A cozy 20 man MNT last night saw races to 7 all the way,three newcomers hit the baize - Cedric Huang, Gabriel Welham, and Freddie Young – a couple of hill hill battles drawn out longer than this winter, and some veritable thrashings.
With Jedi Jamma away in Rio and Tash still counting his recent winnings, this week had the flair of Rod Altes (massive early tournament favourite at 6/5) at the helm, the new-school OG, Sunny Boy Garib (9/4) nipping on his heels, and Gabriel (3/1) and Ciprian (10/3) hanging onto their coat tails bidding for their second title of 2023.
Henri the Hammer Linnainmaa started us off against Freddie Young on the not-so-bucket Brunswick, and after a screaming clearance by Young and a rock solid reply from the Fin to level it up, there was a feeling it'd be a doozie. Toe to toe they battled, with patches of well executed safety and the odd rail shot rattle, neither would yield as other matches started, finished, and restarted around them.
Meanwhile, on table 1, Ciprian warmed up his cue arm against Peter Hsu in double quick time, as did God did on table 6 vs Arul, both sacrificing their opponents on the poolfurnace, 7 racks to 1.
Meanwhile, on table 6, Ali took a storming lead against Gabriel and missed position for a 3-0 and was made to pay(painful reminders, on the same table, of Andy C fluffing a bank for 3-0 up against Ram in a race to 4, 10 ball – history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes).
At 5-6 down Ali had another 6, 7, 8, 9 to rock to hill hill but as so often happens in American 9 ball, losing a fraction of position on the 7 led to a 50-50 pot which he made, and was left slightly out of place on the 8 ball but left a tough 9, where the jaws were waiting and that was all she wrote, Gabriel advancing 7-5.
Back to the Henri Freddie saga and we re-join them for a tense 9th frame, locked in at 4-4, both refusing to take risks to leave t’other on. Freddie, a mainstay on the GB9 tour, was itching for the win to start his MNT career and eventually eyed a long 7 ball to go for. But the Brunswick is a cruel mistress, rejecting his advances. Henri had no problem hammering the last the three and taking the lead. The next three frames were tentative and defensive but Freddy the Great slid on in to take them all, winning as he did, 7-5.
In the last of the first rounds, table 1 was graced with the flow of Mr. Andrew Phan himself, taking on Genghis Khan. A classic battle of styles, Khan sliding around in slow motion in his new belt and Andrew gliding balls in like he’s on a practice table. Phan took the lead and held it all the way to the bank, but stopped just outside to smell the roses. At 6-4 up he dogged a couple and let in The Khan, who snagged three in a row for the win.
Second rounds saw Freddie Young face off against the mighty Saman – a battle destined to reach another tense final frame, Cedric Huang take on Ali Haidery, Ciprian play Gabriel Welham, Sunny v The Destroyer, Banks v Khan, Dan Jenkins v Gabriel Vasilache, and the King of Tier 2, Marius Dandu vs Ranj Sarraj.
Saman, the most improved player of 2022, had been struggling with form of late and this bout tested his mettle all the way, finally fingering Freddie 7 racks to 6 for a place in the quarters.
Table 4 saw Cedric and Ali H face off and another marathon 12 frames saw them locked at 6-6, and the newcomer edged it with a creamy finish.
Ciprian won his match without dropping a rack before any of the crowds had gathered, leaving Gabriel Welman left to rue his few chances. Cip was seen smiling after the match but offered no words. He’s a ‘pool does the talking’ kind of man. That’s 14 frames to 1 entering the quarters for the man in form.
Banks crushed a tired Khan 7-2 and obviously didn’t read his 2022 end of term report as Khan, with no hint of bitterness,rightly complained to the authorities of Curzon’s rampant running in the corridors.
Dan entered his match with Gabriel already resigned to losing. Head held low he didn’t look confident as Gabriel slaughtered him, also 7-2.
Ranj was facing the lady’s favourite, Marius Dandu, and wasn’t about to let young Dandu’s reputation put him off, screaming ahead 6-3, before finishing him off in style.
So the quarters:
Saman v Cedric; Cip v Sunny; Andy C v Rod; Gabriel v Ranj.
Unfortunately Andy and Ranj couldn’t take the heat and keep up their first round form as God smited Banks 7-2 and Gabriel announced Ranj dead after 8 frames, winning 7-1.
Cedric vs the might of Saman saw the newcomer fall to his knees at 5-7 rueing his white ball position nearing the end of the match.
The game of the quarters was definitely Cip v Sunny. Sunny has beaten Ram and Rod on the way to a final, and has been putting in some impressive performances along the way, and Cip’s been tightening his game up so it was all to play for. Sunny Boy snuck an early lead, and went up by a couple as Cip fought back, but the Boy took the bull by the horns and prevailed 7-5.
Sunny continued this into the semis, mutilating the mighty Saman 7-4, as Rod came through a tough one 7-5 vs last week’s champ, Gabriel.
And so we had a final: Sunny Boy G vs Rod Altes. Hill hillwas the only option with two men of such calibre and bottle. Rod found it in the end and took the tourney 7-6, leaving Sunny Boy having lost two finals this year hill hill, joining Martinho Correia in the many-finals-but-without-a-win club.
When will Sunny Boy G become the man? Is he just toying with us all to keep a low profile?
Tune in next week – that’s all folks!