The 2003 BCA Open 9-Ball Championships are complete and we have a new champion and a returning champion. Ralf Souquet is the new Men's champion and Karen Corr has defended her title as Women's champion.
Souquet beat Francisco Bustamante in a classic 9-ball match. Souquet won the lag and took the early lead at 1-0 on his break in the alternating break format. Bustamante evened the match at 1-1 with table run on his break. The players split games 3 and 4, both winning on the other players break. Souquet took the lead again at 3-2 with a break and run, and won the next game when Bustamante knocked the cue-ball off the table and rolled the 9-ball in front of the pocket on this break.
Souquet won the seventh game with a great cut on the 2-ball, but loss game eight when he missed a bank on the 3-ball. A couple lucky breaks gave game nine to Bustamante to allow him to pull back within a game at 5-4. Game 10 started as a safety battle until a tough roll on a safety left Souquet the chance to get out and he did not fail to capitalize as he got to the hill first at 6-4.
Bustamante won games 11 and 12 when Souquet missed shots in each game, but it was Bustamante that missed a ball in the final game and Souquet that cleaned up and won the game for the victory.
While the Men's match was a close affair, the Women's match, between Corr and Allison Fisher, was the exact opposite. Tournament Director Steve Tipton had to measure the balls on the opening lag, but that was the last time anything was close in the match.
Fisher missed a very makeable 5-ball in game one and came to the table again in game three trailing 2-0. A safety attempt in game three left a shot for Corr and Fisher came to the table next in game 5 trailing 4-0.
Fisher pushed out after the break in game 5, but left a shot for Corr and Corr quickly ran out that rack for the 5-0 lead. Fisher had a shot in game 6 but missed a 1-6 combo and Corr ran out for the 6-0 lead.
The seventh game was messy with both players missing balls before Fisher ran the last four balls to score her first game. The eighth game was like earlier games in the match, as Fisher played safe on the 1-ball, but left a shot. Corr proceeded to run the rack for her first WPBA tour victory of the new year.
Both players collected $15,000 for their victories.
Complete brackets for both divisions are online.
