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Billiards: The Women's U.S. Open 9-ball Championships brings the world's top players to Albuquerque
Photo by Craig FritzTribune
Tribune
Megan Minerich can't quite get the billiard balls racked to her liking during a match against Kathleen Lawless. Minerich won that match Friday before losing to Jennifer Chen at the Women's U.S. Open 9-ball Championships at Sandia Casino and Resort.
Photo by Craig FritzTribune
Tribune
Players compete on Friday in the Women's U.S. Open 9-ball Championships at Sandia Casino and Resort. The world's top players have descended on Albuquerque this weekend, including Allison Fisher, last year's winner.
LOCAL CONNECTION
Two Albuquerque players competed in the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships at Sandia Resort and Casino:
Anna Kostanian lost in the first round to second-seeded Karen Corr, but went on a two-match winning streak to reach the round of 32, where she lost 9-7 to Sarah Ellerby, the tournament's 10th seed, late Friday night.
Ramona Biddle won her first match but lost in the second round to Supadra Boonpasook on Friday afternoon.
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By 11 o'clock Friday night, Anna Kostanian's feet hurt.
The 19-year-old from Albuquerque had just finished her third billiards match of a day that started at 11 in the morning at the U.S. Open 9-ball Championships at Sandia Resort & Casino.
Her spirits were still high, but she had just run into Sarah Ellerby, and the tournament's 10th seed found a hot hand and stopped Kostanian's bid to reach the round of 16.
"She really picked up her game," said Kostanian, who had jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the match before succumbing 9-7. "I missed on a 5-ball that cost me the match."
In the end, Ellerby, clinging to an 8-7 lead, won a cat-and-mouse contest over the 3-ball and then ran the table to close out the match.
The tournament's quarterfinals continue today. The semifinals and finals are Sunday. All matches on both days will be taped by ESPN for broadcast next month.
Kostanian probably won't be watching ESPN in November, because during the week the shows are scheduled to air she'll be in Sydney, Australia. She and six other teens are representing the United States at the World Pool-Billiard Association's annual World Junior Championships.
For a while on Friday, Kostanian, who is a shade under 5 feet, stood tall with the senior members of the billiards circuit.
The world's top players have descended on Albuquerque this weekend, including Allison Fisher, last year's winner. Fisher coasted Friday against Wendy Jans to advance to today's quarterfinals.
Two of the game's most recognizable faces, Jeanette Lee and Ewa Laurance, were sent home Friday night.
Lee, seeded seventh, lost back-to-back matches to 14th-seeded Kim Shaw and "Texas Tornado" Vivian Villarreal, the sixth seed, in the double-elimination tournament.
Laurance is semi-retired and said it takes her longer now to find the sharp end of her cue, which explains how she ended up in the losers' bracket.
"I have a horrible disease called Can't-make-first-shot-of-the-first-match Disease," Laurance said. "It takes me a while to get to that can't-miss-a-shot mentality."
She found her groove for a while Friday and won two matches before succumbing to Monica Webb, the third seed.
Villarreal, a crowd favorite, isn't accustomed to the losers' bracket, either, but she rose to the task of winning four matches in one day. That's what the players like her and Kostanian, who lost in the early rounds, had to do to reach today's quarterfinals and the TV lights.
"It's tough, especially with the players I've drawn," Villarreal said. "I'm in a tough bracket."
On Friday, she knocked off the fifth seed, Ga-Young Kim; the seventh seed (Lee); and the ninth seed, Gerda Hofstatter.
Kostanian hopes to tread in that territory someday. She said she is putting in three or four hours a day at her family's pool hall, the Billiard Palace at Wyoming and Menaul.
She showed more confidence than at last year's U.S. Open, when she went out in the early rounds.
"I'm more focused this year," Kostanian said. "More serious."
She had the hometown crowd behind her Friday.
"My game always goes up when I play here," she said.
She admitted it's a chore to play three or four matches in one day. Some matches can drag on for two hours.
"It's tiring, I'll tell you that," she said. "You're really tired after playing three matches. It's physically tiring. My feet hurt."
When reminded that Ellerby, the one who knocked her out, is sponsored by Puma, Kostanian laughed.
"I should go buy a pair of those," she said.
