The power of the Asian pool-playing contingent has surged to the forefront of the Kappa 2009 Women's World 9-Ball Championship. Now in the single-elimination knockout stage, our field of 32 players has tonight been reduced to 16. Of these 16, 13 hail either from Taipei, China, or Korea. Indeed, only Karen Corr (GBR) seemed to be able to withstand the Asian onslaught when she defeated C Z H Charlene of Singapore 9-3.
For the most part, the victories tonight were not even close, with domination being the theme of the evening. Number one seed Chieh-Yu Chou (TPE) rolled over Jia Liu (CHN) 9-1 and Xue Chen (CHN) bested Liz Ford (USA) 9-4. Allison Fisher (GBR) lived up to her billing with the 9-0 destruction of Brittany Bryant (CAN). Xiaoting Pan (CHN) ruled Keiko Yukawa (JPN) 9-3, Yu Ram Cha (KOR) continued her strong year by beating Su-Han Chang (TPE) 9-4, Siming Chen (CHN) ran past Akimi Kajatani (JPN) 9-3, Shasha Liu (CHN) defeated Tamara Rademakers (NED) 9-4 and Gerda Hofstatter (AUT) ended the tournament for Johana Espinoza (VEN) 9-4.
The next round on Saturday will bring our field down to the Great Eight. It will be interesting to see how the dominating players of Friday when pared against one another. Will domination continue or will close play be the call of the day? We will bring you the news of these rounds as soon as they reach fruition.
Single Elim Brackets
