(Duluth, GA) October 1, 2010: After two days of play at the Atlanta Classic, most of the usual suspects have made their way to the final 16 with several on the one loss side still fighting for a spot in the redraw. Allison Fisher is in great form at this event. After back to back finals appearances in two world ranking events in Asia, Fisher has secured her spot in the final 16. Jasmin Ouschan also cruised her way to the redraw with 3 back to back wins and sent Julie Kelly to the b-side in her final match on Friday.
The final match on the live stream table was a hill-hill thriller. Line Kjorsvik had an 8-6 lead with an open table and looked to be comfortably out of what could be her last rack. Kjorsvik rattled the 5-ball and opened up the opportunity for Xiaoting Pan to bring herself back into the match. At hill-hill, Line broke clean and was forced to attack a combination on the 1-ball. After successfully pocketing the combination shot, the 1-ball tied up and Kjorsvik unsuccessfully executed a safety shot, once again leaving Pan an opportunity to run out. Pan pulled off an aggressive shot on the 1-ball to eventually win the match. Kjorsvik will face the winner of Dawn Hopkins and Kim Jones on Saturday morning.
Kyoko Sone continues her incredible play from the U.S. Open, where she defeated Allison to advance to the televised rounds. Friday night, Sone came out ahead in a hill-hill battle with Kelly Fisher and is thru to the final 16. Others thru to the final 16 who are awaiting the draw from the one-loss side to determine their opponents: Ga Young Kim, Kim Shaw, Karen Corr and Allison Fisher
On the one-loss side, there were several close matches. Brittany Bryant, who recently grabbed a top 16 finish in the 9-Ball World Championships, struggled a bit in this tournament. After suffering a first round loss to Belinda Calhoun, Bryant won her first match on the one loss side and looked to be in control of the last rack in a hill-hill battle with RTC qualifier Emily Duddy when a misstep on the 8-ball cost her the game and left Duddy with a routine run-out. Duddy will face Liz Cole on Saturday morning.
Lone Star Billiard Tour Director, Kim White, eliminated Tracie Majors and will face Ewa Laurence for a chance to go to the final 16 draw. Melissa Little, after a disappointing first round match, has come back strong with continuous wins. Little eliminated Janet Atwell Friday night and will face Kelly Fisher Saturday morning on the one-loss side.
Other exciting Saturday morning matches will include Jennifer Barretta, who is coming off a 9-0 win, vs. Gerda Hofstatter, Tamara Rademakers vs. Val Finnie and Kim Jones vs. Dawn Hopkins.
Semifinals and Finals coverage of the 2010 Atlanta Classic will air Sunday, Nov. 14, 1-4pm EST on ESPN2. For continuing live coverage of the Atlanta Classic tune into the web stream on wpba.com provided by PoolDawg.
WPBA extends many thanks to its sponsors: American Poolplayers Association, Cuetec Cues, Simonis Cloth, Delta-13 Rack, Diamond Billiards, SalucSA/Aramith, Pooldawg, and Mueller Recreational Products.
