Billiard Congress of America    [day 1] [day 2] [day 3] [day 4]  Open 9-BAll Championships -   [day 5] [day 6 - Final Results] Las Vegas, Nevada

Hosted by: Riviera Hotel and Casino
Produced by:  World Class Event Management

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (photos attached)

Las Vegas, Nevada - Day three of the BCA Open 9-Ball Championships saw the elimination of 20 players from each division.  As the level of competition intensified, even the seeded players were not immune from defeat.  The evening ended with 13 of the seeded players in the men's division and 10 of the seeded players in the women's division on the one-loss side.

All rounds in the day session were matches featuring players in the one-loss bracket and eliminating 16 in each division.  Top seeds Johnny Archer, Cory Deuel, Shannon Daulton all defeated their opponents to progress in the tournament.  The 7th seed, Troy Frank (photo #9), narrowly avoided a two loss and out scenario by defeating his opponent, fellow young gun, Charlie Williams (Photo #10).  Williams, "The Korean Dragon" suffered a heartbreaking loss after battling back from a 9-5 deficit to come within 2 balls of winning the hill-hill game.

Yugoslavian native, Romana Dokovic was defeated by 11th ranked and fast rising WPBA star, Monica Webb; while Nesli O'Hare lost to Vivian Villarreal after being on the hill well ahead of "The Texas Tornado".

Day Session match results:

Men's Division
Varner def. Pruden 11-3
Deuel def. Glass 11-9
Hopkins def. Michaels 11-7
Ashford def. Saldana 11-4
Brienza def. Coulter 11-9
Chamat def. Wells 11-9
Archer def. Budd 11-4
Martinez def. Robles 11-9
Daulton def. Dominquez 11-9
Frank def. Williams 11-10
Gallahan def. Lely 11-9
Salvas def. Massey 11-9
Rempe def. Hsia 11-5
Saez def. kang 11-4
Vickery def. Butera 11-4
Ignacio def. Stephen 11-5

Women's Division
Gray def. Biddle 9-7
Webb def. Dokovic 9-5
M. Smith def. Schwartzreich 9-7
Lin def. Dawson 9-6
Seaver def. Vaillancourt 9-8
McWorter def. Tidwell 9-6
Villarreal def. O'Hare 9-8
Stauch def. Sessions 9-7
Mancini def. Lave 9-3
Weis def. Engh 9-5
Crimi def. Seto 9-8
Minor def. T. Jones 9-8
Gaughran def. Rego 9-4
Kuczma def. Dickerson 9-2
L. Smith def. Merkin 9-0
Yurino def. Carter 9-7

In the women's division, only two seeded players fell out of the winner's bracket.  # 10 seed, Japan's Akimi Kajitani was defeated by # 7 seed, Ewa Laurance while # 9 seed, Jeanette Lee literally threw in a white towel to surrender to opponent Robin Dodson when it appeared Robin had a straight shot on the nine ball in the final match.

The sentimental match of the evening featured Nikki Benish (photo #11), who after two years away from professional competition has come back with a svelte appearance and a focus to win. Though she is still in the tournament, she was sent to the one-loss side this evening when she was defeated by her long time mentor, # 11 seed, Loree Jon Jones.

Evening session match results:

Men's Division
Toshikawa def. Bustamante 11-9
Luat def. Watson 11-4
Kucharo def. Engert 11-10
Davenport def. San Soucci 11-4
Hernandez def. Horsfall 11-9
Morra def. Jones 11-6
Parica def. Wiseman 11-5
Reyes def. Paez 11-3
Rempe def. Aragon 11-4
Kang def. Hemmah 11-10
LeBron def. Vickery 11-9
Ignacio def. Ortmann 11-10

Women's Division
Fisher def. Paski 9-3
Dodson def. Lee 9-7
Little def. Mayet 9-8
Kjorsvik def. Pippin 9-8
Thornfeldt def. White 9-5
L.J. Jones def. Benish 9-7
Laurance def. Kajitani 9-7
Corr def. Campos 9-3
Ellerby def. Gaughran 9-1
Kelly def. Kuczma 9-3
Smith def. Herndon 9-5
Ng def. Yurino 9-5

Day four of competition promises to be filled with intensity and excitement as the remaining one-loss players face a grueling schedule.