CHAMAT SURPRISES STRICKLAND
Mike Panozzo
Thursday, May 18, 9:30 PM CST

With the nerves of a steeled veteran, 25-year-old Marcus Chamat picked through a tricky case game to upend fourth-seeded Earl Strickland, 11-10, to advance to the final four in the winner's bracket of the 2000 Billiard Congress of America Open 9-Ball Championships at the Riviera Hotel/Casino Thursday afternoon. The young Swede, seeded 11th in the 64-player field, overcame a 9-7 deficit to pull off the win in front of a packed crowd in the Riviera penthouse ballroom. 

The crowd cheered every shot by the foreign challenger, who battled both Strickland's game and running commentary throughout the match. Chamat, the current European 9-ball champion, advances to play top-seeded Johnny Archer Thursday night. Archer posted an 11-3 win over former world champion Fong Pang Chao of Chinese Taipei. Shannon Daulton, an 11-5 winner over Jon Kucharo, will meet defending champion George "Ginky" SanSouci in the other winner's bracket semifinal. SanSouci pitched a perfect 11-0 shutout against Germany's Ralf Souquet Thursday to advance.

In the women's division of the $160,000 tournament, defending champion and No. 1 seed Allison Fisher pounded Sweden's Helena Thornfeldt, 9-2, to reach the winner's bracket semifinal. Fisher will meet fourth-seeded Vivian Villarreal, a 9-5 winner over Japan's Akimi Kajitani. Completing a sweep by the top four seeds in the ladies' division, second-seeded Gerda Hofstatter beat Jennifer Chen, 9-5, while third-seeded Karen Corr thumped Dawn Hopkins, 9-4.

The second annual BCA event will feature semifinal matches on Friday, with the championship matches scheduled for Saturday afternoon.