Held at the ACBS Clubrooms (hosted by the APA) : 30 October to 01 November 2009

The tournament was run under a new dress code trial and the reaction received was overwhelmingly in favour of it.  Malcolm Beehre said, “I personally did not receive one adverse comment and some players were adamant that it should be applied to all of our tournaments.”

This year yielded a small field, so naturally the prize money was smaller overall.  “I think all players need to realise this is an amateur sport and the days of Gaming Machine Funds to help with the costs, are truly over,” Malcolm Beehre said.

There are always a lot of unusual results in 9-Ball and this event was no exception.  Last year’s winner, Chris Bowman, managed to qualify with only two wins.  In the same section it was good to see Ross Bennett also qualify for the first time in a National event.  Ceri Worts top-qualified in that section with five wins.

Kevin Zhang won Section Four with five wins; Runner-up was Matt Edwards, then Jimmy Henry followed by Darryl Boot.

In Section Two, Kevin Sun won five matches to win the section and was also top-qualifier for Post-Section play on +27.  Sam Chin, Steven Liu and Greg Croudis were the other three qualifiers in that section.

Section One was headed by Nick Pera as the top seed in this event and he justified his ranking also having five wins with Adam Marlow, Steve Robertson and Tony Van Wijk, the other qualifiers.  The major surprise in this was Mark Mitchell having a bad day and not winning a match.

2006 Titleholder Ceri Worts blitzed Liu 10/1 in the Quarter-finals showing some of the form we know he can produce after a three year spell from tournament play.

Worts went on to win the title (virtually unstoppable was how one player described him), beating Zhang 11/7 and then Sun, who was finalist last year as well, 12/5.

In the Women’s event it was a small field of six players.  Nishawa was far too strong winning 8/3 against Hobbs.  Lydia Nenewale beat Lorna Frost 8/6 after Frost, on 6-all, played a very soft double instead of her normal aggressive doubles, leaving the ball over the hole and the 9-ball next ot it, to give Nenewale the lead at 7/6.  Nenewale then went on to win the next frame to take the match 8/6.

Nishawa was never in trouble in the Final, beating Nenewale 9/5.

Men’s Last 16:
K Sun bt R Bennett 9/1, A Marlow bt J Henry 9/3, M Edwards bt T Van Wijk 9/3, N Pera bt C Bowman 9/5, C Worts bt G Croudis 9/5, S Liu bt J Frimley 9/3, S Robertson bt S Chin 9/5, K Zhang bt D Boot 9/5.
Men’s Quarter-Finals:
K Sun bt A Marlow 10/8, M Edwards bt N Pera 10/7, C Worts bt S Liu 10/1, K Zhang bt S Robertson 10/5.
Men’s Semi-Finals:
K Sun bt M Edwards 11/5, C Worts bt K Zhang 10/5.
Men’s Final:
C Worts bt K Sun 12/5.

Women’s Semi-Finals:
M Nishawa bt C Hobbs 8/3, L Nenewale bt L Frost 8/6.
Women’s Final:
M Nishawa bt L Nenewale 9/5.