Women's 9-Ball in Colorado Down to Final Four

A 64 player field has been whittled down to just four top players preparing for today's ESPN taped semi-final and final action in Ignacio, Colorado. First up will be the formidable Kelly "Kwikfire" Fisher vs. everyone's favorite spider, The Black Widow, Jeanette Lee. Next up will be an all-Asian battle between Korea's Ga Young Kim and China's Xiaoting Pan. And it was nothing but excitement at the Sky Ute Casino to get to this point.

Playing from the one loss side, Jeanette Lee (pictured), having lost a hill-hill match to Xiaoting Pan the evening before, played against Borderline Billiards owner Janet Atwell. Kim "The Lone Star" White matched up against CO favorite Melissa Little, while Megan Smith, having come back from deficits in two matches to earn her chance to reach the Final 16, played perennial top seed Kim Shaw. Finally, new mom Cathy Metzinger matched up against Kelly Fisher. Cathy had strained her back and was playing in pain, but toughed it out, taking the first game of their web stream feature match. Kelly reached the hill first, up 8-4, finishing out the match at 9-4. We wish Cathy a speedy recovery and much joy with her infant son.

Jeanette jumped out to a commanding lead over Janet and finished out the match 9-2. Janet finished tied for 17th. Melissa Little started off strong with a 6-3 lead over Kim White, eventually closing out the match at 9-5. The match between Kim Shaw and Megan Smith stayed close with Kim ahead midway 6-5 until Kim broke it open to reach the hill 8-6. Kim was running out for the match but jawed the 7 ball and Megan pulled to within one game, down 7-8 but couldn't muster up a 3rd come from behind victory and Kim Shaw went on to the Final 16 winning 9-7.

Next was Julie Kelly against New Mexico player, Anna Kostanian; Tracie Hines, having a great season after taking a year off, versus Gerda Hofstatter, who has found herself in contention nearly every tournament this year. Helena Thornfeldt, having lost to Vivian Villarreal in a close match on Friday night, found herself facing WPBA Regional Tour player, Liz Taylor. Liz defeated top ranked Iris Ranola. Finally, the #1 seed for this event, Monica Webb, played against Yu Ram Cha. Yu Ram had been knocked into the 1 loss side in her second round against Japan's Kyoko Sone, while Monica was defeated in her 3rd round winner's bracket match versus Sarah "The Heartbreaker" Rousey.

Yu Ram Cha powered ahead to a initial 4-1 lead over Monica Webb but faltered, allowing Monica to get back to within one game, 4-5. Gerda took a 2 game lead, 4-2 versus Tracie Hines and Liz Taylor jumped out of the gate like gangbusters versus Helena, up 5-0 before Helena could say "9 ball". Finally, Julie Kelly and Anna Kostanian traded games early on, tied at 2 all before stepping it up a notch and taking a 2 game lead, 4-2.

Helena finally posted a game on the board, down 1-6, while Yu Ram regained a 2 game advantage on Monica, 6-4. That was short-lived as Monica fought to tie the match at 6 all and the two players traded the next few games with Yu Ram reaching the hill first up 8-7. Anna continued to play strong, going up 7-4 and Tracie wouldn't go away, tying the match at 7 all! Liz seemed to have a bit of a let-down but still had a 7-4 lead over Helena. In game 13, Helena had Liz hooked on the 4 but Liz kicked one rail beautifully, pocketing the 4 in the corner and played a great safety on the 5. After a short safety battle, Liz came out ahead and reached the hill up 8-4 and in game 13 became embroiled in a safety battle on the 7, with Helena gaining the advantage but missed a tough cut into the side on the 9 and Liz dropped the 9 ball to win 9-4. Once again Anna pulled ahead to reach the hill 8-6 over Julie and closed it out, 9-6.

The match between Gerda and Tracie went hill-hill. Gerda broke and ran out to the 9, missing shape, leaving herself a very thin cut. She nailed the shot but went 2 long rails with the cue ball and scratched as the crowd gasped as the match ended Tracie 9, Gerda 8.

With the Final 16 having been determined and the first four matches got underway. Jeanette Lee faced Sarah Rousey; Vivian and Anna Kostanian paired up on the web stream table; Kim Shaw played Jasmin Ouschan who was starting to feel the effects of an oncoming cold and Karen Corr faced Kelly Fisher.

Jasmin found herself down 1-3 against Kim Shaw but came back for her first lead of the match at 4-3. Kim answered back by winning the next two games, up 5-4 and then two proceeded to trade games. Vivian jumped out to a 4-1 lead but Anna fought back to within one, down 4-5, while Jeanette quickly took a 6-2 lead over Sarah. Sarah just couldn't seem to get anything going. Karen and Kelly's match started off with a 22 minute game where they played safety after safety with Karen emerging the victor. The next game took two seconds as Kelly snapped the 9 in. Karen regained momentum to take a 6-2 lead. In game 10 between Anna & Vivian, Vivian had a thin cut shot on the 5 into the side pocket, hitting it pocket speed but the cue ball just kept going right into the corner pocket and Anna ran out to tie the match at 5 all. Vivian kept the pressure on and finished the match, winning 9-7 as Anna finished tied for 9th.

Although Kelly won a couple of games to get back within two, Karen extended her lead to 3 games up 7-4. Jasmin missed an 8 ball in game 12, allowing Kim to tie the match at 6 all. Anna kept playing safe versus Vivian in game 11, culminating with a sporty safe on the 7 ball, leaving the cue ball behind the 8. But Anna couldn't capitalize and Vivian won the game to go up 6-5. Sarah couldn't find her range and Jeanette moved on to the quarterfinals winning 9-4, leaving Sarah to finish tied for 9th. Jasmin rattled the 6 ball in game 15 but Kim couldn't capitalize on the error, giving Jasmin the run out to reach the hill first. Kim came back the next game and tied it up at hill-hill and taking advantage of an error by Jasmin, won the match to advance to the quarterfinals, 9-8. Meanwhile, Karen reached the hill in her match versus Kelly, up 8-5 but Kelly wasn't ready to leave as she pulled to within two games. Kelly continued to take advantage of her opportunities and pulled out the match, 9-8 over a stunned Karen Corr.

The next round featured Ga Young Kim versus Melissa Little, Tracie Hines against Xiaoting Pan, Kyoko Sone versus Liz Taylor and, in a rematch from the recent Galveston World Classic, Allison Fisher against Yu Ram Cha. Yu Ram had defeated Allison not once, but twice in the finals of the GWC, winning 9-6 and 7-1 to take her first pro title. Allison would want to avenge her loss, but Yu Ram jumped out to a 2-0 lead and played jam up pool, taking advantage of every error that Allison made, reaching the hill up 8-5. Yu Ram broke in game 14 and after pocketing a ball, ran to the 2 ball but missed and Allison knew she had to step it up, running out and winning the subsequent game after Yu Ram missed ball in hand, to pull within one game, 7-8. Yu Ram closed the match out to advance, having defeated Allison Fisher in 3 consecutive matches. Melissa Little fought back from down 3-1 to tie it up at 5-5 against Ga Young but Kim found her overdrive and finished the match 9-5.

Meanwhile, Xiaoting took a comfortable lead of 7-4 against Tracie Hines and game 10 of the match between Liz Taylor and Kyoko Sone went to Liz who tied it up at 5 all. Soon Liz gained a two game lead, up 7-5, continuing on to win 9-7 and move into her first ever quarterfinal match at a WPBA Pro Event! Xiaoting went on to defeat Tracie 9-6 who finished tied for 9th.

The Quarterfinals:
Liz Taylor, the top point's leader at end of year 2008 on the New England Women's Pool Tour, found herself in unfamiliar territory with a berth in the top 8 of a WPBA Pro Event. She matched up against Xiaoting Pan, who quickly took a 4-1 lead. Xiaoting showed no mercy, winning the next 3 games to reach 7-1. She continued on to win the match 9-1. Taylor tied for 5th. Jeanette Lee, who had wanted to pick Vivian in the redraw, finally got her wish one round later. She started out strong against the popular player, taking a 5-2 lead. She extended that lead to 7-3, much to Vivian's chagrin. Jeanette had a chance to close out the match at 9-3 but after a fantastic kick shot on the 8 which went in the corner, she missed a thin cut on the 9, giving Vivian another game. In the end though, Jeanette won 9-4, advancing to the quarterfinal.

Kelly Fisher lived up to her nickname. "Kwikfire" raced to a 7-4 lead in about 55 minutes. Kelly reached the hill, up 8-6, but Kim wasn't ready to leave yet and closed the gap to within one, down 7-8. Kelly ran out in game 16 to win 9-7. Kim finished tied for 5th.

Ga Young Kim faced fellow Korean Yu Ram Cha, who appeared to have a letdown after her win over Allison. About an hour into their match, Ga Young was up 8-3. Yu Ram showed a spark of life as she broke and ran in game 12 but still down 4-8. Ga Young Kim closed it out to head to the TV rounds, leaving Cha in 5th.

Today's match ups are:
Kelly Fisher vs. Jeanette Lee at 1:00pm (ESPN Semi #1 taping)
Xiaoting Pan vs. Ga Young Kim at 3:00pm (ESPN Semi #2 taping)
The finals will tape at 5:00pm. Enjoy live scoring from this event at WPBA.com
Photos and info provided by Anne Craig, WPBA