Seeds Begin to Wash Away

Seeds Begin to Wash Awayby Rick DavisWith the evening billiard rounds underway, disaster was in store for many of the top seeded billiards players. Defending champion Alex Pagulayan was bested 11-8 by Canada's Tyler Edey, while Jerry Slivka knocked Jeremy Jones west with an 11-9 finish. The seven o’clock round saw "Machine Gun" Luc Salvas and Allen Hopkins each get defeated 11-5 by Shane Van Boening and Darren Appleton, respectively. Dave Bollman hung in a little longer before Frankie Hernandez whizzed past 11-8. The big match was Nick Varner and Jeff Beckley, whose seesaw match went overtime and then some, running nearly two and a half hours. Finally at double-hill Beckley played an incredible safety that Varner was able to shoot out of, although getting that far out of line made it too hard to run out, and Beckley bested him.Discuss the U.S. Open 9-Ball ChampionshipU.S. Open 9-Ball Championships image galleryU.S. Open 9-Ball Championships Tournament Brackets
So far eight of the seeded players have taken a loss from their first or second round of play, but others have had no trouble at all. Earl Strickland served up the day’s first shutout, and then Corey Deuel handed out the second, while Jose Parica and Charlie Williams only lost a single rack, thrashing their opponents 11-1. At nine o’clock in the center TV table, seeded Evgeny Stalev faced Scott "The Freezer" Frost, and before long Frost was up to a 3-0 lead. Stalev put together a few runs, then with scratches and misses from both players, it was tied at 5-all. Frost was in control for many racks, but he missed several 8 balls and let the cue ball roll practically freeze to the 9 twice, which was too much to overcome before Stalev took the match 11-6. Frost said, “I missed an easy eight ball … straight in, he got ahead and I missed another easy eight. I missed four in the match. The table was quick—it was hard to hold the cue ball. I didn’t play bad, but I missed some key shots. Neither of us played good—we both missed balls.”The majority of the round is still fighting it out, with the 11 o’clock players filtering in and ready for action. Things are expected to clear up for the night after 1 a.m., where a brief rest will lead to the first full day of elimination matches on the one-loss side while those on the winners’ side try to hold on.Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

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