Kelly Fisher Repeats Viejas Victory
by InsidePOOL Staff
With a stunning 7-0 whitewashing of opponent Jasmin Ouschan in the finals, Kelly Fisher successfully defended her San Diego Classic title, making this the third year in a row she has won. Hosted by Viejas Casino in Alpine, CA, the Women’s Professional Billiards Association’s (WPBA) San Diego Classic was held April 18-22.
Several frequent tour top finishers, including Ga-Young Kim, Allison Fisher, and Karen Corr, did not make it past fifth place. Kim, who won the tour’s kick-off event this year over Xiaoting Pan in an incredible double-hill final match, came up short in her fourth-round match against Monica Webb 9-5 and was eliminated. Allison Fisher, still the points leader for the WPBA as yet, met up with nemesis Ouschan in the fifth round and was unceremoniously ousted 9-5 by the young Austrian. And Corr, also in the fifth round, ran smack into road partner Julie Kelly, a former world champion, who sent “The Irish Invader” home early 9-6.
Kelly Fisher started out her trek to the final 16 with an easy 9-3 victory over Kristin Haney, followed by another over Tracie Hines, this time 9-4. She then cemented her spot in the final 16, single-elimination format with a narrow 9-7 win over Jennifer Barretta. Another tight 9-7 score went to Fisher in the next round, this time over Japan’s Miyuki Sakai. From that point, it was all smooth sailing for Fisher. She handily dispatched Anna Kostanian 9-3 to make it to the semifinals, where she only allowed Ireland’s Kelly one game before sweeping her aside 7-1.
Interestingly, Ouschan’s tournament did not start out very smoothly for her. The fearless blonde met her match in the first round in the form of “The Black Widow,” who sent her to the one-loss side 9-4. She had to fight her way back to the final 16 by besting Texas’s Leslie Anne Rogers 9-7, Sweden’s Helena Thornfeldt 9-4, fellow countrywoman Gerda Hofstatter 9-4, and Angelina Paglia 9-4. Once she made it through to the single-elimination format, she ousted Janet Atwell 9-0, Allison Fisher 9-5, and then dispatched Pan 9-3 in the semifinals.
Unfortunately for the young Austrian, that was where her journey ended. Fisher won the lag in the final match and notched the first game after trading several innings. In fact, that was the way most of the racks played out: multiple innings for each player, with Fisher getting the final word. Ouschan’s breaks utterly failed her, and pretty soon she was looking at the daunting 6-0 score that Fisher had built up. Fisher broke in the final rack and had a dead 2-9 combo, which she made perfectly.
Results:
1st Kelly Fisher
2nd Jasmin Ouschan
3rd Julie Kelly
Xiaoting Pan
5th Allison Fisher
Monica Webb
Anna Kostanian
Karen Corr
9th Jennifer Chen
Kim Shaw
Sarah Ellerby
Miyuki Sakai
Rachael Abbink
Ga-Young Kim
Janet Atwell
Alice Rim