NZPA North Island 9-Ball Champs

Held at the ACBS Clubrooms 05-06 September 2009

Naturally there were a lot of questions asked about the new format that was being trialled, with a few players with views of their own as to how the Post-Section draw should or could be done.

A lot of thought went into how it was put together and this was after all, a trial of a different format.

So after section play the qualifiers 9-16 played the 8 seeded players in the first round of post-section with the winners going through to play the top 8 qualifiers from Section play in the Last 16 round.

There was only one upset in the first round with Jonathan Campbell beating Kevin Sun 10/5, although Jon Grimley had a strange match against Michael Zhang.  Jon shot out to a 7/0 lead, then 8/1 but only managed to win 10/8 after missing some easy, crucial shots.

There were only two one-sided matches in the first two rounds of Post Section play with Phil Wilkinson beating Mahar Hatyab 10/1, and Chris Bowman beating Jiamin Yu 10/1.

Grimley recovered in the Last 16 to defeat the top qualifier from Post-Section play,ill Wen 10/3.  Wen had 5 wins with a +33 frame differential in section play.

In the Quarter-final match between Matt Edwards and previous winner Phil Wilkinson, Edwards was always in the lead and at 6/4 he had five 9-ball racks to win 11/4.

In the other Quarter-final matches Glen Coutts missed a straight forward shot to win 11/9, then Chris Bowman levelled the score 10-all.  Bowman won the final frame to win the match.  Grimley overcame the top seed Nick Pera 11/8 and Jimmy Henry beat Gordon Dong 11/8.

In the Semi-finals, Edwards got away to a flyer and was 7/1 up before Bowman clawed back to 9/4 but was powerless to sto Edwards winning 12/4.  In the Grimley/Henry match niether player got a 2 frame advantage until Henry snookered himself when down 10/9 and Grimley cleared to make it 11/9.  Henry had a beatufiul total clearancein the next frame and won the frame after that to even the score up at 11-all.  Henry had a chance to win but missed a mediocre 9-ball leaving it open for Grimley to win 12/11.

The Final between Grimley and Edwards produced some very determined potting and safety with a lot of clearances and also four 9-ball plants.  A 9-all it was still anyone’s game with Edwards finally winning 13/11.

Finally, a lot of players were happy with the changing of the dress code for the Nationals and some players in this tournament were wearing business shirts and waistcoats instead of a polo shirt.

Men’s Last 16: N Pera bt S Kilbride 10/8, J Grimley bt W Wen 10/3, G Dong bt J Campbell 10/2, J Henry bt T de Fontenay 10/6, P Wilkinson bt M Hatab 10/1, M Edwards bt K Zhang 10/8, G Coutts bt M Mitchell 10/6, C Bowman bt S Liu 10/6.
Men’s Quarter finals: J Grimley bt N Pera 11/8, J Henry bt G Cong 11/8, M Edwards bt P Wilkinson 11/4, C Bowman bt G Coutts 11/10.
Men’s Semi finals: J Grimley bt J Henry 12/11, M Edwards bt C Bowman 12/4.
Men’s Final: M Edwards bt J Grimley 13/11.

Just one section of six this year.  Newcomer Xu Yao qualified fourth in her first APA tournament and had a good match against Ramona Belmont in the Semi-finals.  Yao took 5 frames off Belmont before losing 9/5.  In the other Semi-final, Denise Wilkinson beat Lorna Frost 9/5.

In the Final between Belmont and Wilkinson, Belmont leaped out to a 5/1 lead and was looking like a winner but Wilkinson fought back to 8-all.  When it was 9/8 to Belmont, Wilkinson had a fluke on the 9-ball to even the score 9-all.  Wilkinson broke next but failed to pot a ball.  Belmont sunk the 1 and 2 balls, then Wilkinson potted up to the 6-ball and ended up almost touching the 7-ball.  She played a bad safety shot and left the 7-ball over the hole and Belmont potted out to win 10/9.

Women’s Semi finals:  R Belmont bt Xu Yao 9/5, D Wilkinson bt L Frost 9/5.
Women’s Final: R Belmont bt D Wilkinson 10/9.