Corr Repeats Midwest Classic Victory

Dominating the competition at the WPBA’s Midwest Classic, Karen Corr swept the field to take top honors again. Hosted by the Riverwind Casino in Norman, OK, this event brought out the toughest female competitors on tour.
After the field had narrowed to its final-16, single-elimination format, Corr, who went undefeated through the tournament, knocked out Vivian The Texas Tornado Villareal 9-6 to advance to the quarterfinals. There she ousted Monica Webb to go on to play Ga-Young Kim, who had just defeated Xiaoting Pan. With a 7-5 victory over Kim, Corr set herself up to play in the final match.
Meeting her there was Allison Fisher, who had an equally tough lineup to get through. After defeating Jasmin Ouschan 9-5 to reach the final 16, she then had to best Ouschan again 9-7. From there she eliminated Kelly Fisher in the quarterfinals and then dusted Sarah Ellerby 7-2 to reach the finals. But she fell flat against defending champion Corr, who was able to win with a 7-5 score.

Open Results:

1st
Karen Corr

2nd
Allison Fisher

3rd
Ga-Young Kim

Sarah Ellerby

5-8th
Kelly Fisher

Rachael Abbink

Xiaoting Pan

Monica Webb

9-16th
Vivian Villareal

Gerda Hofstatter

Jeanette Lee

Anna Kostanian

Dawn Hopkins

Helena Thornfeldt

Joanne Ashton

Jasmin Ouschan

WPBA Midwest Classic Field Narrows
After a rough day for the one-loss side Friday, the field at the WPBA’s Midwest Classic tournament has narrowed. There are eight undefeated billiards players remaining in the winners’ side, while the west side of the chart is still battling to see who will earn a pass back to the A side.
Defending champion Karen Corr still remains unscathed, having bested Anna Kostanian 9-6 earlier. Gerda The G-Force Hofstatter scored a 9-4 win over Dawn Hopkins to advance. Jeanette Lee survived one of the event’s toughest hill-hill nail-biters over Kelly Fisher, and Xiaoting Pan minced through Vivian Villareal easily 9-3.
In another double-hill match-up, England’s Sarah Ellerby survived going up against Ga-Young Kim, while Joanne Ashton of Canada also is in the remaining eight, having won 9-7 over Kim Shaw. Helena Thornfeldt won 9-7 over Monica Webb, and Allison Fisher sent Jasmin Ouschan to the one-loss side 9-5.
Still fighting to return in the final 16 are some of the tour’s top players, including Julie Kelly, Tiffany Nelson, Rachael Abbink, Melissa Little, and Ewa Laurance.
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WPBA Midwest Classic Approaching the Final 16
The Women’s Professional billiards Association’s (WPBA) Midwest Classic kicked off October 4 at Riverwind Casino in Norman, OK. With a full field of 64 players, this event could see Karen Corr repeat her win from last year, Allison Fisher could take her third event of the year, or someone completely different could take top honors.
The usual suspects have all come through unscathed as yet. Defending champion Corr won her first two matches handily, defeating Jennifer Chen 9-3 and Hsin Huang 9-1. A. Fisher has also performed admirably, whitewashing Susan Mello and then going on to roust Sarah Rousey 9-3.
Meeting A. Fisher in the next round will be Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan, who won her first two matches by narrower margins, defeating Julie Kelly 9-6 and then Megan Minerich 9-7. Monica Webb and Helena Thornfeldt will face each other in the next round—Webb notched wins over Julie Melman 9-1 and Debbie Schjodt 9-2, while Thornfeldt tormented Heather Lloyd 9-2 and My-Hahn Lac 9-5.
Jeanette Lee and Kelly Fisher are poised to play each other—Lee whizzed through Michelle McDermott 9-1 and Val Finnie 9-5, while K. Fisher handed Helene Caukin a donut and then went on to best Cathy Metzinger 9-4.
The Asian invasion team of Ga-Young Kim and Xiaoting Pan are still alive as well. Pan started off her event with wins over Maureen Seto 9-4 and Leslie Anne Rogers 9-3 and will face Vivian Villareal next. Kim bested Jessica Barnes 9-1 and Janet Atwell 9-7 to face off against Sarah Ellerby in the next round.
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Allison Fisher Claims Another Title

Making this her second consecutive win this season and her fiftieth Classic Tour victory, Allison Fisher eked out a double-hill win over Kelly Fisher in the finals of the Cuetec Cues U.S. Open 9-ball tournament. The event, which started Thursday, August 2, brought out a full 64-player field to Twin River Casino in Lincoln, RI.
Kim Shaw experienced some bad rolls and worse luck in her semifinal match against Kelly Fisher. Empty breaks and scratches seemed to plague her throughout, while Fisher was able to sail to the hill 6-2. Since the alternating-break format was in use, it was Shaw’s turn to break. She pocketed the 1, 2, and 3 balls but scratched into the corner. Unable to believe her luck, Fisher cleared the remaining six balls to advance to the final match.
In the second of both lopsided semifinal matches, Allison Fisher met the aggressive Ga-Young Kim. Fisher took an early lead, taking advantage of a scratch by Kim and a neat run-out of her own. Some excellent defensive play added two more racks to Fisher’s score, making it now 6-2 in her favor. A hung 1 ball in the following game narrowed the gap slightly to 6-3, but in the last rack, Fisher countered a safety by pocketing the 1 and getting into position to run out, which she did to win 7-3.
A long and tension-fraught finale unfolded as the players tried every trick they knew to trip the other up. In the 13-rack match, there was only one break and run-out, and that was by K. Fisher in the fourth game. And two games was the biggest lead anyone had throughout, when A. Fisher reached 5-3.
View the WPBA US Open tournament brackets (/wpba-us-open-brackets.html)
K. Fisher tied the match at 5 apiece when A. Fisher came up empty on her break and then scratched off the 4 ball in the following rack. Reaching the hill after a hung-up 2 by A. Fisher, K. Fisher was so close she could taste the victory. Especially when she broke and ran out the next rack—almost. But coming off the 8 ball, the cue ball kissed off the 9 and scratched. An unsuccessful safety by K. Fisher in the final game handed the table to A. Fisher, who hooked herself on the 4 ball but kicked it in anyway. A tough leave on the 6 gave her pause, but only for a moment, and then A. Fisher dished up for the 7-6 win.
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Final Four Set for WPBA U.S. Open

Top seed Allison Fisher faced down some heavy opposition Saturday after reaching the final 16. After besting Vivian “The Texas Tornado” Villareal 9-4 in the final 16, single-elimination format, she went on to defeat Jennifer “9 Millimeter” Barretta 7-3 to reach the semifinals Sunday.
Fisher’s opponent, Ga-Young Kim, faced an equally unstable factor in her march to the semifinals. She battled to a double-hill match with the steady Gerda Hofstatter of Austria and prevailed 9-8, only to go on to face Atlanta’s Monica Webb, whom she showed the door 7-3.
In the lower bracket, Xiaoting Pan eliminated Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee with a resounding 9-3 win, and then matched up with Kelly Fisher. Kelly had faced off with Laura Smith in the final 16, prevailing 9-5. She went on to play a close match with Pan but survived to advance 7-5.
Kim Shaw also did not have an easy run of things. In the final 16, she faced off against Sarah “Velvet” Ellerby and won a close match 9-7, only to have to face the WPBA’s number-two player, Karen Corr. Corr, just off a win against the tough-playing Tiffany Nelson 9-4, was forced to go up against the determined Shaw, who ultimately won the double-hill match 7-6.
View the WPBA US Open tournament brackets (/wpba-us-open-brackets.html)
Sunday’s matches are as follows: Allison Fisher versus Ga-Young Kim in the first semifinal match, and Kelly Fisher and Kim Shaw in the second semifinal match.
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