A sign of the times? A coincidence? Take your pick.
On the weekend of April 22-23, Amy Yu chalked up an undefeated victory, her first, on the Predator Tour. What made her victory noteworthy (beyond its first-ever significance for her, personally) was that she became the second woman in a week to go undefeated, downing male tour veterans twice (hot seat and finals) to win a stop on the New York Tri-State area's two predominant tours; the Tri-State and Predator Tours. On Saturday, April 15, Kristina "Reaper" Grim defeated Tri-State and Predator Tour veteran Raul Calderon twice to claim a victory. Yu downed Tri-State and Predator Tour veteran Lidio Ramirez on the most recent, $1,000-added Predator stop, which drew 79 entrants to Steinway Billiards in Astoria (Queens), NY.
Yu got into her first hot seat match, after she'd defeated another male Predator Tour veteran, Shawn Sookhai 8-4. Ramirez, in the meantime, downed Cristobal Tiru 7-4 to face Yu, who subsequently claimed the hot seat 10-5.
On the loss side, Sookhai drew Max Watanabe, who'd eliminated Willy Santiago 8-4, and JPNEWT veteran, Jia Li 7-3. Tiru picked up Abel Rosario, who'd defeated Matthias Gutzmann and Thomas Schreiber, both 7-4. Watanabe and Tiru advanced to the quarterfinals following identical 7-2 victories over Sookhai and Rosario.
Tiru eliminated Watanabe 7-5 in those quarterfinals, before being eliminated by Ramirez in the semifinals 8-5. Yu completed her undefeated run through the field of 79 with a second, commanding 10-4 victory over Ramirez in the finals.
The next stop on the Predator Tour, a $1,000-added, double points event, scheduled for May 6-7, will be hosted by The Spot in Nanuet, NY.
