US Open Recap, Day 2
Today started with the second half of the first round, and it had legends and juniors and current stars right out of the gate. Here is a run down of the days action.
Sam “Ryno” Henderson, just 16 years old, who incidentally turns 17 in a couple days (if my info is correct) started off with Fedor Gorst. I think nerves go the better of him, and if you combine that with Fedor’s brilliant standard of play the youngster was not able to show all his skills. Fedor prevailed 9-1. I was impressed with Sam’s technical approach to the game and his patience, but today wasn’t his day. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does win this even some day. He is still in in too at the end of the day, winning his next too matches Tuesday to play Lo Ho Sum tomorrow.
Doung Quoc Hoang vs. Joey Tate, fantastic US junior, who if you remember almost took out SVB in this same event last year, Joey Tate, started his US Open run against The Martian, Duong Quoc Hoang from Vietnam. Joey pushed Duong till the end in this match but missed a 7 ball to tie it up and force a decider. Hoang took it 9-7
We had a LEGENDS matchup, as both Ralf Souquet and Earl Strickland won their openers and faced off in the second round. While Ralf opened a big 6-1 lead, Earl didn’t fold, and came back to tie up hill / hill. Earl has said repeatedly that he can’t break as good as the younger guys and that is what let him down in the last rack, breaking dry and then Ralf calmly ran out that rack for the win and the right to face Wu Kun Lin in round 3. It was fun to watch a couple of legends face off one more time.
Nick De Leon sent Bader Alawahdi to the B side and will play Fedor Gorst on Wednesday. That is a big win for Nick, and I hope this is a turning point in his results.
Albin Ouschan is through to the third round where he will face Bill Ussery JR. BJ is just a few thousand behind the top 5 in Mosconi ranking for the US and a strong showing here could really help his cause.
Sky Woodward and Alex Pagulayan both made it to round 3 and will play tomorrow.
An injured Billy Thorpe has also advanced to round 3 where he will play another fan favorite in Naoyuki Oi.
Jeremy Sossei defeated veteran Hunter Lombardo 9-4 and as a reward he will get to play Jayson Shaw in the next round.
Lee Van Corteza, Mario He, Wiktor Zielinski, Pijus Labutis and Chang Jung-Lin also move to round 3.
John Morra will not though, he will have to fight through the B side as Do The Kien from Vietnam won that match 9-4 .
And rounding out todays matches on the A side, Niels Feijen faces Darren Appleton tomorrow while Chris Melling gets to battle it out with Oliver Szolnoki.
Still fighting on the B side are Michael Yednak from Brooklyn, a familiar name on draw sheets out east. Daniel Maciol, who has won a Matchroom Sanctioned event, the 6th Stella Artois Open on Feb 14 this year, is still in it battling on the one loss side. Tommy Tokoph, Daniel Guttenberger, Gerson Martinez, Jesus Atencio, and Roberto Gomez. Canadian Kenneth Donald knocked out Shane Wolford, an early exit for him may cost him his Mosconi Cup spot. He is currently third with $17850, but Billy Thorpe at $13750 and Tyler Styer at $13500 are very close behind and still in this event and last 16 finishes would put them both ahead of Shane. That is a few tough matches ahead though, so we will wait and see.
Demetrius Jelatis of Minnesota Boot Camp and the Cue It Up Network is still fighting.
Very surprising to see Anton Raga out of the US Open so early as Manuel Montejo Fernandez sent him home 8-6. Marc Bijsterbosch will face Manuel next.
Lukas Fracasso-Verner still in the battle, as is Hunter Lombardo as he defeated Scott Frost 8-6 to keep mvoving.
Duong Quoc Hoang, Sharik Sayed, Canadian Dean Mcnaughton, Besar Spahiu, Mika Immonen, Bader Alawadhi, Vitaliy Patsura, Ko Ping Chung, Canadian Vincet Beaurivage, Earl Strickland, and Emil Andre Gangflot round out the notables left on the B side.
Wednesday is CUT OFF day. Tomorrow, A side winners will advance that will give us our top 32, and then the B side will play out to fill the last 32 spots. Thursday will begin the single elimination portion of the event. The pressure mounts each and every day, everyone will have to dig down and pull up their best games if they want to have a chance at continuing on.
Copy and past the following link to check out the bracket for yourself.
https://nineball.prpbilliards.com/bracket
It’s a great time to be a fan of pool!!