Thursday brought us another host of excellent matches at the 39th Simonis/Aramith U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships at the Marriott Hotel in Chesapeake, Virginia. With a field this strong we have many big names storming through the one-loss bracket. All of these are perform or go home matches and experience under pressure is proving its value here.
World number one Niels Feijen was behind in most of his match with Jin Hu Dang but came back from a two-game deficit to win the match 11-9. Johnny Archer had to face young sharpshooter Skyler Woodward but his composure and confidence won the day as he overcame the up and comer 11-5. Feijen next faces Jonathan Pinegar and he better be ready as Pinegar eliminated Johnny Archer (11-6) in his final match of the night. Upcoming Hall of Famer Jose Parica had his exit ticket punched today in a double-hiller with Le Quang Trun of Viet Nam and Imran Majid gave Oscar Dominguez a pass to the stands 11-7.
Justin Bergman doesn't ever seem to consider the possibility that he could miss. He plays with a solid and sure pace and just had his way today with a tough Danny Mastermaker. Mastermaker just could not stay up with the firepower of Bergman. Begman then went on to take out Brad Shearer (11-3). He ran a four pack against Shearer and that is the most racks anyone has been able to manage consecutively this week as the new racking rule of the 9 on the spot has really put a halt to long runs. The games are more about strategy this year and Bergman's main strategy is to smother opponents with firepower until they cannot lift their heads.
Chris Bruner had a match today he can put in the proud section of his memory banks. He showed no apprehension at all in his match against Russian great Konstantin Stepanov. He played what the table offered and ducked effectively when that was the proper option. The match was close but Bruner never showed any nerves as he took the bout 11-9.
Alex Pagulayan is the first to admit that his record against Ralf Souquet is less than stellar. But he must have forgotten about that in their match today. Pagulayan looked truly solid as he ended the run of Souquet 11-7. In the next round, however, Pagulayan ran into prospective Mosconi Cupper Justin Hall and Hall played well beyond his years as he dismembered Pagulayan 11-4. Whatever magic dust coach Mark Wilson is using on his charges seems to be working very well this week. Wilson has to pick five of the eight prospects to make the team and they are not making his choice easy.
Jeremy Sossei had a real hill to climb. He was matched up against Max Eberle and Max had already beaten the aforementioned World number one Niels Feijen earlier in the week. Eberle is in total control of the mental side of the game now and when you couple that with his considerable table skills you have a guy you just don't really want to play. But Sossei gets better every time we see him and he stayed calmly within himself throughout the match and took it down 11-9. The new table habits Sossei has picked up of late are certainly working for him. After the Eberle match he went on to take down Albin Ouschan (11-8) and Friday must face his fellow Mosconi Cup prospect Justin Hall. It will be curious to find which of these players will be afraid of making the first big mistake and which will put all that away and play aggressive 9-Ball.
On the winner's side Ernesto Dominguez just keeps setting them up and knocking them down. He beat Ralf Souquet earlier in the week 11-7 and today never gave Chris Futrell a chance as he rolled over him 11-5. His next opponent is Francisco Bustamante. Bustamante manhandled a clearly not on his game Thorsten Hohmann. Both men had a lot of trouble with the break shot and we witnessed six scratches on the break shot during the match as Bustamante managed Hohmann 11-5.
Former Mosconi Cup member Nikos Ekonomopoulos is threatening the field this week. He has already tromped Dennis Grabe 11-3 and Mario He 11-4 and today he showed his endurance as he never tired in his 11-10 win over another former Mosconi Cup member, Corey Deuel.
Nick Van Den Berg is here on a mission and he is getting there. Every match he has had has been against a champion and he just continued to prevail until Warren Kiamco put him over to the left side 11-9. Prior to that he had won over Stevie Moore (11-6), Matt Haines (11-5), and Mika Immonen (11-2).
Late evening matches of interest included a match between Shane Van Boening and Do Huang Quan where the pool gods showed their undying love for Van Boening. Quan had him in the vise twice and let him out. Quong was running out when he led the match 10-8 but dogged an easy 5 ball and then dogged another golden opportunity in the hill match to ran the victory to Van Boening 11-10.
Karl Boyes is a study in contrasts. Off the table he is gregarious and a lot of fun to be around. He has one of those personalities that easily charms and wins friends and he can be the life of the party. But when he gets on a pool table he flips the switch and focuses internally and does a fine job of living inside the rails. He showed off his true power Thursday night as he crushed none other than Darren Appleton 11-1. With that kind of performance on his record he will bring out the cautious side of his opponents and that advantage alone is worth a couple of racks.
There are now only eight undefeated players and they are going to provide us with a marvelous show today as Shane Van Boening must face Karl Boyes, Mike Dechaine takes on Dennis Orcollo, Nikos Ekonomopoulos challenges Warren Kiamco and Ernesto Dominguez does battle with Francisco Bustamante. Watch the best of the action on Accu-Stats and follow all of the action here on AZB.
WOW Matches All Day at Simonis/Aramith U.S. Open
October 17, 2014