They split their two meetings, but Jorge Vivacio took the critical, final match over Rich Lang to win it all. The $500-added, A-D handicapped event of the June 30-July 1 stop on the Predator Tour drew 36 entrants to Eastside Billiards on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
They met first in the battle for the hot seat. Just prior, Vivacio had defeated Ross Lacey and Lang had downed Debra Pritchett, by identical 7-4 scores. Lang got the best of Vivacio 10-3 in the hot seat match and waited for him to get back.
Lacey moved to the loss side and picked up Mike Dube, who'd defeated Dennis Espinal 7-3 and Alex Osipov 7-5 to reach him. Pritchett drew Alex Borukhovich, who'd gotten by Louis Jimenez 7-3 and survived a double hill match against Arron Moody. Lacey advanced, defeating Dube 7-2. Pritchett did not, falling to Borukhovich 8-6.
Borukhovich defeated Lacey in the quarterfinals 7-5 and had his loss-side streak stopped in a 9-7 victory by Vivacio in the semifinals. Vivacio avenged his earlier defeat at the hands of Lang with a 12-6 victory in the finals.
