"I started out well here," said the 27-year-old former women's world snooker champion, who just recently bought a house in her adopted American home, Chalrotte, N.C.. "But I'm not at my best yet. Hopefully, my best games will come in the next few matches."

When asked if the shift to single elimination play at the final 16 added pressure to the matches, Fisher responded, "It does make every match a little more nervy, but I came from a game [snooker] that had nothing but single elimination tournaments." (Most tournaments on the American, European and Asian pocket billiard circuits use double-elimination formats.)

Next up for Fisher is a familiar foe, fellow European transplant and Women's Professional Billiard Association star Gerda Hofstatter. Fisher and Hofstatter shared an apartment in North Carolina when Fisher first came to the U.S. in 1994.

Hofstatter advanced by dealing a similar shellacking to American Robin Dodson, 11-6. (Ten of the final 16 women are regulars on the WPBA Classic Tour in the U.S.) Hofstatter led the match at one point, 9-1.

In other action in the women's division, Sweden's Helena Thornfeldt, another WPBA regular, pummelled American Loree Jon Jones, 11-4, while American Jeanette Lee stopped Taiwan's Ying Ya Lin, 11-3. Taiwan' Chun-Chen Chen, who plays in America as Jennifer Chen, topped American Vivian Villarreal, 11-7. Japan's Akimi Kajitani and Germany's Rank complete the Elite Eight.

Action in the women's division resumes Saturday evening.

The contingent of Asian men continued their impressive showing early Saturday, as Taiwan's Jun Fang Lee and Ming-Wei Chien, and Japan's Kunihiko Takahashi advanced. Lee topped Germany's Andreas Vondenhoff, Chien beat American CJ Wiley, and Takahashi knocked countryman and 1994 WPA champ Takeshi Okumura out of the event. Defending champion Ralf Souquet of Germany kept his hopes of repeating alive with a 13-9 win over W.C. Chen of Taiwan.