Days after the Pacquiao/ Hatton fight the pool world had our own battle of countries, America vs. England. Would Darren be able to vindicate the British after Hatton's 2nd round TKO or would Hatch defeat Britain's wonder boy? What better way to start off the 2 weeks of some of the greatest pool tournaments of the year, than to have two of the best players in the world play a challenge match of 10 ball at Pool Sharks in Las Vegas.
Darren Appleton and Dennis Hatch squared off for day one of their race to 100 for $40,000 winner take all challenge match on Monday May 4th, days before the start of the World Pool Masters, Predator 10 ball and the BCA nationals. These two came ready to show why they are such great competitors and there was no shortage of fans to root on Hatch and Appleton.
The match is being played in “the pit” at Pool Sharks so spectators can comfortably watch the battle as it progresses. For the fans that are not able to make it to Vegas for this event, The Action Report has been live web streaming on their website (theactionreport.com). Day 1 consisted of a race to 35. Day 2 will end when one player reaches 70 games and the last day will finish up the race to 100.
At 5 pm Monday the coin was tossed and Hatch won. Early on Appleton took control of the match by taking a 7-3 lead and maintained the lead for the first half of play, however Hatch got in gear, took the reigns and won 10 games in a row to dominate the set. Appleton's breaks did not seem to be working for him on day one. There were a few games where Darren either scratched on the break or did not make a ball and with players at this level that can cost dearly. Hatch was able to capitalize on Darren coming up short on his breaks and thus prevailed for the day with a 35-26 win. Darren claimed that he didn't feel like he played his best but assured fans that he will play better on day 2.
Fans looking to watch this entertaining matchup online, can do so at www.theactionreport.com
