U.S Open Day 4: Ko Pin Yi,Pagulayan, and Strickland Eliminated

Kenichi Uchigaki

By: Markus Noé

Play resumed this morning at 10:30 am at the 40th edition of the U.S Open Championships. This morning's and afternoon's sessions featured the losers side of the bracket and there were many big names trying to avoid an early exit. Ko Pin Yi found himself on the wrong end of a double hill match losing 11-10 to Kenichi Uchigaki.

This match was played in the 12:30 pm time slot and was aired on the Accu-Stats stream. Uchigaki won the lag and got off to a dream start against the world number one ranked player 4-0. In the fifth rack he broke and had a really tough decision on the one ball. It was tied up and there was no chance to pot the ball and there was really not much in the form of a safety shot either. On the T.V. table there is a 40 second shot clock and each player is permitted one 40 second extension. I assumed that the extension would automatically kick in and I think that is what Uchigaki thought as well.

However apparently in the last 10 seconds of the shot clock the table referee asks if you would like your extension. In this case Uchigaki had his ear plugs in and did not hear the request and after some deliberation Ko Pin Yi had a ball in hand. In a big match on the losers side of the bracket it's unfortunate this would have to happen. After that Ko Pin Yi did not tie it up right away but the match kind of lost its luster as these two great players seemed to be out of rhythm.

The other thing that struck me as strange was the video replay for the break rule they have in place. The rule is that 3 balls need to need to pass the side pocket or be potted to be considered a legal break. That is fine as it is in place to discourage soft breaking. However no other table has video review so I feel it should not be used and the table referee should make the call. I find it odd that in such a big tournament that one table has a shot clock and video review and the other tables do not. I just feel pool is hard enough on its own it does not need to be complicated further. And with these two players, English is not their first language so it complicates things even more. In the end Uchigaki showed impeccable mental strength gutting out the 11-10 win.

Former World 9 Ball Champion and U.S Open Champion Alex Pagulayan also had his hopes dashed today. He was up against Li He Wen, a very tough opponent and was unable to keep his run alive losing 11-7. I watched Pagulayan's second round match against Alex Kazakis and he did not look comfortable at all. Based on that performance it looked like he was in tough to do well this week.

Jeffery Ignacio 

One of my favorites, the highly controversial Earl Strickland was also eliminated today by Jeffery Ignacio. As always he did not go down quietly saying all sorts of things to the crowd and to his opponent who luckily might not understand everything he was saying. Strickland complained about his bad break, Ignacio's good break, his bad luck and how the crowd is generally against him. Really nothing out of the ordinary for the "Pearl." Despite his displeasure with losing, Ignacio never gave in and beat him easily 11-5.

Jundel Mazon

The last match on the stream before the dinner break was Jundel Mazon vs Brandon Shuff. Mazon got up early in this match and never let Shuff into the match, easily eliminating him 11-5. The action tonight starts at 7:00 pm and promises to be a great night of watching pool. Listed below are  the three matches that will appear on the Accu-Stats stream. For those not watching the stream the Cue Sport Nation Facebook page is a great place to keep up to date. I will not be releasing another article today but will update the matches throughout the night on Facebook. Also you can follow along at www.azbilliards.com as they have live scoring of each match.




Notable Scores:

J. Ignacio 11 vs E. Strickland 5                        
K. Uchigaki 11 vs Ko Pin Yi 10
T. Drago 11 vs J. Sossei 8
LI H.W 11 vs A. Pagulayan 7
SANCHEZ-RUIZ F.11 vs I. Putnik 10
I.Ignacio 11 vs S. Wilkie 6
N. Feijen 11 vs DO TKD 8
F. Felicilda 11 vs Jorge Rodriguez 6
J. Roberts 11 vs Dagas Ma 4