BCA Pro 9-Ball Open Day 5
May 18, 2001 1:32 PM EST

No one should be surprised that Karen Corr, Allison Fisher and Jeanette Lee are the three women remaining in the hunt for the top prize at the $180,000 Billiard Congress of America Pro 9-Ball Open in Las Vegas; Corr is on a hot streak not seen since Fisher started her rise to the top of the charts. 

And, in fact, Fisher and Corr were the two remaining undefeated players until  last night when Corr earned herself a day off for good behavior when she defeated Fisher in the winners bracket final (the two championship matches -- one for the women's division, one for the men's -- will be played Saturday afternoon, while the semi-final matches will be played at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. today). Tonight Fisher will try to get past losers' bracket winner Lee to earn the right to play on Saturday.

Many fans were pleasantly surprised to Nikki Benish out of retirement, looking fit and ready to tangle with the top talent. She handed Vivian Villarreal a first-round loss, 9-5, then defeated Darlene Stinson, 9-4, before taking a fall to Loree Jon Jones, 9-7. On the left side Benish took out Stacey Hurst 9-6, before falling to Dawn Hopkins, 9-5, for a 17th place finish.

Another pleasant surprise was Coloradoan Melissa Little's campaign that finally ended when Jeanette Lee sent her home with a 7th place check. On her way to her highest finish, Little took out Ramona Biddle, defending champ Gerda Hofstatter, European 9-ball Champion Karen Mayet and European straight-pool champ Line Kjorsvik before running into Fisher, who sent Little to the left.

Most of the surprises in the men's division came early when top players Johnny Archer and Earl Strickland made early exits. To find Kim Davenport, Jose Parica and Cory Deuel still alive on day five might not have been most handicappers' predicition, but Parica has come out on top of this field before (he was the Camel Pro Billiards Association's points champ in 1997) and Davenport has been playing great lately. And of Course, Deuel has shown he is capable of just about anything.

Frankie Hernandez, a much-feared New York City player who has recently moved up to the challenge of international-caliber fields, showed he was up to the 
task with a 7th place finish after beating the likes of Mika Immonen, John Horsfall, and Alex Pagulayan.

Anyone who was at the Masters in Chesapeake, Va., three weeks ago was surprised to see Rafael Martinez up and walking around, never mind in Vegas finishing in 25th place. At the Masters', Martinez left the tournament undefeated to check in to an Emergency Room with a fever of 104 degrees. Two weeks later and 20 pounds lighter, he left the hospital after a near-death experience with a liver infection. Still weak and on medication, Martinez --who really didn't have 20 pounds to spare in the first place -- managed to 
come back from a first-round loss to Jeremy Jones to hand losses to Tony Robles, Neils Feijen and Paul Potier before falling to Ronnie Wiseman.

Semi-final matches tonight and finals tomorrow will be taped for later broadcast by ESPN.

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