Morning all. Last night I said the Harim derby would have to wait for this morning, and it's worth the wait: the captain finally got one over the youngster. Goyang's quarter-finals are already under way, Jung Su-bin and Lee Mi-rae play for the LPBA title this afternoon, the WPBA is down to four in Tennessee and the seniors play their quarter-finals in Reading. Sunday breakfast reading below.
GOYANG — THE CAPTAIN GETS HIS FIRST WIN OVER KIM YOUNG-WON
- Kim Jun-tae beat his Harim team-mate Kim Young-won 3–2 in the last match of the PBA last 16 at the Crown Haitai Championship. He'd lost both of their previous tour meetings, so this was his first win over the younger man (MK Billiards News and Billiards & Sports).
- The set scores tell you what kind of match it was: 3–15, 15–13, 15–5, 0–15, 11–7. Kim Young-won took the second set to 13–9 before Kim Jun-tae nicked four in the 19th inning to steal it 15–13. In the fourth, Kim Young-won ran 12 with three bank shots in it and closed out 15–0 in two innings. In the decider Kim Jun-tae led 9–1, Kim Young-won ran seven to make it 9–7, and Kim Jun-tae closed it out 11–7.
- Kim Young-won had the better average, 1.528 to 1.222, but went out. It's Kim Jun-tae's third quarter-final of the season. His best so far is a semi-final at tour two, where Ngo Dinh Nai beat him. Next up is Noh Jong-hyun (3–2 v Yoo Chang-sun), a PBA original since season one who's into his first quarter-final.
MARTÍNEZ v ZAPATA — AN ALL-SPANISH QUARTER-FINAL
- David Martínez beat Choi Sung-won 3–1 in the other big last-16 tie. He was 3–9 down in the first set and won it 15–9, dropped the second 8–15, then took the next two 15–11 and 15–9. Martínez holds the PBA record of eight titles (per MK Billiards News) and missed tour three for the birth of his first child.
- He now plays his compatriot David Zapata, who beat Jung Kyung-seop 3–0. That's the same Jung who knocked Sánchez out earlier in the week.
- Cho Gun-hwi beat his old mentor Lee Choong-bok 3–2 (12–15, 15–8, 7–15, 15–3, 11–4), with three bank shots turning the deciding set round. Nguyen Quoc Nguyen beat fellow Vietnamese Dao Van Ly 3–2, Lee Seung-jin beat Shin Dae-kwon 3–1, and Kim Kwan-woo, who came up through the Dream Tour, beat Ko Sang-woon 3–2.
- Quarter-finals today: Q. Nguyen v Kim Kwan-woo (03:30 UK, so already played, but I haven't seen a result yet), Zapata v Martínez (06:00 UK), Cho Gun-hwi v Lee Seung-jin (08:30 UK) and Noh Jong-hyun v Kim Jun-tae (11:00 UK).
LPBA FINAL — JUNG SU-BIN v LEE MI-RAE THIS AFTERNOON
- A couple of details to add to yesterday's preview. Star News says the final is best of seven sets and the winner gets ₩40 million. Jung, 27, plays for NH Nonghyup Card. This is her first final in 253 days, and she's still after a first title. Lee is going for her sixth. It starts at 21:30 Korean time, which is 13:30 UK.
POOL — WPBA DOWN TO FOUR IN BRISTOL, TENNESSEE
- The WPBA Borderline Brunswick/Pechauer Invitational ($20,000 added) is down to Margaret Fefilova-Styer, Kristina Tkach, Sofia Mast and Briana Miller. This is pieced together from the live thread on the AZBilliards forum, so treat it as unofficial until the WPBA confirms the bracket.
- Styer beat Mast 8–1 and Tkach beat Kennedy Meyman to set up the hot-seat match between the two of them. On the one-loss side, Mast beat Kaylee McIntosh 8–5 and Miller beat Meyman 8–5.
- Play resumes at 10:00 Central time (16:00 UK), with free streams on the WPBA's and Borderline Billiards' YouTube channels.
CROATIA — MICHEL BARTOL TAKES THE NATIONAL 9-BALL TITLE
- Michel Bartol is Croatia's 9-ball champion. He beat Filip Bermanec 9–6 in Saturday night's final of the Croatian Billiards Federation's championship at BK Esseker, per CueScore. He did it the long way: Krešimir Vuković beat him 9–8 on the winners' side, so he came through the one-loss bracket, then beat Ante Šola 9–7 and Marko Lišnić 9–2. Lišnić and Roberto Bartol shared third in a field of 23.
SNOOKER — READING LAST EIGHT SET, RYAN DAY OUT
- The rest of Saturday's seniors results in Reading (CueTracker): Neal Jones knocked out Ryan Day, who won event two, 4–2 in the last 32. Day made 120 and 80 and still lost. Jones then beat Stuart Watson 4–2. Barry Pinches beat Steve Bird 4–0 and Adam Nash 4–1, and made a 125 against Mark Vincent in the last 64. Craig Steadman, who won event one, was 3–0 up on John Parkin, got pegged back to 3–3 (Parkin made a 106) and won the decider. He then came from 0–2 down to beat Gerard Greene 4–2. Greene had beaten Mark Davis 4–1.
- Quarter-finals from 11:00: Andy Lavin v Jimmy Robertson, Rory McLeod v Stephen Groves, Wayne Townsend v Barry Pinches, and Neal Jones v Craig Steadman.
- Sydney: the Q Tour Asia-Pacific Australian Open is down to four. Cale Barrett beat Hassan Kerde 4–1, Daniel Haenga edged Shaun Dalitz 4–3, James Mifsud beat Dan Webb 4–2, and Vinnie Calabrese beat Steve Mifsud 4–2, finishing with a 136. The semis and final are today, and CueTracker doesn't have any results yet.
INDIA — DIVYANSHU EDGES IT IN DELHI
- Divyanshu won the East Zone title at the Raja Randhir Singh Memorial 49th Delhi State Senior Snooker Championship, beating Sharad Kumar 3–2 at the Ballistic Billiards Club in Anand Vihar, PTI reports. He went 2–0 up with a 60 in the second frame, Sharad levelled at 2–2, and Divyanshu took the decider 58–32. The tournament has a total prize pool of Rs 3 lakh.
- Ahmedabad follow-up: as of this morning CueTracker still lists Haria as the 3–0 winner of the men's final, so those breaks remain unassigned. Before the event, Aditya Mehta told The Hindu he'd like "another crack at the pro tour" if his form held. Now he has the gold he wanted for his daughter, watch this space.
WHERE TO WATCH / WHAT'S NEXT
- Today, 11:00 UK: World Seniors quarter-finals in Reading, live scores on WPBSA SnookerScores.
- 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.
- Mon 12 Oct, 13:00 UK: Goyang PBA final.
- 15–18 Oct: Reyes Cup, Makati Coliseum, live on WNT TV (ESPN+ in the US).
- 18–25 Oct: Northern Ireland Open, Waterfront Hall. The Irish News says Mark Allen's participation against Jordan Brown is still unconfirmed.
- 20–24 Oct: Philippines Open, Gateway Mall, Quezon City. Same single-elimination format Alcaide won last year, on WNT TV (World Nineball Tour).
I'll be back at lunchtime with the Goyang semi-final line-up and the Reading quarter-final results, and tonight with the LPBA champion. If you're watching the WPBA stream later and see a result before I do, stick it in the replies.
— Reggie
Sources: MK Billiards News, Billiards & Sports, Star News, AZBilliards forum, WPBA, CueScore, CueTracker, WPBSA SnookerScores, PTI / Rediff, The Hindu, The Irish News, World Nineball Tour, Herald Business.
Feature image: “2023 World Three-cushion Championship, tournament hall-01” by Martin Horn, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
