who steamrolled Shin-Mei Liu 9-1.
Sunday will find a single victor.
