Kristina Tkach
Having already secured 2024 as her best (recorded) earnings year since she first showed up in our database 10 years ago, Kristina Tkach went undefeated to claim the WPBA’s $15,000-added Iron City Invitational in Birmingham, AL this past weekend (July 24-28). It was her 16th (again, recorded) victory since logging her first eight years ago when she won the Ladies division of the Dynamic Billiard North Cyprus Open. In the finals this past weekend, Tkach faced the same opponent in the Iron City event that she’d met and defeated in that first victory, Margarita Fefilova. Tkach entered and exited the event this past weekend as #3 in the WPBA rankings, behind Kelly Fisher and Tzu-Chien Wei. Fefilova entered and exited in the #4 position.
The event began with a field of 48 competing in a double-elimination bracket that advanced 16 competitors (eight from each side of the bracket) to a second double-elimination bracket that eventually crowned the champion. The 16, Stage 1 competitors joined 32 seeded competitors in Stage 2 that eventually yielded the event’s champion.
From the start, if Tkach and Fefilova were going to meet at all on the winners’ side of the bracket in this event, it was going to be in the hot seat. After an opening round bye, Tkach’s first three opponents started gaining on her, from Dawn Oldag, who chalked up three against her, to Teruko Cuccelelli who got four and finally, in a battle versus best friend, April Larson, got as close as five. Tkach finished it to draw Allison Fisher in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Fefilova, also with an opening round bye, opened with an 8-1 victory over Judie Wilson and downed Monica Webb 8-2, before Janet Atwell put up an almost double-hill fight against her in the winners’ side quarterfinal. Fefilova prevailed 8-6 to draw Kristina Zlateva in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Fefilova got into the hot seat match with an 8-3 win over Zlateva, as Tkach was busy sending Fisher to the loss side 8-1. As it turned out, Fefilova would chalk up six racks against Tkach, twice. In the first, they battled back and forth to a 6-6 tie before Tkach took command and claimed the hot seat 8-6.
On the loss side, where competitors would end up engaging in 10 double-hill battles (as compared to only four on the winners’ side), Zlateva picked up April Larson, who’d followed her loss to Tkach with two straight, almost-double-hill wins over Caroline Pao and Loreejon Brown, both 8-6. Fisher drew Kaylee McIntosh, who’d followed her winners’ side quarterfinal loss to Zlateva with wins over Veronique Menard 8-6 and a double-hill victory over Brittany Bryant.
Larson eliminated Zlateva 8-4 and advanced to the quarterfinals. She was joined by Fisher, who’d defeated McIntosh 8-3. Fisher downed Larson 8-4 in those quarterfinals and then, after battling to a 5-5 tie in the semifinals, she watched Fefilova chalk up three in a row to win 8-5 and advance for a second shot against Tkach, waiting for her in the hot seat.
Tkach came out gunning in the finals and took off to establish a four-rack lead, a lead with which she would finish the match as well. At 4-0, Fefilova got on the board to reduce the lead to three, but for the next eight games, Tkach pushed back, to re-establish her four-rack lead. At 8-4, Fefilova closed the gap, once again, to three and then reduced it to two in Rack 14 (8-6). Tkach won rack 15 to reach the hill and then with a connect-the-dots final rack, claimed the event title 10-6.
WPBA representatives thanked the ownership and staff at Iron City Billiards for their hospitality, along with sponsors Diamond Billiards Products, Iwan Simonis, Aramith Balls, Kamui, How Cue Tips and BFCC (Big Family Custom Creations). The next event on the WPBA calendar, scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 22-25, will be the $20,000-added Palmetto Billiards Invitational, hosted by the Palmetto Billiards Academy in Charleston, SC.
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