APPLETON BEATS OHI, LEE TAKES DOWN SOUQUET TO SET UP FINALS CLASH IN DOHA
After clocking in workmanlike performances, England’s Darren Appleton and China’s Lee He Wen have advanced to the final of the 2012 WPA World Pool Championship in Doha, Qatar.
The two will face each other in a race to 13, alternate break final which will begin at 6pm Doha time,(GMT +3). The winner will receive $40,000 while the runner up will take home $20,000.
As he has all week, Appleton put in an all around solid showing in his match against Japans Naoyuki Ohi. Ohi had come into the final playing perhaps the slickest pool out of all 128 player in the field. The 29 year old from Osaka had been dealt a very tough draw and performed brilliantly in each match.
While Appleton had been playing his usual solid pool, he also got very fortunate in the round of 32, when he barely escaped against New Zealand upstart, Matthew Edwards, 11-10, when Edwards inexplicably left an open table in the final rack.
But anyone who knows pool at the championship level knows that often times the eventual champion has had miracle escapes somewhere along the way to the crown.
Appleton didn’t leave anything to chance in his match with Ohi. The two played the first four racks perfectly, each breaking and running the balls twice. Ohi took the lead in the next frame but that was the last he saw of the lead.
Appleton caught Ohi at 4 then pulled a two prong strategy to take the match home; he stepped on the gas and he also kept his mistakes to the bare minimum. As usual the Englishman didn’t do anything flashy. He just took advantage of a handful of mistakes from Ohi, and didn’t take any chances when faced with shots that weren’t a sure thing. He won the match 11-7.
“I played solid,” Appleton said right after the match. “I didn’t do anything stupid. I only made one or two mistakes in the whole match and he made a bunch of mistakes. I had no luck after the break either. But I think my experience was the key. He was sitting right next to me and I could hear that he was breathing heavy. That’s my cue to just keep the pressure on. That’s when I keep my foot on his throat. I make sure not to give away any easy racks. If I have a 50/50 shot I’ll just play safe.”
Appleton is now in a position to put his stamp upon the pool world and create a bit of history. He already owns the 2009 World 10-ball title, and he is the current US Open Champion, a title he has now won two years in a row. Winning the World 9-ball crown would surely put him into the pantheon of all time greats. That’s why he has no plans on letting off on the pressure.
“Somebody has got to play very tough to beat me.”
That somebody who will surely give Appleton all he can deal with will be China’s Lee He Wen, who beat Germany’s great Ralf Souquet in the other semi-final, 11-6 . The 31 year old from Shenyang in Northeastern China often plays like a machine, just quietly and nonchalantly going about his business on the table, and seemingly unflappable.
Against Souquet, Lee came out all business, while Souquet seemed out of sorts. Lee went up 8-2 and it seemed like it would be a cake walk. But if there’s one weak spot in Lee’s game it’s that he often falls prey to the inevitable pressure and starts giving away racks. This could be chalked up to Lee’s relative inexperience in cue sports. He’s only been playing pool since 2006.
But Lee has a way of prevailing and this is exactly what got him this far in this tournament. Indeed Souquet mounted a spirited comeback and cut the lead to 8-6, while Lee was obviously feeling the heat. But Lee pulled off some extremely difficult pots just when he needed them and pulled away for the 11-6 win.
It would seem that experience and talent have to favor Appleton in the final. But as players have found out to their dismay throughout the week here, it’s never wise to underestimate the quiet, non descript Lee He Wen
Click the image to view the larger photo (courtesy of Thorsten Hohmann)
2012 WPA WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
DOHA - QATAR
THE LAST 64 DRAW
Ralf Souquet
11 : 4
Nikolaos Malaj
Jonny Martinez
11 : 8
Takashi Uraoka
Fu Che Wei
11 : 4
Andrea Klasovic
Bruno Muratore
11 : 6
Jayson Shaw
Hsu Kai Lun
11 : 5
Aki Heiskanen
Dennis Orcollo
11 : 8
Andrew Kong
Nick van den Berg
11 : 6
Marlon Caneda
Han Hao Xiang
11 : 8
Israel Rota
Lee Van Corteza
11 : 4
Serge Das
Mika Immonen
11 : 10
Tony Drago
Antonio Gabica
11 : 7
Mario He
Yang Ching Shun
11 : 4
Vincent Facquet
Khaled Al Mutairi
11 : 8
Majed Alazmi
Omar Al Shahen
11 : 10
Chang Yu Lun
John Morra
11 : 7
Elvis Calasang
Lee He Wen
11 : 9
Jason Klatt
Naoyuki Ohi
11 : 10
Carlo Biado
Chang Jun Lin
11 : 2
Joven Alba
Thorsten Hohmann
11 : 4
Badr Al Awadi
Yukio Akagariyama
11 : 9
Thomas Engert
Karl Boyes
11 : 9
Do The Kien
Chao Fong Pang
11 : 6
Francisco Bustamante
Dominic Jentsch
11 : 6
Manuel Gama
Efren Reyes
11 : 6
Toh Lian Han
Liu Haitao
11 : 4
Roberto Gomez
Nick Ekonomopoulos
11 : 5
Ryu Seung Woo
Matthew Edwards
11 : 8
Tohru Kuribayashi
Darren Appleton
11 : 6
Mateusz Sniegocki
Konstantin Stepanov
11 : 6
Ryoji Hori
Jundel Mazon
11 : 9
Ronnie Alcano
Lo Li Wen
11 : 9
Daryl Peach
Ko Pin Yi
11 : 6
Huidji See
2012 WPA WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
DOHA - QATAR
THE LAST 32
Ralf Souquet
11 : 7
Jonny Martinez
Bruno Muratore
11 : 9
Fu Che Wei
Dennis Orcollo
11 : 8
Hsu Kai Lun
Nick van den Berg
11 : 9
Han Hao Xiang
Mika Immonen
11 : 5
Lee Van Corteza
Antonio Gabica
11 : 9
Yang Ching Shun
Omar Al Shahen
11 : 6
Khaled Al Mutairi
Lee He Wen
11 : 8
John Morra
Naoyuki Ohi
11 : 3
Chang Jung Lin
Thorsten Hohmann
11 : 9
Yukio Akagariyama
Karl Boyes
11 : 8
Chao Fong Pang
Dominic Jentsch
11 : 10
Efren Reyes
Nick Ekonomopoulos
11 : 8
Liu Haitao
Darren Appleton
11 : 10
Matthew Edwards
Jundel Mazon
11 : 3
Konstantin Stepanov
Ko Pin Yi
11 : 10
Lo Li Wen
2012 WPA WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
DOHA - QATAR
THE LAST 16
Ralf Souquet
11 : 4
Bruno Muratore
Nick van den Berg
11 : 6
Dennis Orcollo
Antonio Gabica
11 : 9
Mika Immonen
Lee He Wen
11 : 9
Omar Al Shahen
Naoyuki Ohi
11 : 9
Thorsten Hohmann
Karl Boyes
11 : 10
Dominik Jentsch
Darren Appleton
11 : 8
Nick Ekonomopoulos
Ko Pin Yi
11 : 8
Jundel Mazon
2012 WPA WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
DOHA - QATAR
THE QUARTER-FINALS
Ralf Souquet
11 : 9
Nick van den Berg
Lee He Wen
11 : 10
Antonio Gabica
Naoyuki Ohi
11 : 9
Karl Boyes
Darren Appleton
11 : 9
Ko Pin Yi
Semi-finals, 2PM(GMT +3, June 29th, 2012)
2012 WPA WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
DOHA - QATAR
THE SEMI-FINALS
Lee He Wen
11 : 6
Ralf Souquet
Darren Appleton
11 : 7
Naoyuki Ohi
The Final, Qatar 6PM(GMT +3, June 29th, 2012 - London 4PM)
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