2008 US OPEN 9-Ball FINALS- Iceman vs The Volcano

Rack 12

Mika breaks dry.
Alcano must kick at the 1 ball. He's getting no luck. He's pushing out. Mika accepts and leaves a bank for Alcano.
Alcano goes for the bank on the 1 ball and misses leaving a 1-7 combo.
Mika is running another open table. Alcano loses another safety battle and it is costing him racks.

Immonen 10-2
 
Rack 13

Mika Immonen breaks the wing ball but has no clear shot on the 1 ball. He kicks and gets a piece of it. Alcano plays safe leaving Mika behind the 9 ball. Mika grabs the jump cue.
Mika tries to make it and misses but gets another roll. Alcano only has the edge to hit it. Good hit.
Mika must kick at the 1 ball. Very nice safety by Mika. Alcano is having trouble getting an open shot to runout. Wonderful shot on the 1 ball but no shot on the 2 ball. Must play a safety. Alcano leaves an edge of the 2.
Mika gets too aggressive with a long rail bank, trying too hard to get to 13. Mika leaves an open table for Alcano finally.
Alcano runs out.

Immonen 10-3
 
Thanks

Thanks TXpoolnut. Off to the airport to pick up a friend. He'll understand my lateness.:smile:
 
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Rack 14

Ronnie Alcano switches his break to the other side of the table and comes up dry. Mika has a shot on the 1. He misses the long rail bank.
Alcano makes the 1 but has to play a safety on the 2. Good job hiding the cue ball.
Mika kicks and misses the 2. Ball in hand to Alcano.
Alcano has such a clean, crisp stroke. He has to play a safety on the 6 ball and does very well. Mika must kick with the bridge at the green ball.
Mika does well hooking Ronnie.
Alcano goes to the jump cue and gets a good hit. Cue ball is hanging in the jaws of a side pocket.
Mika plays another safety hiding the green behind the brown. Alcano tries a safety and succeeds. Mikas turn to kick and double kisses the ball selling out the open table.
Alcano finally is able to clear the last four.

Immonen 10-4
 
Rack 15

Alcano breaks hard and makes 2 balls. Wide open table should be a piece of cake for the Volcano. Perfect break and run.

Immonen 10-5
 
Rack 16

Alcano breaks and makes a ball. He hits em very hard and has an easy 1 ball. If he falls on the 3, he should be out. This makes 4 in a row for Ronnie. Immonen hasn't been to the table in a while now. Iceman is getting cold.

Immonen 10-6
 
9baller said:
that is kinda unfair to alcano for the finals to be one race instead of two.

I used to think the same thing but if Ronnie were on the one loss side, he would have to beat Mika only one set.
There has been discussion about this in the past and when the tournament director or promoter makes the finals one race, they just make it a slightly longer race (than the race in the matches prior to the finals) to give both of the players a chance to overcome the rolls that are a serious factor in short races.

If Ronnie had the good fortune of having an easy draw with his matches and Mika had the worst luck in drawing the toughest players in the tournament and lost one match because he had twice as many tough players to play against, would that be fair? That happens quite often in tournaments, not saying it was this case, this time as I don't have time to look at the matches each have played.
JoeyA
 
Rack 17

Alcano breaks hard and dry.
Mika kicks and misses. Alcano runs out the table with ball in hand and is looking very strong.

Immonen 10-7
 
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