Allison Fisher and Kristina Zlateva
Allison and Kristina Tkach move within ‘striking distance’ of Kelly Fisher in WPBA rankings
They came from opposite ends of the pool-experience spectrum, not to mention opposite ends of the WPBA’s $20,000-added Palmetto Billiards Invitational bracket. BCA Hall of Famer Allison Fisher, who’s been winning pool tournaments longer than AZBilliards has been around, was looking for her first win since she began the year with an undefeated run at the Iron City Billiards Invitational in January. Her opponent in the finals of the August 22-25 Palmetto Invitational, Bulgaria’s Kristina Zlateva, who’s been cashing in professional tournaments all over the world since 2013, was looking for her first (recorded) professional win. And came within a game of finding it. The two battled to double hill in the finals before Fisher prevailed to claim the event title that had drawn 64 entrants to the newly-opened Palmetto Billiards Academy in Charleston, SC.
The two Fishers, Allison and Kelly, also started out at the extreme, opposite ends of the bracket and until the winners’ side semifinal, were on-target to face off in the hot seat match. They both started out with shutouts over their first opponents, Shanelle Lorraine for Kelly and Kari Anderson for Allison. Allison was challenged, double hill, twice along the way; first, in the third round by Monica Webb and then, after defeating Margarita Fefilova 8-2 in a winners’ side quarterfinal, by Kristina Tkach in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
In the meantime, Zlateva was working a steady route to her winners’ side semifinal against Kelly. Opening with three straight 8-3 wins over Tracy Cantrell, Kia Burwell and Susan Williams, she advanced to defeat Ashley Rice 8-2 and pick up Kelly in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Allison survived her double-hill bout versus Tkach and was joined in the hot seat match by Zlateva, who’d sent Kelly to the loss side 8-5. In their first of two, Allison took an early 2-0 lead before Tkach responded with three that gave her the lead. Zlateva did that twice, getting ahead by one until the score was tied at 4-4. Allison regained the lead she would never relinquish at 5 and then 6-4, allowed Tkach to draw within one at 6-5 and then, closed it out from there; two in a row to claim the hot seat.
On the loss side, Kelly and Tkach faced Fefilova and Melissa Heland (formerly Melissa Herndon), respectively. Fefilova had followed her loss to Allison with victories over Savannah Easton (3) and Kaylee McIntosh (2) to draw Kelly. Helland had lost a third-round match to McIntosh and then won four straight, including, most recently, the elimination of Ashley Rice (3), after which she survived a double-hill challenge from The Grinder (April Larson).
Though it would have been bad form to say it out loud, people saw the quarterfinal coming; Kelly downing Fefilova 8-2 and Tkach defeating Helland 8-5 to join her. They’d seen it before, early June, in the semifinals of the Raxx Invitational. What they might not have predicted was the uncharacteristic, mistake-riddled quarterfinal itself with uncharacteristic, unforced errors from both of them, though in the end, Kelly’s examples proved more fatal to her cause. After trading racks in the first two, Tkach chalked up three in a row. Kelly responded with two to draw within one at 4-3, but in the eighth rack, looking to tie, she missed her shot at the 8-ball. Of course, not unheard of in any situation, but it was a high-percentage shot and the miss was extravagantly uncharacteristic.
Kelly, very characteristically, recovered quickly to win rack #9, to which Tkach responded by winning #10. In rack #11, Kelly once again faced a shot at the 8-ball and while she made the shot, she scratched. Two shots later, Tkach was on the hill at 7-4. Three games later, Kelly had caught up to knot the match at double hill.
Tkach dropped three balls on the final break and then, added to the total unforced error tally by rattling the 2-ball in a hole. Not to be outdone, Kelly stepped to the table, ran to the 5-ball and with the win in sight, rattled it in a hole. Tkach stepped to the table, finished connecting the dots and advanced to the semifinals against Zlateva.
The Final Four
Since May, Tkach had been among the final four in WPBA events five times. She’d finished third once (the Biker Week Showdown; partnered with Loree Jon Hasson), runner-up three times (Borderline Invitational, Raxx Invitational and Soaring Eagle Masters) and broke through to win the Iron City Invitational the last weekend in July. As she stepped to the tables against Zlateva in the semifinals, she was assured of matching one of those finishes. It proved to be her second, third-place finish. Zlateva, eager for her own improvement on two runner-up finishes since March (the Fairfield Invitational and the Biker Week Showdown, when she was partnered with Bean Hung), battled Tkach to double hill in that quarterfinal match before prevailing for a second shot at Allison in the finals.
Racing to 10 in the final, Allison got out to an early and slim 2-0 lead before Zlateva got ‘on the board.’ Allison chalked up another, before Zlateva won two in a row to create the first of five match ties at 3-3. Two matches later, they tied it again at 4-4. Allison won three in a row, but then, so did Zlateva to knot the match for the third time at 7-7.
Allison broke the tie and Zlateva won rack #16 to tie it for the fourth time. Rack #17 put Zlateva on the hill, but shooting at the 3-ball in rack #18, she scratched and Allison pounced to create the fifth and final tie. As she prepared to break the last rack, Zlateva stepped up and shook Allison’s hand.
Zlateva got to the 3-ball again, but left herself in an awkward position, necessitating a ‘needle thread’ shot between two balls to just hit the 4-ball. She missed the 4-ball altogether, fatally, as it turned out. Allison stepped to the table, and cool as you please, with five balls left, the Duchess of Doom closed out the rack to win the first Palmetto Billiards Invitational.
Thanks to some significant changes in the ongoing WPBA rankings, all eyes shift now to the Centennial State of Colorado (it joined the union in 1876), where Kelly Fisher is expected to enter the $15,000-added Olhausen Colorado Classic, scheduled for Sept. 26-29 and to be hosted by Felt Billiards Bar in Denver. Though she will enter the event still at the top of the WPBA’s rankings, Fisher’s closest competitor in those rankings, Kristina Tkach, who, thanks to her finish in the Palmetto Invitational, is currently at #2. She is only a single event away from supplanting Kelly at the top of the rankings, dependent, of course, on the outcome.
With her win in Charleston, SC, the Duchess of Doom also edged within ‘striking range,’ jumping up to #3 in the rankings. In fact, all the way down the list to #7 (Brittany Bryant), and again, dependent on the outcome and range of points at stake and who shows up to compete in Colorado, there are competitors who could catch and pass Kelly Fisher to become the WPBA’s #1.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at the Palmetto Billiards Academy in Charleston, SC, along with sponsors Diamond Billiards, Aramith Billiard Balls, Simonis Cloth, HOW Tips, Big Family Custom Creations, ICA Training, Kamui Roku 6 Chalk, Castillo Leather Goods, DigitalPool.com, and The Perfect Rack. As always, matches from this past weekend’s tournament, as well as what is likely to be the highly-anticipated Olhausen Colorado Classic can be viewed on the WPBA’s YouTube channel.
0 comments