U.S Open Day 5 Evening Update: Boyes & Cheng Remain Undefeated

Karl Boyes 

By: Markus Noé

Tonight we were treated to some great matches as play continued down to the the final four. In the the first match of the night which was slightly delayed because of the hall of fame induction of Oliver Ortmann, we saw Justin Bergman and Liu Haitao in the losers bracket. As was mentioned in the afternoon update Bergman was playing at a high level in this tournament and looked to keep his U.S Open and Mosconi Cup hopes alive.

This match was back and forth in the beginning however Bergman's breaks seemed to have left him which proved costly. Haitao cleaned up a few of Bergman's dry breaks and broke and ran a few of his own to build up a healthy lead. Bergman fought back to 10-8 after being down 10-6 however his lack of break combined with a ill advised cross side on the 5 ball was enough to cost him the match 11-8. Overall it was an impressive tournament and if he did not have enough points I think he played well enough to have earned himself the captains pick for the Mosconi Cup.

Next to appear on the Accu-Stats stream was a winner side final four match between Jayson Shaw and Karl Boyes. This was a very intriguing pairing because it was a true clash of styles. Shaw is well known for his fast past and laser like accuracy and has more of a gunslinger type feel to his game. While Boyes is very thoughtful and deliberate in his approach. The 3 time reigning Turning Stone Champion came out unusually timid in this match  and made several errors, while Boyes came out shooting .975 Accu-Stat rating after 13 racks to be up 8-5.

At 9-6 the tide began to change as a few mistakes and some bad rolls gave Shaw life and before you know it was 9-9. On one hand you had a player thinking his way through racks and taking quiet some time to build this lead and within minutes with Shaw's quick pace it was erased in a matter of minutes. Shaw ended up going up 10-9 but was unable to secure the last rack and at double hill Boyes broke and ran out for the 11-10 win and to guarantee himself a top 3 finish. This has been a great bounce back for Boyes on the major tournament scene who has not been playing to his standard for sometime now according to his friend Darren Appleton who was commentating on this match.

Hsu Kai-Lun

The other final four winner side match saw two players from Chinese-Taipei meet up, Hsu Kai-Lun and Cheng Yu Hsuan. This match was not on the stream but from the live updates on www.azbilliard.com. Hsuan had a sizable lead most of the match with Lun catching up at the end but falling short 11-8.  Lun had to play immediately against Liu Hai-tao while Shaw had to play against the resurgent Ralf Souquet. At the time this article is being written both these matches are currently in progress. The two winners will join the final two on the winners side tomorrow to find out who will be the first newly crowned champion in three years. Check the brackets at www.azbilliards.com  to see who won. The final day of the U.S Open will start in the early afternoon. Check back with Cue Sport Nation tomorrow for exact matches and times.


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