At last, I'm home from the US Open. Here's how it went.
Sunday, October 9
I arrived at Harrah’s and had a chance to chat briefly with each of these US Open entrants: Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, Tony Robles, Jayson Shaw, Elliot Sanderson, Alex Kazakis, Mika Immonen, and a few others. I went to bed early.
Monday October 10, Day 1
Stage 1, a double elimination qualifier to bring the field down to 64, began. There was a scarcity of good matches in Round 1.
Many of the elite didn’t even play, including Yapp, Gomez, Zielinski, JL Chang, Feijen, Styer, Immonen and SVB. Contrastingly, other elite players got to play twice and most of them won both times. Major upsets were few, but the ones I recall are Mhet Vergara over Pijus Labutis and Jesus Atencio over Alex Kazakis. For many of the elite, the day was just a warmup, but Filler and Gorst were both tested. Against Gorst, Aleksa Pecelj trailed 8-7 and needed to win a safety battle in Rack 16 to reach double hill but wasn’t up to it. Against Filler, Sharik Sayed was four balls from taking an 8-5 lead when he missed the six. The momentum changed and Filler escaped.
Tuesday October 11, Day 2
Stage 1 continued. The best matches I saw were 1) Tate vs SVB, in which Joey Tate played the balls out of order at 7-7 with a certain runout in front of him and it decided the match and 2) Donny Mills vs Niels Feijen, in which Mills led 5-1, but Feijen caught fire at the end to win. JL Chang was starting to look more and more like the JL Chang of old, but I needed to see more.
Unexpected casualties included Dmitri Jungo, John Pinegar, Donny Mills, and Jeff DeLuna, all of them eliminated.
Wednesday October 12, Day 3
Some top players were eliminated, including Immonen and Deuel, who shockingly scratched after pocketing the double hill nine ball. The best match of the day that I saw was Pagulayan vs Souquet in the winner qualification round. Ralf trailed 8-6 but played well to get to double hill. The case rack came down to a safety battle, in which Ralf earned a good look at a bank shot that I’d say was 70% to make. He missed it and Alex ran out for victory. I sweated it with Filler and Hohmann, and it wasn’t lost on me that I'd sweated a match between two world champions WITH two world champions.
Another dandy was Mario He vs Roland Garcia. Garcia led 8-4, but Mario rallied for double hill. In the double hill rack, Mario hung the four ball, but played the shot two ways and Roland had to kick. He kicked it in but couldn’t see the five, and sold out on the subsequent kick, so Mario prevailed. Dominguez had a nice win over Pehlivanovic.
Those failing to reach Stage 2 included Appleton, Fortunski, and Thorpe. Kristina Tkach and Amber Chen came within a match of reaching the last 64 and were the highest woman finishers. Americans reaching Stage 2 were SVB, Shane Wolford, Oscar Dominguez, Tyler Styer, Chris Reinhold, Skyler Woodward and Greg Hogue.
Thursday October 13, Day 4
Stage 2 single elimination began. Casualties in the Round of 64 included Pagulayan, Shaw, Ouschan, Gorst, Yapp, Souquet, Zielinski and SVB. The rack played by Kazakis at double hill against Shane was a thing of beauty as Alex kicked in the two and completed a very tricky run out for the win. In the Round of 32, Ko Pin Yi, Feijen, Oi and Pehlivanovic were eliminated.
Not one American player reached the last 16, although Greg Hogue and Oscar Dominguez tied for 17th. Outside of SVB and Woodward, who are locks, Tyler and Oscar would seem to be the only ones to have made a strong case for a Team USA spot at the Mosconi Cup this year.
Filler and Sanchez-Ruiz were tested by the superb play of Tyler Styer and Wu Kun Lin respectively, but they found enough to dismiss these impressive opponents. Biado played well and his dreams of a repeat remained alive. Austria, impressively, landed two players in the last sixteen in Mario He and Max Lechner.
Friday October 14, Day 5
In the round of 16, Kaci was way too much for Filler in a convincing 10-1 victory and Melling demolished Corteza 10-2. Lechner had a relatively easy go of it against Garcia, too. Sanchez-Ruiz eliminated JL Chang and Hsieh topped Mario He. Jani Uski’s magical run was ended by Ko Ping Chung. Finally, Biado topped Juszczyszyn and Kazakis beat Bijsterbosch in a close one.
Two of the quarterfinals were one-sided, as Lechner and Biado advanced at the expense of Melling and Hsieh. The other two were good. At 8-8, Kazakis had a chance to get to the hill against Sanchez-Ruiz but misplayed shape onto the three. When he couldn’t recover, Sanchez-Ruiz won. In the last quarterfinal, Ko Ping Chung always seemed to be in control, but Kaci kept fighting and put himself in position to win. A missed two ball at 8-8 erased his chance and Ko ran out the match from there.
The semis were set - Francisco Sanchez Ruiz vs Carlo Biado and Max Lechner vs Ko Ping Chung.
Saturday October 15, Day 6
In the first semi, when Sanchez-Ruiz built a 7-2 lead, it looked like a stinker, but Biado rallied for double hill. It came down to safety play and Biado had a good look at a lockup safety on the four, but he misplayed it and it cost him both the safety battle and the match. In the second semi, Ko Ping Chung charged ahead to a 5-0 lead. Lechner had a bad miss on a two ball at 5-2 behind, and soon trailed 8-2. It looked over, but Lechner found his game and rallied all the way to 10-10. A couple of good rolls helped, but he turned his game up a notch. Like the first semi, it came down to safety play on the four ball. Lechner left Ko a long jump at the four, and Ko jumped it in. It was among the finest shots played in the event, but the cue ball scratched and Lechner prevailed.
Tin Man and I sweated the final together, and it featured solid play from both, but Lechner’s scratch on the break at 11-10 behind proved fatal, as Sanchez-Ruiz ran a masterful rack in which he had to break a cluster to create a chance on the six. He closed it out for a 13-10 victory and won the title.
The Hotel
I like a lot about Harrah’s Atlantic City. The restaurants are good, the food court decent and my room was nice. The problem was that most of the restaurants were closed except on the weekend. I couldn’t get a full breakfast on my first four days! There’s not much to do at Harrah’s during the weekdays unless you’re a drinker or a gambler. I do go into the casino, but never for very long, so that doesn’t fill my time.
The Equipment and Officiating
I thought the Diamond tables were superb and the pocket size was perfect for a US Open. The eye test said that balls up the rails with speed generally didn’t go in, and that’s as it should be when a major title is up for grabs. The officiating was consistently outstanding.
The Break Rule
A few handled the new break well, especially Lechner, Sanchez-Ruiz and Kaci, but many struggled with it. I feel that the players were starting to do better with this break, but it did slow the game down, and when it is used in a match without a shot clock, as was the case for four of the six days of this event, it leads to scheduling issues.
Mosconi Implications
Going in, there seemed just four players deserving of consideration for Team USA, SVB, Woodward, Dominguez and Styer. Dominguez and Styer validated their worthiness with strong play. Styer, in particular, was most impressive in beating Gorst and then testing Filler, as he did at the World Games. Tyler is playing great pool. It’s hard to imagine who the fifth member of Team USA will be.
The Fan Experience
The fan experience was mostly superb. The arena was beautiful and offered many good places from which you could view several matches at once. I’d say the lack of a shot clock on the first four days was a big negative and the matches dragged on for hours and the schedule wasn’t maintained at all. I can’t recall ever seeing this problem before at a Matchroom event.
How Did Matchroom Do?
The arena was much nicer than a year ago and navigating it easier. Two negatives remained: a) as a year ago, the room was too cold, and b) in-match scores were on an IPAD which was placed between the two player chairs, and it couldn’t easily be seen from many vantage points. The Cue-score website stayed up to date, and table assignments were displayed with greater promptness than a year ago. Finally, there were eight practice tables inside the tournament room, which was great.
In January, when Matchroom announced this tour, they stressed their commitment to having the best possible fields. The field in this event was among the strongest ever. Of the world’s Top 20 based on Fargo Rate, only Orcullo was absent. Matchroom is delivering the best events in pool by far.
I loved the 16 player Stage 2, but it was scrapped for the 64 player Stage 2. I'd suggest this backfired when many of the most elite players were eliminated early, including Shaw, Ouschan, Yapp, SVB, Pagulayan, Gorst, Zielinski. Ko Pin Yi, Feijen, and Oi. That said, the format was fair and produced a solid final four.
In general, the production was first rate and all at Matchroom should take a deep bow for a job well done. Matchroom continues to tweak its pro pool offering for the better, and while they don't get everything right, they tend to get nearly everything right.
The US Open Socially
I caught numerous meals with friends and had many chats with friends and fans, and it was nice to catch up with many pro players and with Emily Frazer and some other members of the Matchroom team. I popped in for about an hour to Matchroom's party after the finals, but after greeting and chatting with many, I was on my way.
So that's about the size of it. It was a wonderful event and I can still be counted as Matchroom's greatest advocate on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Sunday, October 9
I arrived at Harrah’s and had a chance to chat briefly with each of these US Open entrants: Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, Tony Robles, Jayson Shaw, Elliot Sanderson, Alex Kazakis, Mika Immonen, and a few others. I went to bed early.
Monday October 10, Day 1
Stage 1, a double elimination qualifier to bring the field down to 64, began. There was a scarcity of good matches in Round 1.
Many of the elite didn’t even play, including Yapp, Gomez, Zielinski, JL Chang, Feijen, Styer, Immonen and SVB. Contrastingly, other elite players got to play twice and most of them won both times. Major upsets were few, but the ones I recall are Mhet Vergara over Pijus Labutis and Jesus Atencio over Alex Kazakis. For many of the elite, the day was just a warmup, but Filler and Gorst were both tested. Against Gorst, Aleksa Pecelj trailed 8-7 and needed to win a safety battle in Rack 16 to reach double hill but wasn’t up to it. Against Filler, Sharik Sayed was four balls from taking an 8-5 lead when he missed the six. The momentum changed and Filler escaped.
Tuesday October 11, Day 2
Stage 1 continued. The best matches I saw were 1) Tate vs SVB, in which Joey Tate played the balls out of order at 7-7 with a certain runout in front of him and it decided the match and 2) Donny Mills vs Niels Feijen, in which Mills led 5-1, but Feijen caught fire at the end to win. JL Chang was starting to look more and more like the JL Chang of old, but I needed to see more.
Unexpected casualties included Dmitri Jungo, John Pinegar, Donny Mills, and Jeff DeLuna, all of them eliminated.
Wednesday October 12, Day 3
Some top players were eliminated, including Immonen and Deuel, who shockingly scratched after pocketing the double hill nine ball. The best match of the day that I saw was Pagulayan vs Souquet in the winner qualification round. Ralf trailed 8-6 but played well to get to double hill. The case rack came down to a safety battle, in which Ralf earned a good look at a bank shot that I’d say was 70% to make. He missed it and Alex ran out for victory. I sweated it with Filler and Hohmann, and it wasn’t lost on me that I'd sweated a match between two world champions WITH two world champions.
Another dandy was Mario He vs Roland Garcia. Garcia led 8-4, but Mario rallied for double hill. In the double hill rack, Mario hung the four ball, but played the shot two ways and Roland had to kick. He kicked it in but couldn’t see the five, and sold out on the subsequent kick, so Mario prevailed. Dominguez had a nice win over Pehlivanovic.
Those failing to reach Stage 2 included Appleton, Fortunski, and Thorpe. Kristina Tkach and Amber Chen came within a match of reaching the last 64 and were the highest woman finishers. Americans reaching Stage 2 were SVB, Shane Wolford, Oscar Dominguez, Tyler Styer, Chris Reinhold, Skyler Woodward and Greg Hogue.
Thursday October 13, Day 4
Stage 2 single elimination began. Casualties in the Round of 64 included Pagulayan, Shaw, Ouschan, Gorst, Yapp, Souquet, Zielinski and SVB. The rack played by Kazakis at double hill against Shane was a thing of beauty as Alex kicked in the two and completed a very tricky run out for the win. In the Round of 32, Ko Pin Yi, Feijen, Oi and Pehlivanovic were eliminated.
Not one American player reached the last 16, although Greg Hogue and Oscar Dominguez tied for 17th. Outside of SVB and Woodward, who are locks, Tyler and Oscar would seem to be the only ones to have made a strong case for a Team USA spot at the Mosconi Cup this year.
Filler and Sanchez-Ruiz were tested by the superb play of Tyler Styer and Wu Kun Lin respectively, but they found enough to dismiss these impressive opponents. Biado played well and his dreams of a repeat remained alive. Austria, impressively, landed two players in the last sixteen in Mario He and Max Lechner.
Friday October 14, Day 5
In the round of 16, Kaci was way too much for Filler in a convincing 10-1 victory and Melling demolished Corteza 10-2. Lechner had a relatively easy go of it against Garcia, too. Sanchez-Ruiz eliminated JL Chang and Hsieh topped Mario He. Jani Uski’s magical run was ended by Ko Ping Chung. Finally, Biado topped Juszczyszyn and Kazakis beat Bijsterbosch in a close one.
Two of the quarterfinals were one-sided, as Lechner and Biado advanced at the expense of Melling and Hsieh. The other two were good. At 8-8, Kazakis had a chance to get to the hill against Sanchez-Ruiz but misplayed shape onto the three. When he couldn’t recover, Sanchez-Ruiz won. In the last quarterfinal, Ko Ping Chung always seemed to be in control, but Kaci kept fighting and put himself in position to win. A missed two ball at 8-8 erased his chance and Ko ran out the match from there.
The semis were set - Francisco Sanchez Ruiz vs Carlo Biado and Max Lechner vs Ko Ping Chung.
Saturday October 15, Day 6
In the first semi, when Sanchez-Ruiz built a 7-2 lead, it looked like a stinker, but Biado rallied for double hill. It came down to safety play and Biado had a good look at a lockup safety on the four, but he misplayed it and it cost him both the safety battle and the match. In the second semi, Ko Ping Chung charged ahead to a 5-0 lead. Lechner had a bad miss on a two ball at 5-2 behind, and soon trailed 8-2. It looked over, but Lechner found his game and rallied all the way to 10-10. A couple of good rolls helped, but he turned his game up a notch. Like the first semi, it came down to safety play on the four ball. Lechner left Ko a long jump at the four, and Ko jumped it in. It was among the finest shots played in the event, but the cue ball scratched and Lechner prevailed.
Tin Man and I sweated the final together, and it featured solid play from both, but Lechner’s scratch on the break at 11-10 behind proved fatal, as Sanchez-Ruiz ran a masterful rack in which he had to break a cluster to create a chance on the six. He closed it out for a 13-10 victory and won the title.
The Hotel
I like a lot about Harrah’s Atlantic City. The restaurants are good, the food court decent and my room was nice. The problem was that most of the restaurants were closed except on the weekend. I couldn’t get a full breakfast on my first four days! There’s not much to do at Harrah’s during the weekdays unless you’re a drinker or a gambler. I do go into the casino, but never for very long, so that doesn’t fill my time.
The Equipment and Officiating
I thought the Diamond tables were superb and the pocket size was perfect for a US Open. The eye test said that balls up the rails with speed generally didn’t go in, and that’s as it should be when a major title is up for grabs. The officiating was consistently outstanding.
The Break Rule
A few handled the new break well, especially Lechner, Sanchez-Ruiz and Kaci, but many struggled with it. I feel that the players were starting to do better with this break, but it did slow the game down, and when it is used in a match without a shot clock, as was the case for four of the six days of this event, it leads to scheduling issues.
Mosconi Implications
Going in, there seemed just four players deserving of consideration for Team USA, SVB, Woodward, Dominguez and Styer. Dominguez and Styer validated their worthiness with strong play. Styer, in particular, was most impressive in beating Gorst and then testing Filler, as he did at the World Games. Tyler is playing great pool. It’s hard to imagine who the fifth member of Team USA will be.
The Fan Experience
The fan experience was mostly superb. The arena was beautiful and offered many good places from which you could view several matches at once. I’d say the lack of a shot clock on the first four days was a big negative and the matches dragged on for hours and the schedule wasn’t maintained at all. I can’t recall ever seeing this problem before at a Matchroom event.
How Did Matchroom Do?
The arena was much nicer than a year ago and navigating it easier. Two negatives remained: a) as a year ago, the room was too cold, and b) in-match scores were on an IPAD which was placed between the two player chairs, and it couldn’t easily be seen from many vantage points. The Cue-score website stayed up to date, and table assignments were displayed with greater promptness than a year ago. Finally, there were eight practice tables inside the tournament room, which was great.
In January, when Matchroom announced this tour, they stressed their commitment to having the best possible fields. The field in this event was among the strongest ever. Of the world’s Top 20 based on Fargo Rate, only Orcullo was absent. Matchroom is delivering the best events in pool by far.
I loved the 16 player Stage 2, but it was scrapped for the 64 player Stage 2. I'd suggest this backfired when many of the most elite players were eliminated early, including Shaw, Ouschan, Yapp, SVB, Pagulayan, Gorst, Zielinski. Ko Pin Yi, Feijen, and Oi. That said, the format was fair and produced a solid final four.
In general, the production was first rate and all at Matchroom should take a deep bow for a job well done. Matchroom continues to tweak its pro pool offering for the better, and while they don't get everything right, they tend to get nearly everything right.
The US Open Socially
I caught numerous meals with friends and had many chats with friends and fans, and it was nice to catch up with many pro players and with Emily Frazer and some other members of the Matchroom team. I popped in for about an hour to Matchroom's party after the finals, but after greeting and chatting with many, I was on my way.
So that's about the size of it. It was a wonderful event and I can still be counted as Matchroom's greatest advocate on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
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