Bustamante Busts Appleton

By admin
for InsidePOOLmag.com

Published: October 22, 2008

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Bustamante Busts Appleton
U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships / Chesapeake, VA

Filipino billiards sensation Francisco "Django" Bustamante defeated newly crowned world 10-ball champion Darren "Dynamite" Appleton at the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship.

The winners’-bracket matches kicked off the evening session of the 33rd Annual U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships, leaving 16 players undefeated to return Thursday evening.

Recently crowned 10-ball champion Darren “Dynamite” Appleton was sent west by crowd favorite Francisco Bustamante after their winners’-bracket match. Appleton took the first two racks but lost a safety battle in the third game, giving Bustamante the momentum to forge ahead 5-2. Put to the test, Appleton tied up the score at 5 apiece. They traded the next few racks to make it 7-6 in Bustamante’s favor, and then “Django” pocketed the 2-9 combo. A miss by Appleton on an easy 1 ball in the next rack made it 9-6 Bustamante. Rattled, Appleton did not win another game, and Bustamante won 11-6.

A slow start did not bode well for Shannon Daulton in his match against Filipino phenom Lee Van Corteza. In the first rack Daulton missed hitting a very tough 9 ball by a hair, and from there it was a slow grind, with no player having more than a two-rack lead. Finally the score reached 10-9 in Corteza’s favor after he played a 2-9 combo to reach the hill, and Corteza swept the last rack as well to win the match.

A strong opening bid of 5-0 for Josh Lewis led to surprising results in his match against the 22-year-old Oscar Dominguez. Dominguez took advantage of Lewis’ empty breaks to bring the score to 6-3 and then knot the score at 8-all. Finally it seesawed to double-hill, at which point Lewis missed the 1 ball, which was hanging in the corner. Dominguez had an easy run through the 7 ball but was left with a tricky shot on the 8, but he hit it perfectly and won the match 11-10.

View the 2008 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship tournament brackets (updated after each round)

View the 2008 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship image gallery

See the 2008 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship Live

See the 2008 U.S. Open live

Former U.S. Open champion Jeremy “Double J” Jones was sent to the left side after his match against Sam Monday. Down throughout the match, at 9-7, Jones snookered himself on the 3 ball to hand that game to Monday, who then broke and ran out the final rack, winning 11-7.

Virginia State champion Eric Moore played in the one-loss side Wednesday against Florida’s Hunter Lombardo and came out ahead. Moore suffered a second-round loss to Larry Nevel 11-3 and has been making a comeback from the west side, defeating Rick Hamlin 11-2. His match against Lombardo was one-sided—Moore had a 10-1 lead before Lombardo put three more racks under his belt. At 10-4, Lombardo missed a thin cut on the 2 ball, and Moore cleared for the win.

K F Cues Open and Amateur 9-Ball Tours will be having two events this weekend at Stroker’s Billiards in Palm Harbor, FL. For more information, please contact 727-786-6683.

The Tiger Tour is also having an event this weekend. Diamond Billiards in Midlothian, VA, is hosting their $2,500-added tour stop. For information, please call 804-794-8787.

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