Shivam Gupta has finally added a ‘non-asterisk’ win on the Tri-State Tour to his resumé. Following two victories in which he was the ‘official’ winner because he was in the hot seat when his finals opponent and he opted out of a final match (in 2013, and this past February), Gupta went undefeated (final match included this time) through a field of 28 at the most recent stop on the Tri-State Tour. The $1,000-added 10-ball event, held on Sunday, April 22, was hosted by Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ.
Following an opening round victory over Steve Kaminow, Gupta met up with his eventual opponent in the finals, Jaydev Zaveri. The two battled to double hill, before Gupta sent Zaveri on a seven-match, loss-side trip that would eventually give him a second shot at the event title. Gupta advanced to down Justin Toye, and draw Eli Trajceski in one of the winners’ side semifinals. Allison LaFleur, in the meantime, squared off against Marc Lamberti in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Gupta got into the hot seat match with a 6-4 win over Trajceski, as LaFleur was busy downing Lamberti 5-2 in the other one. Gupta claimed the hot seat 7-4 over LaFleur and waited on what would be his first Tri-State event final, against Zaveri.
With two notches on his loss-side belt, Zaveri defeated Toye 6-4 and Tony Ignomirello 6-2 to draw Trajceski. Lamberti picked up Michelle Broton, who’d gotten by Shweta Zaveri and C.J. Chey, both 5-2, to reach him.
Zaveri eliminated Trajceski 6-2, while Broton was handing Lamberti a shutout. Broton then came within a game of forcing Zaveri to face double hill in the quarterfinal match that followed. Zaveri, though, pulled out ahead to win it 7-5. Allison LaFleur did the same in the semifinals, but so did Zaveri, pulling out ahead near the end to win it 6-4.
Gupta and Zaveri shot a second double hill match to claim the event title. It duplicated their earlier effort (6-5), and Gupta concluded his first ‘official’ win on the Tri-State Tour.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Clifton Billiards, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, Pool & Billiards, Professor Q Ball, Bender Cues, and DIGICUE OB. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for Sunday, April 29, will be hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
