(l to r): Mac Jankov & Abel Rosario
Both of the finalists on the Tri-State Tour’s Sunday, February 17 stop came into 2019, having chalked up their best recorded earnings year in 2018. Mac Jankov, who went undefeated at the event, recorded his first victory on the tour, albeit with a “finals didn’t happen” asterisk. Abel Rosario, who won two stops on the Predator Pro Am tour and one on the Tri-State Tour last year, recorded his first cash finish (runner-up) of the Tri-State’s 2018/2019 season, which began last July (his victory on the Tri-State Tour last year came in March, during the 2017-2018 season). The $1,000-added event drew 49 entrants to Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Jankov’s path to the finish line went through Juan Melendez, Mike Strassberg, KC Clayton and Jason Goberdhan, before coming up to a winners’ side semifinal matchup against Suzzie Wong, the tour’s #4-ranked female competitor and #6-ranked ‘C’ player, overall. Abel Rosario, in the meantime, had worked his way through the field to a winners side semifinal against Paul Spaanstra.
Spaanstra sent Rosario on a three-match trip to the loss side 6-2. Jankov joined him in the hot seat match after a 5-3 victory over Wong. Jankov claimed the hot seat 8-3 over Spaanstra.
On the loss side, Rosario picked up Nathaniel Raimondo, who’d shut out Jimmy Acosta and defeated Matt Klein 6-3 to reach him. Wong drew Harry Singh, who’d picked up a forfeit win over Goberdhan and won a double hill fight against Stewart Warnock, Sr.
Rosario downed Raimondo 6-2, as Singh eliminated Wong 5-2. Rosario took the quarterfinal match that followed 6-3 over Singh and then shut out Spaanstra 6-0 in the semifinals. The decision to opt out of the final was reached, leaving the undefeated Jankov as the event’s official winner.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Cue Bar, 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, February 24, will be a C-D 9-Ball event, hosted by Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
