Music City champion Jonathan Pinegar began with a pair of 9-1 victories over Matt Williams o­n Friday and then “Little Robert” o­n Saturday afternoon. His next opponent, though, Charlie Brinson, proved a bit more than he had bargained for, as Brinson dropped him to the o­ne-loss bracket 9-5. Pinegar then topped Nat Green, 9-6 to stay alive for Sunday’s action.Memphis Open winner James Baraks also began smoothly, beating Brandon White and Lawrence Garner in short order. Then he ran into a buzzsaw named Russ Edwards, and the two locked horns for a marathon session. Baraks finally took the lead in a seesaw contest, o­nly to see Edwards come back to hill-hill. Then, with the match in hand, Edwards missed a corner 8 ball, and Baraks exhaled, sized up the situation, and ran the last two balls for the victory, 9-8.Others in memorable action included Corey Deuel, winner of the “mini” o­n Thursday, and Daulton himself. Deuel lost a tough match to Brian Butler, then rebounded to topple Jeff Abernathy 9-6. Daulton escaped a strong challenge from Ronnie Wiseman as well before surviving 9-7. He then went down to Nat Green 9-6.Sunday at 1:00 p.m. the final eight survivors from the o­ne-loss bracket square off: Butler vs. Edwards; Deuel vs. Nick Hickerson; Hennessee vs. Rob Ganote; and Roger Hawkins vs. Dallas Roach, in a match of local Knoxvillians. An hour later, the winners’ bracket faces off: Powers vs. Brenson; Baraks vs. John Boutwell; Scott Hafley vs. Putnam; and Johnny Carson vs. Bowman.

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