Troy Deocharran and Matt Klein battled twice during the Predator Pro Am Tour’s stop on the weekend of January 19-20. Both matches were determined by a last, single game; one in the hot seat and one again, in the finals. The $1,000-added event drew 45 entrants to The Spot in Nanuet, NY.
They met first, once Deocharran had sent Carlos Ocheign to the loss side 7-2 in one winners’ side semifinal, and Klein had defeated Marisol Palacios 8-4 in the other one. In their first of two, racing to 7, Deocharran claimed the hot seat 7-6, and waited for Klein to return from the semifinals.
On the loss side, Palacios ran into Ambi Estevez, who was facing his third straight female opponent, after downing Suzzie Wong and Erin Bechner, both 7-4. Ocheign drew Matt Harricharan, who’d eliminated Abel Rosario 7-6 and Gary O’Callaghan 7-4. That segment of the loss-side bracket was running a little long, and it would cause a few delays leading up to the quarterfinals.
In two diametrically opposite ways, Harricharan and Estevez advanced to the quarterfinals. Harricharan survived a double hill fight against Ocheign, while Estevez was chalking them up, one right after another, on his way to a shutout over Palacios; the last woman standing.
Harricharan and Estevez then locked up in a double hill, quarterfinal battle, eventually won by Harricharan. Klein put a stop to Harricharan’s loss-side run with an 8-5 win in the semifinals.
The Deocharran/Klein re-match was on in a battle to claim the event title. For the second time, they fought back and forth to double hill; this time, racing just a little further, to 9. Deocharran closed it out to complete his undefeated run through the field.
A Second Chance tournament drew 8 entrants, with Max Watanabe defeating Rich Hourihan 7-4 in the finals.
Tour director Tony Robles (and yours truly, the author of this piece) thanked Rhys and Lenore Chen, owners of The Spot and their staff for their hospitality. The next stop on the Predator Pro Am Tour will be the 8th Annual George “Ginky” Sansouci Memorial Tournament, scheduled for this coming Memorial Day weekend (May 26-28). The Predator Tour will share production responsibilities for the “Ginky” Memorial with the Tri-State and Mezz Tours. The event will feature both an Amateur and Pro Tournament, each with $2,000-added.
