 Corey Deuel |
The story of the event on the winners side of the Gabriels Open Professional Players Championship was Ronnie Wiseman and his undefeated run to the hot-seat, but it was Corey Deuel who was the final story of the event.
Wiseman came out of the gate strong with a win over Tony Robles and then Randy Labonte. Wiseman's next match was against a red-hot Troy Frank. Wiseman cooled Frank off quickly with a 10-0 win. From there, Wiseman navigated a rogue's gallery that consisted of Johnny Archer, Ryan McCreesh and Rodney Morris to take the hot-seat.
Deuel had also made his way through a tough bracket with wins over Shin Park, Mika Immonen and Tony Crosby before dropping a match to Rodney Morris. Deuel was undaunted though, as he went to the left side of the board and scored wins over Charlie Bryant, Larry Nevel, Ryan McCreesh and Fabio Petroni. The last obstacle between Deuel and Wiseman in the finals was a rematch with Rodney Morris. This match went hill-hill when a dry break by Morris left the door open for Deuel and he promptly ran out the rack for the victory.
The final match was close the whole way, but in the end it was Deuel with an 11-9 victory and his first UPA title since January of 2005.
