Day three of the Amway Cup in Taipei yesterday saw the start of the final 24 single elimination tournament, which cut the original field of competitors for the World 9-Ball Championship in half.
Early in the day, workers were busy packing away pool tables used in group play as the competition would now be played out on a specially lighted TV table surrounded by plywood stands. The competition also moved to a race-to-7 format, which favors aggressive play and greater room for error, as the previous race-to-5 format in group put the emphasis on defense and carefully placed safety shots.
Jennifer Barretta of the US, with a WPA ranking of 13, drew a difficult early round match against Kelly Fisher of the UK.
Fisher raced out to a commanding 5-2 lead after a series of poorly played safety shots by Barretta, coupled with solid breaks and strong play. In fact, Barretta may have faced early elimination if Fisher did not a miss a makeable shot on the 9-ball, giving her the chance to run consecutive racks and rally back to an improbable 5-5.
From this point onwards, one error could be fatal, and Fisher and Barretta played a conservative game, trading safeties and eventually running the score to 6-6.
On the final rack, Barretta was given the opportunity to break and was fortunate to meet a fairly straightforward spread, which included one difficult bank shot on the 2-ball in the side pocket. She proceeded to run through the rack and knocked the 9-ball in corner pocket.
Barretta shot her opponent a brief smile after the match, while spectators, including Monica Web (with a WPA ranking of 15) looked on in delight after watching this thoroughly entertaining duel on the first day of the single elimination tournament.
South Korea's Kim Ga-young and Jennie Seaver of the US had byes after near flawless group play on Wednesday and Thursday.
No doubt the rest will come in handy in what promises to be a thrilling and intense tournament which continues through the weekend.
Admission to the Amway Cup, held at the Taipei Gymnasium is free though admission is limited to the first 5,000 spectators. Additionally, the entire event is being broadcast on Video Land with matches starting at 1pm and running till 9pm.
RSS