By: Markus Noé
Day 4 is now in the books, and what an action packed day it was. There were several match-ups today that could have easily been played as finals, which is a testament to the talent packed field at this years U.S Open. Many are calling this 126 player field the strongest ever assembled during the 39 year storied history of this event.
In the 10:30 am time slot, Cue Sport Nations own Erik Hjorleifson had a tough match on the 1 loss side against Oscar Dominquez. Hjorleifson who was admittedly in fine form, suffered another close loss 11-9 after losing to Jason Klatt 11-10 the day before. Dominguez celebration was short lived however as he was eliminated in the next round against Imran Majid.
On the Accu-Stats stream, which has provided top quality coverage all week, it was a day of blow outs. The first one I was witnessed was Johnny Archer eliminating Sky Woodward 11-5. This match started off with a fortunate roll for Archer which he pounced on and before you could blink he had Woodward stuck 7-0 down. From there the young talent fought back a bit, but in the end the experience of Archer was too much.
The next match was one that had the attention of all the fans as Dennis Orcollo took on legend Efren Reyes. This had people talking before the match because not only was this a match-up between two of greatest Filipino players to ever hold a cue, but they were both still on the winners side. Unfortunately in this match for Reyes fans, his age showed a bit as a few mental errors combined with a few missed long shots cost him the match 11-5.
Orcollo is off to play one of the only Americans left on the winners side Mike"Fireball" Dechaine. Dechaine defeated Canadian Jason Klatt 11-8 sending him to the 1 loss side, where he joins fellow Canadian John Morra as the last two canucks remaining.
The last streamed match of the day, which could have easily been a final for this tournament, was between Mika Immonen and Niels Feijen. The "Iceman" as Mika is known, was in tough from the start by not getting the rolls early on. Current World Champion Feijen, who does not need any help was never leaving Immonen a shot whether intentional or not. Midway though this set an error on a jump shot by Immonen caused him to hit the table shattering his shaft. Never really regaining his composure in this match he went on to lose 11-7.
While this match was on the stream the crowd could be heard celebrating a 11-10 win for Shane Van Boening. This was the second time the current back to back U.S Open Champion dodged a hill match. He is now in the final 8 of the winners side where he will play Karl Boyes, who beat Darren Appleton 11-1.
Also in the 10:30 pm slot there was an upset of sorts as the recent Turning Stone Champion Jayson Shaw fell to Raj Hundal 11-9 ending his bid for this year. Tomorrow a key match-up will take place on the losers side between Earl Strickland and Waleed Al-hassan who is the best player from Qatar.
Waleed has been turning a lot of heads this year, finishing in quarter-finals of the World Championships and following it up with a deep run at the this years Open. He got the praise from John Schmidt as he eliminated him 11-2. Come back tomorrow as we will have the results on what will be an exciting day 5 at the U.S Open.
Notable Scorlines
EfrenReyes 5 - Dennis Orcollo 11
Rodney Morris 3 - Daryl Peach 11
Sky Woodward 5 - Johnny Archer 11
Chris Bartram 7 - Earl Strickland 11
Jayson Shaw 9 Raj - Hundal 11
Albing Ouschan 8 - Jeremy Sossei 11
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