Good thing. The tarot cards would have told Fisher she was in for a nerve-wracking evening. The defending world champion saw a 10-7 lead evaporate, and had to endure a nail-biting final rack to advance to the final four on Sunday with an 11-10 victory.

After trading safeties in the case game, Fisher speared a table-length bank on the 3 ball, and carefully manuevered her way through the final balls for the win.

"I never feel like I'm not going to get another shot at the table," said Fisher. "And once I get to the table, I get another shot I know that either you get there or you don't. You just try to control yourself. The balls were there for me. If I screw up, it's my own fault." For Hofstatter, the loss was disappointing, but not heartbreaking.

"I'm not that upset, because the match was a lot of fun," said the Austrian-born Hofstatter. "I came back, and she made some incredible shots under pressure. I wish I had played better early in the match. I started out a little nervous because I haven't p layed well in front of a big crowd in a while."

Fisher, playing for Europe under the Union Jack flag, will face Sweden's Helena Thornfeldt in the final. Thornfeldt rolled over Taiwan's Hsin Mei Liu, 11-2. In the other two quarterfinal matches, Jennifer Chen slid past Jeanette Lee 11-8, even though she gave away two games early in the contest on a missed 9 in one and a missed 8 in another. Chen, however, remained confident. "I felt like I could beat her," s he said, "but I kept missing those easy shots." Chen also stated that the Taiwanese government, in their recognition of pool as major sport in their country, will pay her at least the equivalent of US$40,000 for her entrance into the semifinals. The amoun t may grow the farther she advances.

On the men's side, Johnny Archer and Reed Pierce will meet each other in one men's semifinal after Archer dispatched Immonen 13-8, while Pierce ground out his win over roommate Jimmy Wetch, 13-11. Ralf Souquet plays Kun Fang Lee of the Republic of China i n the other semifinal match.

Finally, in the early Sunday hours of the WPA World 9-Ball Junior Championship finals, Christian Gotemann of Germany defeated Sheng Chang Huang, 11-9, in a grueling exchange that tested both player's safety abilities, as well as their stamina. With men's and women's matches ending late, the junior test didn't end until 1:30 a.m. Gotemann trailed Huang 9-7 at one point, before running three racks to take the lead, 10-9. Both players traded safeties in the final game until Gotemann finally saw daylight and ran out for victory.