The Heat is on in ‘Hot-Lanta’

The Heat is on in "Hot-Lanta"By Bill Rosenberger Surprises and upsets have been the theme of the 2004 Atlanta Open. The big names like Tony Robles and Johnny Archer are staying alive through the left bracket, while others have had to forfeit their matches. Corey Deuel was sent to the left side after his first-round match with Jim Jennings 11-4. Friday, he was late to his match, ending his weekend play. Max Eberle has forfeited both of his matches, but at the present time insidepoolmag.com has not learned why. Archer, who had a bye in the first round, forfeited his second match against Cliff Joyner but won his west side match on Friday to keep his bid for a repeat alive. On the other side, Joyner’s non-play win against Archer left him energized to oust Joey Landi 11-8. Joyner will next face Mike Davis, who recently was runner-up at the World Summit of Pool. Davis has breezed through his matches so far, sending both Martin Remlinger and Thorsten Hohmann to the left side by a combined score of 22-5.
Young-hwa Jeong, who is coming off his recent Florida Pro Tour victory, will face Jeremy Jones Saturday after both players pulled off decisive victories in their first two matches. Mika Immonen and Danny Medina will also play on Saturday. Medina outlasted Nick Mannino in a hill-hill match on Thursday, then took out World Summit of Pool champion Santos Sambajon Jr. in another bout that also went to the hill. Medina also won a convincing victory over Puerto Rican player Alan Rolon 11-8 on Friday. Immonen, too, has played extremely well in both of his matches. He enjoyed a first-round bye on Thursday, then sent Jennings and Dan Lavoie to the left side. Also facing off in a winners’ bracket match will be Charlie “The Korean Dragon” Williams and Ralf Souquet. Souquet, who rested during his first-round bye, ousted Jeff Abernathy 11-9 and then won 11-7 over Danny "Kid Delicious" Basavich. In Saturday’s one-loss side matches, Italy's Fabio Petroni awaits the winner of the match between Raj Hundal and Neil Fujiwara, while Charlie Bryant will face the winner of the Abernathy-T.F. Whittington match. John Schmidt and Sambajon will play, with the winner facing Landi, and Luc Salvas and Tony Rodriguez will play, with the winner going on to meet Hohmann. Robb Saez and Tony Robles will face one another in what should be a tough match, with the winner challenging Basavich in an even tougher bout. Chris Lynch will meet the winner of the Wade Crane-Rodney Morris match, while “Hurricane” Ronnie Wiseman will play Gabe Owen. The winner there will then match up against Lavoie. Finally, on Saturday, Johnny Archer will face Bill Ferguson, with the winner playing Rolon. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news from the 2004 Atlanta Open.

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