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Headstring News
The Closer: Fisher wins three of four WPBA events to polish off 2007 season
Nov 14, 2007, 11:58 AM
 | | Fisher made it back-to-back WPBA National 9-Ball Championships over the weekend. |
The format for the 2007 WPBA National 9-Ball Championship may have changed, but the result sure didn't. For the seventh time in her career, Allison Fisher won the national title, besting Kelly Fisher in a lop-sided final to take her third title of the year.
Beginning with a round-robin play for the first time in WPBA history, the National Championship — held Nov. 7-11 at the Chinook WInds Casino in Lincoln City, Ore. — had a 48-player field, slightly trimmed down from the normal 64 competitors.
As if it mattered with a red-hot Fisher atop the seedings. After back-to-back wins in June and August, she finished second to Karen Corr at last month's Midwest Classic. This time around, Fisher easily advanced from group play into the single-elimination round-of-16.
WIthout much resistance, Fisher breezed through Sarah Rousey, Hsin Huang and Jeanette Lee, to take a spot in her fifth-straight final.
Opposite Allison, Kelly Fisher topped Xiaoting Pan, 9-6, in the quarterfinal, then eked past Ga-Young Kim, 7-6. The second all-Fisher final of 2007 (after matching up at the U.S. Open) was all Allison. She ran to a 6-1 lead before closing the 2007 year with a 7-2 victory.
WPBA officials, experimenting with the 48-player round-robin opening round, will be discussing the possibility of implementing the new format for more events in 2008. Currently, next year's National Championship is the only event scheduled to feature the new format.
In another major attempt to restyle the WPBA, tour officials have decided to wipe clean the rankings for 2008. Amazingly enough, all players will begin with zero points, with seeding based on player performance in the four previous events.
The change appears to be an attempt to allow new faces on the tour to become more of a presence — a tough task with Fisher looking completely in-stroke.
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