Kelly Fisher will meet Chieh-Yu Chou and Jasmin Ouschan will face Wei Tzu Chien in the semi-finals of the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship after the remaining 24 athletes played down to four at Sportpark Klagenfurt, Austria on Friday.
Ouschan faced three matches if she was to qualify for the semi-finals and came through them all to ensure she will feature on the final day of the event in her home city, and which she was a major driving force in the organization of.
After a defeat to Pia Filler on Thursday, Ouschan returned on Friday morning to face Bojana Sarac. The Serbian youngster didn’t allow her opponent to pull too far ahead at any time and twice fought back from behind to have the match level at 4-4. But Ouschan was able to reach the hill at 6-4 up, and though Sarac did pull another rack back, it was the Austrian who went through to the last 16 as 7-5 winner.
A re-draw took place before the last 16 began, with the tournament now playing to a single elimination format and all remaining matches a race to 9.
Ouschan’s draw pitted her against Germany’s Ina Kaplan, who earlier in the week defeated the reigning champion Rubilen Amit. Kaplan provided another tough match for the Austrian, who won 9-6, before beating Ho-Yun Chen 9-3 in her quarter final.
Awaiting Ouschan in tomorrow’s semi-finals is Wei, who conceded just three racks in three matches on Friday. First, she beat Veronique Menard 7-1, then Pia Filler was eliminated 9-2, and then on the feature table, Canada Open champion Chia Hua Chen was on the receiving end of a 9-0 demolition.
“I didn’t expect it to be like that,” said Wei after her win over Chen. “We have known each other for a really long time and she is a really good player. I am really enjoying playing the event. It has been three years without going to any international tournament because of Covid and lockdowns, so I have just tried to enjoy myself.”
The second semi-final will pit Fisher against Chieh-Yu Chou. Fisher started the day in the last 16 after coming through to single elimination undefeated. Her first match of Friday’s play was a re-run of the Germany Open final against Eylul Kibaroglu, which went to a shootout. This match wasn’t so close though, with Fisher in fine form in a 9-3 win.
Next up was Filipino Chezka Centeno, and again Fisher delivered a statement performance as she won 9-6 against a tough opponent.
“I am so happy to have won that one,” explained Fisher. “I have played Chezka so many times over the years but haven’t seen each other for three years. I know she fires on all cylinders, the only way to beat her is to keep her in her seat. I haven’t been playing at my best but today was a great day; I performed really well, used a little bit of tactics – I’m a bit older, a bit wiser – and managed to get the upper hand and keep control.”
Fisher’s semi-final opponent Chou began the day with a 7-1 win over Oliwia Zalewska to reach the last 16, when Allison Fisher was defeated 9-6. That set up a quarter-final with South Korea’s Yun Mi Lim, which Chou won 9-3 to guarantee herself a medal.
The semi-finals take place at 10am and 12noon local time on Saturday, before the showpiece final at 3pm. Matches will be streamed live and free on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel, watchbilliard.tv and on Kozoom.com.
The draw and brackets for the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship can be seen here: https://probilliardseries.com/event/1677/.
The draw and brackets for the Predator World Teams Championship is at https://probilliardseries.com/event/1678/.
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