Afternoon all. The first trophy of the day has gone to Australia, where a familiar name has won another Q Tour title in Sydney, and we have our first Goyang semi-finalist. The LPBA final is about an hour away, the WPBA final four start later this afternoon, and there's a blackball weekend in Andover reaching its business end. Here's where everything stands.
SYDNEY — CALABRESE BEATS HAENGA AGAIN
- Vinnie Calabrese has won the Q Tour Asia-Pacific Australian Open, beating Daniel Haenga 6–2 in today's final, according to CueTracker's frame scores. That's the same final, and the same result, as January's Queensland Open in Redcliffe, where Calabrese beat Haenga 5–1.
- The opening frame went 58–57 to Calabrese, which tells you how close it started. Haenga levelled with an 82, then Calabrese made an 86 and won the next two to lead 4–1. Haenga hit back with an 85, but a 65 from Calabrese made it 5–2 and he closed it out 69–39.
- He'd been scoring heavily all weekend. There was a 136 to finish off Steve Mifsud in the quarter-finals, then he made 91 and 121 in a 5–3 win over James Mifsud in the semis.
- Haenga's semi-final was the comeback of the day. He was 4–1 down to Cale Barrett and won four frames on the spin to take it 5–4. The last three went 63–25, 78–51 and 71–8.
- For context: when he won in Redcliffe in January, the WPBSA said it was the former professional's third Q Tour title of that campaign and that he'd topped the Asia-Pacific series ranking for a third season running. He's still the man they all have to beat down there.
GOYANG — QUOC NGUYEN IS FIRST INTO THE SEMIS
- Nguyen Quoc Nguyen beat Kim Kwan-woo 3–1 in the first PBA quarter-final at the Crown Haitai Championship, Vietnam's Thanh Niên reports. Kim had knocked out Ngo Dinh Nai earlier in the event.
- It nearly went level. Quoc Nguyen won the first set 15–7 and was one point from going 2–0 up when Kim ran six to steal the second 15–14. Kim then led the third 7–0, but Quoc Nguyen came back to win it 15–8 and took the fourth by the same score.
- He's the only Vietnamese player left. Thanh Niên notes he won a PBA title last season, beating Daniel Sánchez in the final, so this is a chance at a second.
- The other three quarter-finals: Zapata v Martínez and Cho Gun-hwi v Lee Seung-jin have been played, but I haven't found a confirmed result in the Korean press yet, so I'm not going to guess. Noh Jong-hyun v Kim Jun-tae, the last match of the day, started at 19:00 Korean time (11:00 UK), and I haven't seen a result from that one either. The semi-finals and the final are all on Monday, with the final at 13:00 UK.
LPBA FINAL — 13:30 UK
- Jung Su-bin v Lee Mi-rae, best of seven sets, ₩40 million to the winner. Jung is after her first title. Kukinews points out that Lee's fifth came at last season's High1 Resort Championship and ended a wait of four years and eight months. This is her first final for 11 months. The PBA's own stream has it live, and the result will be in tonight's roundup.
POOL — WPBA FINAL FOUR LATER, A JOSS STOP AND AN ANDOVER BLACKBALL WEEKEND
- Bristol, Tennessee: nothing new since this morning. The WPBA Borderline Brunswick/Pechauer Invitational resumes at 10:00 Central (16:00 UK). The AZBilliards forum's live thread has Margaret Fefilova-Styer v Kristina Tkach and Sofia Mast v Briana Miller on the two tables. That's unofficial until the WPBA posts the bracket, and both should be free to watch on the WPBA and Borderline Billiards YouTube channels.
- Laconia, New Hampshire: stop four of Mike Zuglan's Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, now in its 30th season, finishes today at Winnipesaukee Bar & Billiards. No winner yet. Ron Casanzio won stop three, his 15th Joss title, as we covered on Saturday.
- Andover: the Andover Open, a 64-player blackball event played for the Karl Baxter Trophy, goes into its second day today at the Wolversdene Club. It's double elimination, with losers' qualification onwards played today and the main arena tables streamed, per the organisers, Evolve Eight Ball. Adam Guyatt won it last year (Love Andover). If anyone's there, tell us who's still standing.
SNOOKER — READING AND A FIRST FOR MALAYSIA
- The World Seniors Tour event three quarter-finals in Reading started at 11:00. Andy Lavin v Jimmy Robertson, Rory McLeod v Stephen Groves, Wayne Townsend v Barry Pinches and Neal Jones v Craig Steadman. I couldn't get the live scores to load and CueTracker hasn't posted the results yet, so they'll be in tonight's roundup, along with the finals day.
- World Women's Snooker is taking its tour to Malaysia for the first time. The Niche Cues Women's Snooker Open is on 24–27 October at Niche Premium Snooker in Kuala Lumpur, with Under-21 and Seniors (over-40s) side events. China's Bai Yulu won it last year. The WWS says entries close at noon UK time this Friday, 16 October. It follows the Australian Women's Snooker Open (17–20 October), so it'll suit anyone doing both legs.
- Ahmedabad footnote: as of lunchtime, CueTracker still lists Haria as the 3–0 winner of the Commonwealth men's final, against the organisers, IANS and Rediff, who all have Mehta winning gold. I'm sticking with Mehta.
WHERE TO WATCH / WHAT'S NEXT
- Today, 13:30 UK: LPBA final, Jung Su-bin v Lee Mi-rae, on the PBA's live stream.
- Today, 16:00 UK: WPBA final four in Bristol, Tennessee, on the WPBA and Borderline Billiards YouTube channels.
- Today: World Seniors finals day in Reading, with live scores on WPBSA SnookerScores.
- Mon 12 Oct: Goyang PBA semi-finals, then the final at 13:00 UK.
- 15–18 Oct: Reyes Cup, Makati Coliseum, live on WNT TV (ESPN+ in the US).
- 18–25 Oct: Northern Ireland Open, Waterfront Hall, Belfast.
- 24–27 Oct: Niche Cues Women's Snooker Open, Kuala Lumpur.
- 29 Oct–1 Nov: Predator Euro Tour Spanish Open, Gandia (EPBF).
I'll be back this evening with the LPBA champion, the rest of the Goyang semi-final line-up, the Reading results and hopefully a WPBA winner. Did anyone stay up for Calabrese's final? Let us know in the replies.
— Reggie
Sources: CueTracker, WPBSA, Thanh Niên, Billiards & Sports, MK Billiards News, Kukinews, Star News, AZBilliards forum, WPBA, Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, Evolve Eight Ball, Love Andover, World Women's Snooker, IANS, Rediff, EPBF, World Nineball Tour.
Feature image: “2021 World Snooker Championship table setup” by Pete from Liverpool, UK, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC0 1.0.
