WPBA U.S. Open / Norman, OK
by InsidePOOL Staff
Defending champion Kelly Fisher was ousted from the WPBA U.S. Open after losing back-to-back matches against Allison Fisher in the final 16 and final 8 rounds of the event. A. Fisher is now among the 8 ladies remaining in the tournament from the original 64, all vying for the top prize to be awarded Sunday after the finals at the Riverwind Casino in Norman, IL.
The first match-up between the Fishers happened in the third round, when A. Fisher triumphed 9-6. Now on the one-loss side, K. Fisher was determined to make it to the final 16 round and dealt Michell Monk a donut 9-0. However, she drew A. Fisher again, and the result was almost the same, as A. Fisher advanced to the final 8 with a 9-7 win.
Fisher’s opponent will be Xiaoting Pan, who rebounded from a 9-3 loss to Helena Thornfeldt in the third round by ousting Nicole Keeney 9-3 to return to the right side of the chart. She dealt an identical loss to Jeanette Lee in the round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals Saturday.
Karen Corr has gone undefeated through the field, notching wins over Tracie Hines 9-5 and Angelina Paglia 9-3 to reach the quarterfinals. There she will be faced with Vivian Villareal, who also remains unscathed. Villareal bested Iris Ranola of the Philippines 9-3 and then Kim White 9-4 in the last two rounds.
Fisher is now among the 8 ladies remaining in the tournament from the original 64, all vying for the top prize to be awarded Sunday after the finals at the Riverwind Casino in Norman, IL.
Two more undefeated players will meet in the third quarterfinal match Saturday when Thornfeldt and Ga Young Kim play. After her victory over Pan in the third round, Thornfeldt then went up against Kyoko Sone and bested her 9-6. Kim, tied for first on the tour with K. Fisher, sent Kim Shaw west 9-3 in the third round and then bested Jasmin Ouschan, who won the WPBA Great Lakes Classic in June, 9-6. Ouschan had returned to the final 16 after being sent west by Shaw 9-3 in the second round.
The last quarterfinal match will feature Gerda Hofstatter and Monica Webb, both of whom are undefeated. Hofstatter escaped a hill-hill match against Kim White and then ousted Hines 9-3 to advance to the final 8. Webb, ranked third on the tour, dealt losses to Sone 9-6 and then Line Kjorsvik 9-5 in the final round of 16.
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