Chia Hua Chen
Predator Canada Open champion Amber Chen remained undefeated in the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship to move to the winners’ qualification round, but the current champion Rubilen Amit was sent to the losers’ side in a 7-5 defeat to Ina Kaplan.
Jasmin Ouschan scored her second consecutive 7-2 win as she defeated Szu Ting Kuo, while Kelly Fisher, Chieh-Yu Chou and Eylul Kibaroglu were among those who remained on the winners’ side heading into Thursday’s qualification round.
Allison Fisher was pushed all the way to hill-hill by Claudia von Rohr before completing a 7-6 win, but there was no such drama for tournament host Ouschan, who put in an assured performance for her second win.
Kuo won the lag but a dry break brough Ouschan immediately to the table, and she cleared it for an early lead. Kuo was able to respond straight away but Ouschan made it 2-1 with a brilliant jump on the 6, and it was soon 3-1 when Kuo left herself too much to do on the 10 and gifted Ouschan a simple finish.
Fortune wasn’t with Kuo who then scratched on her break and could only sit and watch as Ouschan extended her lead. Kuo was able to pull it back to 5-2, but a hit-and-hope attempt to double bank the four didn’t come off in the next rack, and to make things worse for the player from Chinese Taipei, position was left perfect for Ouschan who made it 6-2.
Kuo followed her next break with a smart jump shot but her subsequent safety knocked in an uncalled 5. Another chance came when Ouschan missed and scratched on the 4, but she failed with a 9-ball jump which became her last action of the match.
“I think my performance was even better than yesterday,” said Ouschan. “Playing against a top Taiwanese player is always tough. Kuo is one of the best ones in the world, so definitely not the easiest second match. But so far I’m happy with my performance; I think the safety game and stuff kicking could be better, but it’s fine.
“I’m going to analyze it and try it better tomorrow. Now it’s time for the team, so I am happy so far and taking all that energy now with me to the team match.
“I got given flowers from a spectator here and she came up to me and said, thank you for giving me so many magic moments. I thought that was such a sweet feedback. And, you know, that gives me energy and motivation. That is so sweet that, with what I do, I can actually touch people and reach out to people.”
While Ouschan was winning on one feature table, April Larson and Chia Hua ‘Amber’ Chen were in action on the other. A luggage delay meant Larson was borrowing cues from Tyler Styer but it didn’t seem to effect her as she put in an impressive display for USA in the Teams Championship on Tuesday evening.
Chen is fresh from winning the Predator Canada Open, the first time she had travelled internationally since the pandemic, and she again showed her quality and class, pulling clear of Larson from 2-2 to eventually win 7-3.
Rubilen Amit won the last staged World 10-Ball Championship – in the Philippines in 2013 – but will now have to qualify for the last 16 from the losers’ side after a 7-5 defeat to Kaplan of Germany.
Play continues from 9am on Thursday with three more rounds including winners’ qualification.
The draw and brackets for the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship can be seen here: https://probilliardseries.com/event/1677/. Play continues at 9am on Wednesday.
The draw and brackets for the Predator World Teams Championship is at https://probilliardseries.com/event/1678/. Play continues 4pm on Wednesday.
The event is broadcasting two tables with full live coverage and commentary every day. One will be available on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel and another will be at watchbilliard.tv. All tables can be viewed live at Kozoom.com.
Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter to follow the next events.
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