The US Open Billiards Tournament Reaches the Final Day

The US Open Billiards Tournament Reaches the Final Dayby Rick DavisAfter the three o’clock round an unlikely group of billiard players remained on the winners’ side. Robb Saez smoked Troy Frank 11-4, while Rodolfo Luat sent Charles Bryant west after their 11-9 match. Gabe Owen stayed strong, defeating Ronnie Alcano 11-6, and Dave Broxson bested C.J. Wiley 11-5. On the one-loss side Antonio Gabica eliminated Corey Deuel 11-6, as John "Mr. 400" Schmidt did the same to Hall of Famer Earl Strickland 11-5. The other two matches were near shut-outs as Darren Appleton spanked Brian Parks 11-2, while Mika Immonen did nearly as well, eliminating Lee Van Cortezza 11-3. Discuss the U.S. Open 9-Ball ChampionshipU.S. Open 9-Ball Championships image galleryU.S. Open 9-Ball Championships Tournament BracketsGetting to the wire, each of the three evening rounds featured elimination matches until the final four were determined. In the seven o’clock round Gabica ousted Wiley 11-6, with Schmidt doing the same to Alcano 11-8 just after 90 minutes of play. The other matches in the round saw Immonen defeat Bryant 11-7, while in the TV table Appleton coasted past Troy Frank 11-6 just past the two-hour mark.
Shortly after comments by the tournament directors the nine o’clock got into full swing with another set of four matches. The first to finish, after nearly two hours, was Schmidt with a decisive win over Gabica 11-4. Schmidt said, “I got every roll! I make the nine on the first game, break and run the second, make the nine in the third, break and run the fourth and fifth game … so I run five. I got ahead nine to one, made some really good outs, then dogged it and he caught up nine-four. As everyone knows, he is a great player, so I was really happy to get by. I think he might have been the best player left in the tournament, so it was a big one.” The TV table was the next to finish, with a standing room-only crowd around the room’s big screens—the bleachers were full to capacity. Saez, who was behind most of the match, managed to claw back to only being down 8-10. An unfortunate scratch on the break looked like the end for Saez until a great safety battle won him the rack and led him to double-hill. Consecutive safeties by Saez forced Luat to kick and massé to stay alive, leaving Saez a shot that he rattled into and out of the pocket, although a good roll forced yet another safety battle until Laut managed to shot a ball and run the rack for the 11-10 win. The other two matches grinded to double-hill until three hours of play announced Appleton over Immonen and Owen over Broxson.Running behind schedule, the last round began after midnight and featured Schmidt versus Saez and Appleton versus Broxson. Schmidt got off to an early lead and grew it quickly until a stall, allowing Saez to come back. In the end the deficit was too much as Schmidt took a final rack to win 11-5. The evening's final match was a slow-motion one as the match was tied at 5-all after 90 minutes. Eventually seeing David Broxson overcoming Darrin Appleton, 11-5. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

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