U.S. Open Down to Final 8 in Winners' Bracket

U.S. Open Down to Final 8 in Winners' Bracket By InsidePOOL StaffAfter a long day and night full of action-packed matches, the 28th annual U.S. Open has wound down to its final eight players remaining in the winners' bracket. The Open began on Monday, September 15, and resumed play today after a one-day hiatus because of Hurricane Isabel.The featured match for the 8 p.m. round was between Earl "The Pearl" Strickland and Fabio Petroni of Rome, Italy. The two players were neck and neck the entire match all the way to 9-all. Petroni was on his way to a clean run-out when he got a hair too close to the 8 ball. He studied it for a bit and then played a very thin cut shot down the rail and then made the 9, reaching the hill. After almost making the 9 ball on his next break, he had an excellent run out to win the match 11-9.
Scott "The Freezer" Frost met George SanSouci in the 8 p.m. round, which was another close match. With Frost on the hill, SanSouci missed a 6 ball in the corner pocket on the way to clearing the table. Frost made the 6 and got shape on the 7, and SanSouci conceded the match, which Frost won 11-8.Results from the 8 p.m. winners' bracket matches are as follows:Niels Feijen d. Corey Deuel 11-9Keith McCready d. John Newton 11-4Alex Pagulayan d. Jose Garcia 11-10Danny Hewitt d. Johnny Archer 11-10Ralf Souquet d. Amar Kang 11-6Joey Korsiak d. Karl Sloezen 11-4Rodney Morris d. Eric Moore 11-4Scott Frost d. George SanSouci 11-8Francisco Bustamante d. Santos Sambajon 11-8Efren Reyes d. Donny Mills 11-4John Horsfall d. Jarrod Clowery 11-5Fabio Petroni d. Earl Strickland 11-10Luc Salvas d. Nick Varner 11-7Jeremy Jones d. John Schmidt 11-8In the midnight round, the featured match was between Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante on the television table. These two masters enthralled the crowd with their excellent play, rarely allowing more than a one-game lead. Again, the match was close the entire time, with few mistakes on either part. It came down to an unsuccessful combo attempt by Bustamante that led to Reyes taking over the table to make the score hill-hill, and then Reyes broke and ran the following rack to win the match 11-10.On a neighboring table, "Earthquake" Keith McCready and last year's runner-up in the Open, Alex Pagulayan, kept the crowd entertained with their match. In this match as well, the score was almost never more than one game apart, and both players were giving the match their utmost. When McCready was on the hill with Pagulayan at 8, he addressed the 9 ball and said, "You guys can go ahead and post this on the Internet, because this is a done deal!" but then missed the 9 ball. Pagulayan, unable to believe his good fortune, won that match and the next to make it a hill-hill match. However, he bobbled the 2 ball in the last rack, and with the help of a super safety on the 7 ball, McCready tucked that match under his belt with an 11-10 win.Another emotional moment in the tournament came when Danny "Kid Delicious" Basavich took Earl Strickland to the hill in the one-loss side of the brackets. The two played a hard-fought battle, with Strickland fresh off his loss to Petroni in the winners' bracket featured match. Tied hill-hill, Strickland played a safe on the 1 ball but Basavich kicked it in with aplomb. After a tough shot on the 4 ball, it was all Basavich as he ran out for the 11-10 win with a victory scream.The results from the 10 p.m. and midnight matches are as follows:Vickery d. Durbin 11-8Gregory d. Pike 11-3Eberle d. Gabriel Pinegar d. Kirschner 11-3Deuel d. ValleMcMinn d. RichesonNevel d. Newton 11-9Basavich d. Strickland 11-10Chohan d. Clowery 11-9Varner d. Grossman Schmidt d. GalatiLuat d. PetralbaBinion d. Zeiner 11-7Hernandez d. Henson 11-7Frank d. Wilkie 11-4McCready d. Pagulayan 11-10Parica d. Hewitt 11-9Morris d. Frost 11-7Reyes d. Bustamante 11-10Jones d. Salvas 11-6Davis d. Gregory 11-3SanSouci d. Binion 11-7Matches in the one-loss side will resume Saturday morning at 11 a.m. and in the winners' bracket at 3 p.m. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest in the sport of billiards and pool.

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