Jayson Shaw only had to win three matches to claim the Predator Open/Pro title at stake during the tour's September 6-7 stop at The Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY. Chris Derewonski, working the Amateur side of things, had to win twice that (and then some) to claim the amateur title. The $1,000-added ($500 each) events drew 53 entrants - eight to the Open/Pro, and 45 to the amateur event.
A victory in the opening match put Shaw into a winners' side semifinal against tour director Tony Robles. Jeremy Sossei faced Frankie Hernandez in the other. Shaw and Sossei moved into the hot seat match after identical 8-3 wins over Robles and Hernandez. Shaw took the winners' side final 8-6 and waited on what turned out to be the return of Hernandez.
On the loss side, battling for 7th/8th, Nigel Francis and Jerry Tarantola defeated Eugene Ok and Jonathan Russell, both 8-1. Francis and Tarantola were then eliminated by Robles and Hernandez by the same 8-2 score. Hernandez then shut out Robles in the quarterfinals and got a second shot at Sossei in the (1st money round) semifinals. They battled to double hill before Hernandez prevailed for a chance against Shaw. Shaw completed his short, undefeated run with an 8-3 victory in the finals.
In the Amateur event, eventual winner, Chris Derewonski made it to the winners' side final four, before being sent to the losers' bracket 7-5 by Alex Osipov. By the same score, Kyle Bubet defeated Ron Mason in the other winners' side semifinal. Another 7-5 win put Bubet in the hot seat, and sent Osipov to the semifinals.
On the loss side, Derewonski began his trip back against Brooke Meyer, who'd defeated Brian Russell 7-1 and Junior Sanchez 7-4 to reach him. Mason drew Paolo Valverde, who'd gotten by Tony Ignomirello 7-4 and Roy Lim 7-5.
Derewonski advanced to the quarterfinals 7-5 over Meyer, and met up with Valverde, who'd survived a double hill battle against Mason. Derewonski went on to defeat Valverde in the quarterfinals (10-7), and Osipov in the semifinals (8-6). He claimed his second Predator Tour title of the year by defeating Bubet 11-6 in the finals.
