Bustamante Heats Things Up at U.S. Open Warm Up

Getting into fine form at the Planet Pool 9-Ball Tour’s U.S. Open warm up, Francisco Bustamante met and defeated world-ranked number o­ne Ralf Souquet in the final match at the $4,000-added event.  The field was open to the first 64 players, and every last spot was filled as players flocked to Great Slates in Cambridge, MD, September 4-5, 2004.

Santos Sambajon kept the match for fourth placed against Allen Hopkins in his control, repeating his win of their match earlier in the day when Hopkins was sent to the o­ne-loss side with a 9-6 win by Sambajon.  Hopkins made the most of his opportunity of a rematch by taking it hill-hill before Sambajon took the final match 7-6.

The hot seat match between Souquet and Bustamante was fairly o­ne-sided, with Bustamante winning the match while his opponent trailed at 2.  Souquet demonstrated why he was number o­ne in the world, though, when he made an impressive comeback bid against Sambajon in the match for third place.  Sambajon started the match playing perfectly, getting out to a 6-0 lead in the race to 7 but handed the table to Souquet in rack seven when he scratched o­n the break.  Souquet ran four racks without his opponent even getting to the table to close the deficit 6-4.  Sambajon made it to the table in the next two games but could not get past Souquet’s safeties to claim either of them to clinch the win.  He could o­nly watch in amazement as his lead slipped away, and Souquet came back with seven straight racks to take the win 7-6.

Meeting up again in the final match, Bustamante was in command when he faced off against Souquet.  o­ne spectator speculated that the tough match against Sambajon in the semifinals must have taken it out of Souquet because “Busta” jumped out to a 3-0 lead.  The players then traded racks to bring the score to 4-1, but Bustamante soon raced into the lead again, making it to nine while Souquet trailed at two.  Souquet tried getting back into the game with a similar comeback that he displayed in the previous match but it wasn’t enough.  Bustamante took the final racks he needed for the win, defeating Souquet 11-6.

Results:
1st Francisco Bustamante $2,000
2nd Ralf Souquet $1,200
3rd Santos Sambajon $750
4th Allen Hopkins $500