Thornfeldt vs Kim In The Quarterfinals of WPBA Event |

Thornfeldt vs Kim In The Quarterfinals of WPBA Event

On August - 1 - 2009

THE 2009 WPBA US OPEN 9 BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

QUARTERFINALS #3

Story & Photos by Anne Craig – WPBA

Helena Thornfeldt vs Ga Young Kim

August 1, 2009: Riverwind Casino, Norman Oklahoma -

The U.S. Open holds fond memories for Helena Thornfeldt as it was at this event she won her last WPBA Title in 2002. For Ga Young Kim, her last win came at the 2007 Carolina Classic at Rocky Mount, NC. Both players arrived at this point in the bracket undefeated, with Helena winning a key match versus Xiaoting Pan in the 3rd round winner’s bracket. Ga Young had a close call in the 2nd round winner’s bracket match against Jennifer Barretta. Jennifer forced Ga Young to hill-hill, but Ga Young triumphed. Who would emerge to continue on to the Semi Finals?

As the player’s entered the arena for the taped introductions, the crowd stood to applaud. The two competitors lagged and Ga Young Kim earned the first break. She pocketed 2 balls with the cue ball coming to rest in front of the 7, forcing her to jack up to make the 1. She did so successfully, drawing back for the 3 but left herself a thin cut. She made the ball but snookered herself behind the 9 forcing her to jump. The crowd cheered as she pocketed the ball in the side and continued on to win the first game of this third quarterfinal match.

Helena pocketed a ball on her break and ran out to a 3/9 combination opportunity. She smiled after she made the 9 and we were tied up at 1 all. Ga Young had the break in game 3 and made 2 balls but was forced to push out. After Helena looked at the shot for a moment, she gave the option back to Ga Young who played a safety. It went back and forth until Ga Young locked the cue ball up behind the 9. Helena kicked one side rail, struck the 1 but the cue ball got loose and ended up scratching in the corner, giving Ga Young ball in hand. Losing a bit of focus, she missed the 5 ball but left Helena with no open shot. Instead, she sliced the 5 into the 6 for an awesome combination. The end result wasn’t pretty as the 5 ball stayed on the rail and the cue ball ended up on the bottom rail. Her safety attempt was very poor, leaving Ga Young an open shot. She took advantage of the error, running out to win game 3, up 2-1.

Helena broke and although she pocketed a ball, her cue ball got loose and scratched in the corner pocket. With ball in hand, Ga Young looked confident as she began running out this rack. Methodically she did so and took a 2 game lead, up 3-1.

Ga Young had the break advantage in the next rack, pocketing a ball with shape on the 1. After making the 1, she overshot her mark a bit on the 2, studying her options carefully as she called her extension. She made the decision to go for the difficult cut shot she faced, but came up short, jawing the object ball. Helena stepped up knowing she needed to run out to keep the match competitive. One by one the object balls fell and as the 9 ball sank the crowd cheered, with the score now 3-2 Ga Young’s lead. Helena would go into game 6 with the break and she did pocket 2 balls. The lie on the 1 though was rough as the cue ball ended up 2 inches from the 1 ball. She went for the extremely thin cut into the side, sending her cue ball flying around the table but missing the one. Ga Young didn’t like the angle on the one that Helena left her, knowing if she tried to play the ball in either the side or the corner pocket, both could potentially end up with the cue ball scratching. She applied extreme draw as she tried the cut into the side pocket but missed the ball, leaving Helena with a long shot down the table into the corner. After having one of the Production Crew move out of her line of sight, Helena confidently pocketed the ball, ending up with a 2/6 combination which she made. Her cue ball went farther than she’d expected, leaving her snookered behind the 9. Helena went rail first, hitting the ball, sending the cue ball up table and hooking Ga Young, who successfully kicked at the ball but left an open shot for Helena. Helena had no problem navigating through the rest of the rack, but was distracted on the 9 and missed, but Ga Young stepped up and missed as well, leaving Helena to finish out the rack and tie up the match at 3 all.

Ga Young stepped up in game 7 and put a break and run on, taking back the 1 game lead, up 4-3. Helena broke in game 8, pocketing a ball but left herself a tough combination, after making the shot, she snookered herself on the one ball, and fouled as she failed to strike the 1 first, which had snuggled up to the 5 ball. Ga Young took ball in hand, but at the 3 ball, was displeased with the position she’d attained. In the end in didn’t matter as she came around 2 rails for the 4 and continued on to finish out the rack to take a 2 game lead, up 5-3 and would go into game 9 with the break. While she pocketed a ball, 5 of the object balls lined up like a practice drill near the foot spot. She seemed unconcerned even though she found herself straight in on the 3 ball. She played a beautiful force draw shot to get shape on the 6, moving on to the 7, and then the 8/9 combination which she made easily, reaching the hill, 6-3. Helena had the break in game 10 but failed to pocket a ball and Ga Young stepped up and ran the rack and finish out the match to advance to the Semi Finals, winning 7-3.