OK, weird thread title, I know, but I only attended the single elimination stage of the US Open at Mandalay Bay, so I can only comment on what I saw.
Got to Mandalay Bay on Tuesday night, but too late to catch any matches. The final sixteen were set, and the random draw was set to occur. As it turned out, the guys whom I reckoned were the four favorites drew each other.
Shaw drew Filler and SVB drew Wu. This made the Round of 16 more important than it would have been otherwise. I went to bed and made sure I showed up on time for the 9:00 AM match between Filler and Shaw.
Wednesday’s Play
Shaw came out swinging, playing beautifully for the first three racks and gained a 3-0 lead. It looked like a really good match for a while, but Shaw went wrong a seven ball and, with super-human play, Filler grabbed all the momentum, and crushed Jayson, 11-4.
Sanchez-Ruiz then played great pool to whitewash Ko Ping Chung. Imran Majid played really well and had control of the match with Jeff DeLuna but two missed two balls in the last few racks ultimately cost him a spot in the quarterfinals, with DeLuna moving on. I was pleasantly surprised to see Alex Pagulayan had reached single elimination, but it was clear that he was in less than top form. He was fortunate to top an impressive Aloysius Yapp and move on, and my feeling was that Alex was not a contender for the title with the form he’d shown.
Liu Haitao showed solid form in dismissing Hsu Kai Lun. YL Chang played well and Jeff Ignacio never found his game in a blowout,
Thursday’s Play
Wang Can topped Hsu Jui An in a very sloppy affair in which both struggled, but Hsu had just a terrible match. Then came what was, arguably, the most intriguing matchup of the Round of 16 --- SVB vs Wu. Everyone in the place knew what Wu was capable of, SVB included, but the early part of the match went Shane’s way and he built up a 7-4 lead. Wu then took over and dominated the rest of the match. Shane had a bad miss on a nine ball late that may have cost him his chance, but Wu was the better man and advanced impressively to the quarterfinals.
Next came the first quarterfinal. Filler barely broke a sweat in topping Sanchez Ruiz, whose form was well below what he’d shown on Wednesday. Jeff DeLuna then dominated Pagulayan, and I’d say the match was even more lopsided than the 11-5 score suggested, with DeLuna moving on. Liu Haitao and YL Chang carved a masterpiece together. Liu dominated the early stages and built up a big lead. Despite the fact that Liu made few errors from that point on, YL Chang fought all the way back to within 10-9. Liu appeared to be running out for the win in Rack 20 when he got cushion hooked and was unable to make even a good hit, so the electrifying match reached double hill. YL Chang made no mistake about Rack 21 and advanced to the Semifinals. You had to feel a little bad for Liu Haitao, who played a really solid match. Finally, Wu carved Wang Can into little pieces. I only stayed and watched up to 6-0, and then opted for bed, but I read that the result was 11-0.
Friday’s Play
Filler and DeLuna were up in the first semifinal. DeLuna fluked three racks during the first half of the match to gain a lead I felt he hadn’t earned. Twice, when Filler left him long and straight on a two ball with nearly no chance to get to the three, DeLuna missed, fluked the two into a different pocket than that intended and, only because he missed so badly, found a fluky angle and got perfect on the three. DeLuna also fluked a nine ball off a two rail kick in another rack. DeLuna then started to play good pool and he found his way to an 8-7 lead, and the World 9-ball Champion was clearly in the danger zone, but this is where Filler dug down deep and captured the last four racks to get out of harm’s way.
Next came the semifinal between YL Chang and Wu. Chang came out firing on all cylinders to gain a 3-1 advantage, but Wu then found his highest gear and whitewashed Chang by 11-5, to set up a dream final of Filler vs Wu, to my knowledge the two youngest ever World 9-ball Champions.
The final was played almost perfectly up to Rack 8, after which Filler led 5-3. The level dropped, though, and the match started to look like a coin toss. Filler began to run away and got to the hill with a 12-8 lead, but when Wu got the first good look in Rack 21, more than a few of us recalled how he’d run the last five to win his World Championship at age 16. Could he do it again, we wondered? He ran two racks for 12-10 and then broke wet. He faced a difficult one ball with a jacked-up cue. This would surely be the most important shot of the tournament, but he fouled as he set up for it and never even got to play it! With ball in hand, Filler ran out to win the title. To my knowledge, the only other player to ever hold the World 9-ball Championship and US Open title at the same time was Darren Appleton in, I think, 2012.
This concluded three great days of single elimination. Every match was win or go home, which doubled the drama.
The US Open Socially
It’s always good to catch up with the pool gang at the US Open, and this year was no exception. I caught up briefly with each of Josh Filler, Jayson Shaw, Darren Appleton, Karl Boyes, Jimmy Wych, Hunter Lombardo, Ivan Lee, Bob Jewett, Jay Helfert, Emily Duddy, AZB’s own Cornerman and numerous other friends and acquaintances, too many of them to name.
Assessing Matchroom’s Efforts
Somebody else will have to weigh in on Stage 1 and how well it was handled, but we need to start with the fact that Matchroom landed a field of the highest possible quality and, in my opinion, it was the strongest field assembled in the United States in the nine ball era. The stars of Asia, so many of whom almost never compete in America, showed up in a big way and, oh boy, can those guys play. The Asians landed six of the eight spots in quarterfinals.
The arena was set up very well, almost a given for a Matchroom production. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house.
The Matchroom staff worked well as a team, and they all presented themselves with the highest level of professionalism. Emily Frazer is a congenial, can-do event organizer who mingled with the crowd and made everyone feel comfortable. She made sure Brady and Shannon, Barry Behrman’ children were treated like visiting royalty and there was even a request for a sustained round of applause for Barry Behrman that was tasteful and well received.
Did Matchroom get anything wrong? Not much, really, but those who, like me, purchased a VIP pass, which costs about double relative to the other seats, might have a beef with the handling of the food and the VIP lounge. Told that they’d be allowed in to the VIP lounge at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, entry wasn’t permitted until almost 8:40, a discouraging beginning. After getting up so early, I was already in a lousy mood by the time I got in.
The bigger issue was the lack of food. I attended the 2017 Mosconi at Mandalay Bay and a proper breakfast was served by Matchroom in the VIP lounge. This year, there were canapes, but for the most part, there was no breakfast, just coffee. Similarly, I had a VIP pass at the 2018 Mosconi in London and the food served in the VIP lounge was ample.
The scarcity of food in the VIP lounge coupled with the fact that in the very small playing arena, VIP seats were only barely better than the rest of the seats, force me to conclude that the VIPs didn’t get much at all for the extra money they spent.
Still, my overall impression of the event itself, to the extent to which I watched it, was that Matchroom did a fantastic job.
Thanks to Matchroom for a grand old time. Let’s do it again soon.
Got to Mandalay Bay on Tuesday night, but too late to catch any matches. The final sixteen were set, and the random draw was set to occur. As it turned out, the guys whom I reckoned were the four favorites drew each other.
Shaw drew Filler and SVB drew Wu. This made the Round of 16 more important than it would have been otherwise. I went to bed and made sure I showed up on time for the 9:00 AM match between Filler and Shaw.
Wednesday’s Play
Shaw came out swinging, playing beautifully for the first three racks and gained a 3-0 lead. It looked like a really good match for a while, but Shaw went wrong a seven ball and, with super-human play, Filler grabbed all the momentum, and crushed Jayson, 11-4.
Sanchez-Ruiz then played great pool to whitewash Ko Ping Chung. Imran Majid played really well and had control of the match with Jeff DeLuna but two missed two balls in the last few racks ultimately cost him a spot in the quarterfinals, with DeLuna moving on. I was pleasantly surprised to see Alex Pagulayan had reached single elimination, but it was clear that he was in less than top form. He was fortunate to top an impressive Aloysius Yapp and move on, and my feeling was that Alex was not a contender for the title with the form he’d shown.
Liu Haitao showed solid form in dismissing Hsu Kai Lun. YL Chang played well and Jeff Ignacio never found his game in a blowout,
Thursday’s Play
Wang Can topped Hsu Jui An in a very sloppy affair in which both struggled, but Hsu had just a terrible match. Then came what was, arguably, the most intriguing matchup of the Round of 16 --- SVB vs Wu. Everyone in the place knew what Wu was capable of, SVB included, but the early part of the match went Shane’s way and he built up a 7-4 lead. Wu then took over and dominated the rest of the match. Shane had a bad miss on a nine ball late that may have cost him his chance, but Wu was the better man and advanced impressively to the quarterfinals.
Next came the first quarterfinal. Filler barely broke a sweat in topping Sanchez Ruiz, whose form was well below what he’d shown on Wednesday. Jeff DeLuna then dominated Pagulayan, and I’d say the match was even more lopsided than the 11-5 score suggested, with DeLuna moving on. Liu Haitao and YL Chang carved a masterpiece together. Liu dominated the early stages and built up a big lead. Despite the fact that Liu made few errors from that point on, YL Chang fought all the way back to within 10-9. Liu appeared to be running out for the win in Rack 20 when he got cushion hooked and was unable to make even a good hit, so the electrifying match reached double hill. YL Chang made no mistake about Rack 21 and advanced to the Semifinals. You had to feel a little bad for Liu Haitao, who played a really solid match. Finally, Wu carved Wang Can into little pieces. I only stayed and watched up to 6-0, and then opted for bed, but I read that the result was 11-0.
Friday’s Play
Filler and DeLuna were up in the first semifinal. DeLuna fluked three racks during the first half of the match to gain a lead I felt he hadn’t earned. Twice, when Filler left him long and straight on a two ball with nearly no chance to get to the three, DeLuna missed, fluked the two into a different pocket than that intended and, only because he missed so badly, found a fluky angle and got perfect on the three. DeLuna also fluked a nine ball off a two rail kick in another rack. DeLuna then started to play good pool and he found his way to an 8-7 lead, and the World 9-ball Champion was clearly in the danger zone, but this is where Filler dug down deep and captured the last four racks to get out of harm’s way.
Next came the semifinal between YL Chang and Wu. Chang came out firing on all cylinders to gain a 3-1 advantage, but Wu then found his highest gear and whitewashed Chang by 11-5, to set up a dream final of Filler vs Wu, to my knowledge the two youngest ever World 9-ball Champions.
The final was played almost perfectly up to Rack 8, after which Filler led 5-3. The level dropped, though, and the match started to look like a coin toss. Filler began to run away and got to the hill with a 12-8 lead, but when Wu got the first good look in Rack 21, more than a few of us recalled how he’d run the last five to win his World Championship at age 16. Could he do it again, we wondered? He ran two racks for 12-10 and then broke wet. He faced a difficult one ball with a jacked-up cue. This would surely be the most important shot of the tournament, but he fouled as he set up for it and never even got to play it! With ball in hand, Filler ran out to win the title. To my knowledge, the only other player to ever hold the World 9-ball Championship and US Open title at the same time was Darren Appleton in, I think, 2012.
This concluded three great days of single elimination. Every match was win or go home, which doubled the drama.
The US Open Socially
It’s always good to catch up with the pool gang at the US Open, and this year was no exception. I caught up briefly with each of Josh Filler, Jayson Shaw, Darren Appleton, Karl Boyes, Jimmy Wych, Hunter Lombardo, Ivan Lee, Bob Jewett, Jay Helfert, Emily Duddy, AZB’s own Cornerman and numerous other friends and acquaintances, too many of them to name.
Assessing Matchroom’s Efforts
Somebody else will have to weigh in on Stage 1 and how well it was handled, but we need to start with the fact that Matchroom landed a field of the highest possible quality and, in my opinion, it was the strongest field assembled in the United States in the nine ball era. The stars of Asia, so many of whom almost never compete in America, showed up in a big way and, oh boy, can those guys play. The Asians landed six of the eight spots in quarterfinals.
The arena was set up very well, almost a given for a Matchroom production. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house.
The Matchroom staff worked well as a team, and they all presented themselves with the highest level of professionalism. Emily Frazer is a congenial, can-do event organizer who mingled with the crowd and made everyone feel comfortable. She made sure Brady and Shannon, Barry Behrman’ children were treated like visiting royalty and there was even a request for a sustained round of applause for Barry Behrman that was tasteful and well received.
Did Matchroom get anything wrong? Not much, really, but those who, like me, purchased a VIP pass, which costs about double relative to the other seats, might have a beef with the handling of the food and the VIP lounge. Told that they’d be allowed in to the VIP lounge at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, entry wasn’t permitted until almost 8:40, a discouraging beginning. After getting up so early, I was already in a lousy mood by the time I got in.
The bigger issue was the lack of food. I attended the 2017 Mosconi at Mandalay Bay and a proper breakfast was served by Matchroom in the VIP lounge. This year, there were canapes, but for the most part, there was no breakfast, just coffee. Similarly, I had a VIP pass at the 2018 Mosconi in London and the food served in the VIP lounge was ample.
The scarcity of food in the VIP lounge coupled with the fact that in the very small playing arena, VIP seats were only barely better than the rest of the seats, force me to conclude that the VIPs didn’t get much at all for the extra money they spent.
Still, my overall impression of the event itself, to the extent to which I watched it, was that Matchroom did a fantastic job.
Thanks to Matchroom for a grand old time. Let’s do it again soon.
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