Mika Immonen has added one more title to his unbelievable 2009 record with a dominating 11-6 win over Filipino favorite Lee Van Corteza in the finals of the 2009 World 10-Ball Championship.
In a match that featured arguably the two best players of the week, Immonen started out slow, with Corteza taking a quick 2-0 lead. Immonen calmly came right back and tied the match at 2-2.
The players traded racks for 3-3, but back to back critical errors by Corteza in racks seven and eight were all the momentum that Immonen needed as he ran those racks for a 5-3 lead and then broke and ran the next rack for a 6-3 lead.
Corteza took advantage of a rare Immonen miss in rack ten and forged a shaky table run to cut the deficit to two at 6-4 and then scored his own break and run to get back within one rack at 6-5.
Corteza made a great break in rack twelve, but saw his cue ball hide behind a row of balls with no path to the 1-ball. Corteza opted to push to a jump shot and that would prove to be a very poor decision. Immonen not only jumped the obstructing balls, but he also made the 1-ball and left himself an easy 2-10 combination for the 7-5 lead.
Immonen got a nice roll in rack thirteen when he missed the 1-ball and left Corteza hooked, but he got an even nicer roll when Corteza tried to masse to the 1-ball and fouled. Immonen quickly cleared that rack for an 8-5 lead.
Corteza would get back to the table for a table run after Immonen scratched on the break in rack fourteen, but Corteza then returned the favor and scratched on the break in rack fifteen to lead to an Immonen table run and a 9-6 lead.
That scratch on the break by Corteza would prove to be his last trip to the table as he would be forced to sit and watch Immonen put together back to back break and runs for an 11-6 win and the title of World 10-Ball Champion
Immonen pocketed $60,000 and put an exclamation mark on his already dominating year. If there was any question in anyone's mind who the top player in the game is today, Immonen has definitely answered it.
