Jones and Pan New GenerationPool.com Champions
by InsidePOOL Staff
The GenerationPool.com 9-Ball Championships ended Thursday evening, crowning Jeremy Jones and Xiaoting Pan the new champions. This event was held in conjunction with the Billiard Congress of America’s annual trade show and was hosted by the Charlotte Convention Center.
In the first final match, both of which were taped by ESPN, Jones met Ronnie Wiseman to vie for the title. In the error-ridden set, it seemed that both parties’ nerves were getting the better of them. The score seesawed to 3 apiece—none of which was a run-out. After a miss each on the 8 ball in the following rack, Wiseman made the 8—but then scratched, moving Jones up a game. He also took the next rack when Wiseman missed a straight-in 9 ball. After pushing out after his next break, Jones capitalized on a failed safety attempt by Wiseman and ran out to reach the hill 6-3. Wiseman broke next and missed the 2, but so did Jones, so Wiseman narrowed the gap to two racks; however, Jones broke and ran out the final rack to win 7-4.
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The women’s final was actually a rematch of the fourth round, in which Ga Young Kim sent Pan to the one-loss side 9-6. The women seemed a little more settled than the men did, but still they started off somewhat shakily. Kim reached a 3-1 advantage with a strong break and run-out, but Pan tied it up when Kim scratched on the 8 ball in the next rack and then won the following after Kim left her a shot on the 2 ball. Now in her element, Pan broke and ran out for the 4-3 lead. When Kim’s 7 ball ejected out of the pocket, Pan moved another step closer in the short race to 7. Kim pushed out on her next break, and Pan missed the 1 ball. Kim started to clear the table, but she didn’t leave herself a good shot on the 8 ball and tried to play safe. However, Pan had a shot and took it to reach the hill. In the final rack, Pan pocketed three balls on the break and cleared for her 7-4 win.
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