"Striking Viking" Ewa Mataya Laurance Takes Down Defending Champ
MT. PLEASANT, MI - It's been a brisk Saturday at the WPBA Masters at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mt. Pleasant, MI, with continued play on both sides of the double elimination chart. On the winner's side, #1 ranked Ga Young Kim narrowly defeated Ewa Laurance 9-8, then took another 9-8 squeaker win over Helena Thornfeldt, who'd sent national junior champion Brittany Bryant to the one loss side, 9-6. That put Ga Young Kim as the first undefeated player into Sunday's televised semi-final.
Defending champion Jasmin Ouschan of Austria defeated Great Britain's Kelly Fisher 9-8, but then lost a tough 9-7 battle to BCA Hall of Famer and #2 ranked Allison Fisher, 9-7. Allison, after defeating Jeanette Lee 9-6 and her win over Ouschan, is the other undefeated player to reach Sunday's televised semi-final round.
Meanwhile, further elimination rounds continued in the one-loss bracket.
Defeated players in the following matches finish 17-24:
Liz Ford d. Emilyn Callado 9-3
Karen Corr d. Susan Williams 9-6
Line Kjorsvik d. Joanne Ashton 9-7
Dawn Hopkins d. Teruko Cucculelli 9-8
Monica Webb d. Tamara Peeters 9-4
Jennifer Barretta d. Jennifer Chen 9-6
Eleanor Callado d. Jessica Barnes 9-6
Gerda Hofstatter d. Nicole Keeney 9-1
Defeated players in the following matches finish 13-16:
Liz Ford d. Karen Corr 9-7
Dawn Hopkins d. Line Kjorsvik 9-7
Monica Webb d. Jennifer Barretta 9-7
Eleanor Callado d. Gerda Hofstatter 9-4
Defeated players in the following matches finish 9-12:
Kelly Fisher d. Liz Ford 9-0
Jeanette Lee d. Dawn Hopkins 9-2
Ewa Laurance d. Monica Webb 9-3
Eleanor Callado d. Brittany Bryant 9-6
Kelly Fisher then handed Jeanette Lee a 9-4 loss, leaving Lee tied for 7th with Eleanor Callado, who was defeated by Ewa Laurance, 9-3.
In the final two crowd-pleasing matches of the evening, Ewa Laurance (pictured) faced off against defending champ Jasmin Ouschan, while Kelly Fisher took on Helena Thornfeldt.
Fisher and Thornfeldt were the first to complete their match; with the score knotted 5-5, Fisher pulled away for a 9-5 victory and an appearance in Sunday's semis. Thornfeldt settled for fifth place.
In the Laurance v. Ouschan match, Ouschan took first blood to lead 2-2, then Laurance fought back to a 5-2 lead. Unfortunately a missed six by Laurance put Jasmin back at the table for a run-out, followed by a nine on the break and another break and run to tie it up 5-5. From there the score knotted again at 6-6 before Ewa pulled ahead and took down the defending champ 9-6!
To view the tournament chart and ongoing results, visit www.wpba.com and click on "2012 Soaring Eagle Tournament Board." One-loss side matches begin at 11:00 a.m. Friday. The sixteen undefeated players compete at 3 and 6 p.m.
The tournament will conclude on Sunday, January 29 beginning at 1 p.m., when the final four players remaining will compete for the title of 2012 WPBA Masters Champion. Tickets are available via startickets.com. The three final-round one-hour matches will be taped by ESPN for broadcast on Sunday, March 18, from 1:30 - 4:30 pm EST.
Alongside the WPBA Masters is the Soaring Eagle Open III, featuring amateur singles 8-Ball and 9-Ball tournaments in men and women's divisions, with $10,000 in added prize money. This event also begins Thursday, January 26 and continues through Sunday, January 29, 2012. Visit www.soaringeagleopen.com for more information.
