Morning all, Reggie here with the coffee on and the Cherokee scoreboard still warm.
We've spent the best part of a week staring at Nanjing, so let's start somewhere different. Overnight in North Carolina the National Shootout, the TV-table invitational at the Ultimate Pool USA Grand Finals, got through all sixteen of its opening matches, and a few of the old guard didn't make it out of Tuesday.
Cherokee: Brennan does it to Archer again
The one I had circled was Johnny Archer against Declan Brennan. It was a rematch of last year's quarter-final, which Brennan won, and the two-time world champion arrived wanting his revenge. He didn't get it. Brennan is through to the last 16 again, per the bracket on Inside Spin.
Right behind that came a slightly awkward one for the Styer household. Monday night Margaret Fefilova-Styer won the National Women's Shootout. Twenty-four hours later Tyler Styer was out, beaten 5-4 by Venezuela's Jesus Atencio in about as tight a finish as this format gives you.
Quick reminder of how the Shootout works, because it explains a lot of the scorelines: UPL 8-Ball rules on 7-foot tables, alternate break, no jump shots, a 30-second shot clock and a 30-minute match clock. Nobody gets a long race to settle in. One bad rack and the clock does the rest.
First-round results (per Inside Spin / DigitalPool bracket data):
- Craig Waddingham 9-2 Jordan Helfery (defending champion off and running)
- Shane Van Boening 9-1 Dalton Comstock
- Rodney Morris 8-2 Alex Olinger
- Joven Bustamante 7-1 Landon Hollingsworth (Hollingsworth had come through Sunday's last-chance qualifier)
- Chris Melling 6-1 Joey Gray
- Dennis Hatch 6-2 Sam Henderson
- Jesus Atencio 5-4 Tyler Styer
- Roberto Gomez 5-4 Shane Thompson
- Oscar Dominguez 5-4 Brandon Shuff
- Justin Bergman 5-3 Chase Stumfoll
- Joe Prince 5-3 Ricky Evans
- Tom Cousins 5-1 Hayden Ernst
- Shane McMinn 4-3 Gerson Martinez
- Declan Brennan beat Johnny Archer
- Manny Perez beat David Matlock
- Skyler Woodward beat Eric Charlton
A word for the British contingent, because they had a good night. Waddingham, Melling, Prince and Cousins all won, and Thompson was the only one to go out, by a single rack to Gomez. Four out of five will do nicely.
Today's last 16 (UK times, all on the TV table):
- 15:00 — Manny Perez v Shane Van Boening
- 15:45 — Tom Cousins v Shane McMinn
- 16:30 — Chris Melling v Dennis Hatch
- 17:15 — Jesus Atencio v Craig Waddingham
- 18:00 — Joven Bustamante v Roberto Gomez
- 18:45 — Skyler Woodward v Oscar Dominguez
- 19:30 — Justin Bergman v Declan Brennan
- 20:15 — Rodney Morris v Joe Prince
Atencio against Waddingham is the pick of the lot. The man who's just knocked out Styer meets the holder. Bergman v Brennan has a bit of history on both sides too. Bergman lost last year's final to Waddingham, and now he gets the man who keeps beating Archer. Quarter-finals are due from 23:00 UK, then the semis and final run through the night. The last ball is scheduled for around 03:30 UK on Thursday, so those of us in Blighty will be reading about the champion over breakfast. PoolHall.TV lists the purse at $5,000 to the winner, $2,000 for the runner-up.
Meanwhile the wider Grand Finals week carries on around it. The 8-Ball team title is worth $112,000 and the open events run through to 8 November, per Billiard News.
Heyball: Pan American Open breaks in Arequipa
The Chinese 8-ball calendar keeps growing. The II Pan American Heyball Open gets going today at the Coliseo in Arequipa, Peru. The organisers are the Pan American Billiard Confederation and the Peruvian federation, with WPA backing and Joy Billiards as sponsor. Peruvian outlet Ahora puts the prize fund at $116,000, split evenly with $58,000 each for the men's and women's events. Good to see.
The men's draw on CueScore is 64 players, race to 7, double elimination into single elimination, with finals and presentations on Saturday 7 November. Opening-round names include Jordan Shepherd, Lee Stephens, Craig Brown, Stephen Ellis, Alexander O'Donoghue, Jur Kous, Radoslaw Babica, Aamir Sohail and Arfan Dad, alongside plenty of local players. Local time is five hours behind us, so the 10:00 Arequipa start is 15:00 UK.
Nanjing: quarter-final day
Now the snooker, and I'll keep it brief because you'll have it on in the background anyway. The International Championship quarter-finals are best of 11, and the morning session pairs Kyren Wilson with Ding Junhui and Fan Zhengyi with Hossein Vafaei. Follow the frame-by-frame on snooker.org's live scores.
A couple of things from yesterday's last 16 that I don't think we gave enough credit:
- Kyren Wilson was 5-4 down to Oliver Lines and won the last two frames to get through 6-5. That came after he'd got as far as the 12th black on a maximum attempt in frame six, per TNT Sports and snooker.org.
- Fan Zhengyi was 3-1 behind Liam Davies after breaks of 118 and 92 from the Welshman, and still won 6-4. Per TNT Sports, Fan didn't make a half-century between the first and last frames. Snooker played on grit.
- Chang Bingyu has made nine centuries on his way to the last eight, per TNT Sports. That's the form he takes into this afternoon's meeting with world number one Zhao Xintong.
This afternoon's quarter-finals (from 11:30 UK):
- Marco Fu v John Higgins
- Chang Bingyu v Zhao Xintong
Where to watch / What's on today
- International Championship, Nanjing: QFs from 06:00 and 11:30 UK on TNT Sports / HBO Max and Eurosport, with WST Play and Huya elsewhere. Live scores on snooker.org.
- National Shootout, Cherokee: last 16 from 15:00 UK, QFs from 23:00 UK, final in the early hours. Streamed on the Ultimate Pool USA YouTube channel. Bracket on DigitalPool.
- Pan American Heyball Open, Arequipa: opening rounds from 15:00 UK. Scores on CueScore, and the Pan American Billiard Confederation's social channels are carrying coverage.
That's me for the morning. Who's your pick for the Shootout: does Waddingham defend, or is this Atencio's week? And can anyone stop Chang's century machine this afternoon? Let me know below.
Reggie Rutherford
Feature image: “Cherokee - Harrah's Casino Cherokee - View From Parking Tower” by Jared, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0.
