Hill-Hill is the Way of the U.S. Open

Hill-Hill is the Way of the U.S. OpenBy InsidePOOL StaffWith 16 matches in the winners’ bracket ending on Thursday evening, 5 of them climaxed with hill-hill victories. Most notable of these was the featured match-up between past U.S. Open champions Corey Deuel and Efren “Bata” Reyes.Though Deuel took the first match after winning the lag, Reyes quickly took a 6-2 lead after several missed opportunities by his opponent. The Filipino master got to 8-4 when he badly missed the 6 ball in the following rack, allowing Deuel to stage his comeback. Reyes only notched another rack before the score was 9-8 in his favor. A foul by Deuel put Reyes on the hill, but he missed a small cut on the 2 ball, and Deuel cleared the table to close the gap to 10-9. When “The Prince of Pool” scratched on the break in the next rack, it looked as if it were a done deal, but Reyes misjudged the 4 ball, and Deuel was able to run the rest of the balls to make it a hill-hill match. He came up dry on the break and watched as Reyes ran out to the 6 ball, hooking himself behind the 9. Reyes kicked at it but left Deuel a makeable shot, which he made to run out the rest of the balls for an 11-10 victory.
The preceding featured match between Johnny “The Scorpion” Archer and last year’s runner-up, Jose Parica. Archer, the 2003 Player of the Year, was clearly off his game. Shooting pocket speed, Parica capitalized on every mistake his opponent made to get a 9-4 lead. He came up empty on the next break, and Archer cleared, but that was the last rack he claimed. He scratched on the break, and Parica ran the table to take the hill. Though he made nothing on his next break, Archer scratched after a Parica safety, and the “leader of the Filipino invasion” ran out to win 11-5.Buddy Hall and Shannon Daulton had a great hill-hill match. Hall retained the lead at the outset, but Daulton was able to stage a comeback. At 10-10, Daulton broke and was looking good until he corner-hooked himself for the 3 ball. Flustered, he studied the table and opted for a two-rail kick, but he fouled. With ball in hand, Hall cleared the table for the victory.Other hill-hill winners’ bracket triumphed were past champ Ralf Souquet over Rodolfo Luat, Tyler Edey over fellow countryman Luc Salvas, and BCA Open champion Tony Robles over John Macias. Dave Bollman advanced with his 11-7 win over Keith Bennett; former world champion Thorsten “The Hitman” Hohmann won 11-6 over Jason Cruz; Niels Feijen was the victor 11-6 over Chris Loar; Merek Derek won his match 11-9 over Donnie Mills; Ronnie “Everything’s Funny When You’re Winning Big Money” Wiseman won 11-6 over Young Hwa Jeong; Finland’s Mika Immonen defeated Nashville’s Bobby Pickle 11-1; “Rocket” Rodney Morris won 11-5 over Troy Frank; Gabe Owen bested Danny Kolacz 11-5; Nicholas Guimond sent Italian champ Fabio Petroni to the one-loss side 11-8; and Francisco Bustamante won over Frankie Hernandez 11-9.Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

Pool Balls and Billiard Balls at LOW PRICES!!!

About the Author:
Inside Pool Magazine publishes billiard news. Definitive Synergy creates pool and billiard management software.