In the preliminary rounds, Deuel met up with Lee Van Corteza, the San Miguel 9-Ball Tour’s champion from Manila, Philippines and sent him packing.  Engert, the hottest thing in pool this year, defeated world champion Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan.  Tony “The Silent Assassin” Robles, who won the BCA Open 9-Ball Championship last May, bested former U.S. Open champ Ralf Souquet, and fellow Americans Rodney Morris and Johnny Archer met in the last match, with “Rocket” coming out o­n top after a sudden death match.

In the first semifinal match between Robles and Deuel, “The Prince of Pool” had his soft break working for him and defeated Robles 7-5 in the first set.  The score in the second set was 6-5 Deuel when he came up empty o­n the break, and Robles tied the match o­n the hill.  When Deuel missed the 5 ball down the rail, Robles took the second set 7-6, forcing the match into sudden death.  Deuel won the lag, broke, and ran out for the victory.

Engert and Morris matched up in the second semifinals, with the German taking a quick 4-0 lead.  However, the Hawaiian wasn’t taking that lying down, and he fought back to bring the score to 6-5 Engert.  When Morris missed a bank o­n the 1 ball in the last rack, Engert ran out for his 7-5 win.  Again in the second set, Engert took a commanding 5-2 lead over his opponent, but Morris caught up again and forced a sudden death playoff after his hill-hill victory.  Engert called safe o­n the 1 ball and missed, but Morris pocketed the 1 and scratched, and Engert was home free, headed for the final match with Deuel.

With his soft break and Engert’s obvious fatigue, Deuel was able to completely dominate the first set, o­nly allowing his opponent o­ne game before he won the first set 7-1.  The second set was much closer, but Deuel was confident and cool.  Up 3-1, Deuel played an incredible shot where he drove the 1 ball into the 2 ball and then caromed the 7 ball into the corner, gaining another game.  He got to a 5-2 lead over Engert, who retaliated to bring the score to 6-4, but another break and run by Deuel put the younger player o­n the hill.  Engert got o­ne more rack after a miss o­n the 6 ball by Deuel, but a quick 1-7 combo by Deuel in the last rack saw him the 7-5 victor, claiming his $25,000 first-place prize.

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