Mika “The Iceman” Immonen is the New US Open 9 Ball Champion over Ronnie Alcano!

On Saturday, October 25th, a new US Open 9-ball Champion#mce_temp_url# was crowned here in Chesapeake, Virginia: “The Iceman” Mika Immonen, of Finland. Out of the final four players, Johnny Archer and Warren Kiamco were eliminated on Saturday afternoon, and the two who remained were Ronnie Alcano of the Republic of the Philippines and “The Iceman” Mika Immonen, who faced off on Saturday at 7:00 pm.

Here’s the breakdown of the path to the finals match:

1:00 pm Match in the Chalk-Off Arena:

Mika Immonen (Finland) vs. Ronnie Alcano (Philippines)

Saturday afternoon in the Chalk-Off Arena, Mika and Ronnie battled it out for the hot seat position. Both players were struggling with their break during this match, but Mika made some critical mistakes that could not stand up to Ronnie’s flawless play. He truly put on a beautiful performance to watch, and came up with a major 11-6 win over Mika Immonen.

1:00 pm Match:

Johnny Archer (USA) vs. Warren Kiamco (Philippines)

On the one-loss side to determine who would take on the loser of the hot seat match, “The Scorpion” Johnny Archer (who took his first loss to Mika) was defeated by Warren Kiamco of the Philippines, 11-4. Johnny made some uncharacteristic errors, and with the score 10-4, Johnny missed a jump shot in response to Warren’s safety, allowing Warren to run out the final game to win the match.

3:00 pm Semi-Final Match:

Mika Immonen (Finland) vs. Warren Kiamco (Philippines)

With Mika taking a loss from Ronnie, at 3:00 he was set to play the winner of the loser’s bracket, Warren Kiamco. These two world-class players battled it out for a spot in the finals in front of the packed arena. Both players struggled with their break, coming up dry a number of times in the match. Mika and Warren alternated racks keeping the score right in line, but Mika started to catch a gear in game 12 after Warren missed a safe, allowing Mika to run out to a 2-game lead. In the next game, Mika came up with a tough shot on the one, to bank-carom it off the 5 ball, then running out! With the score 8-5 to Mika, he broke and ran another rack, taking a 9-5 lead over Warren.

When it looked as if Mika was about to run away with the match with a four-game lead, Warren waged a comeback as Mika made a few errors in the next few racks, tying the match up 9-9. With the match at a race to two Kiamco broke, leaving an open table. However, he ended up straight in on the 2 ball and while trying to get position on the three, rattled the ball out of the pocket–losing his opportunity to clinch the last two games. Mika had an open table to run out, and continued to run out to win the match 11-9.

2008 US Open Finals:

Mika Immonen vs. Ronnie Alcano

Mika and Ronnie came back to rematch in the finals in a race to thirteen in the Chalk-Off Arena–packed with fans, friends, and fellow players set to watch the match to determine the next US Open Champion.

The beginning of this match did not see much of Ronnie, as Mika rolled over the first game after Ronnie missed a safety. In the following game, after Ronnie returned Mika’s push out, Mika kicked the 1-ball, knocking the 9 ball into the side pocket to take a 2-game lead. He then continued to clear out three consecutive racks, to lead 5-0. In the 6th rack, Mika missed the 1-ball but left Ronnie no shot, the 9-ball blocking the 1. Ronnie fails to safety Mika and the Iceman runs another rack out, to lead 6-0.

In game seven, Ronnie finally gets on the board after Mika breaks dry–then again in the following game Mika biffed a 1-ball, leaving Ronnie to run out, the score now 6-2. Jumping ahead, Mika came to get up to a 8-2 lead. Ronnie then gained some momentum after Mika started to make a few mistakes, missing a few safes to make the score 10-7.

However, Ronnie came up dry in the next rack, to give Mika another runout. With the win within Mika’s grasp, Ronnie scratched in the next rack and Mika’s run pulled the score up to 12-7. On the hill, Mika came up on top in a safety battle to clinch the victory 13-7.

This victory held a lot of meaning for former World Champion Mika Immonen, who had finished runner-up in the 2001 US Open, suffering a shutout from Corey Deuel. Mika has been training hard in New York, where he currently resides, and has put in his time on the regional tours, enjoying consistent wins on the Blaze and Predator tours. Surrounded by his friends and fans, his hard work has paid off… congratulations to Mika on an outstanding performance.

For Mika’s First Prize US Open Title… Mika won $40,000 and an awesome US Open Trophy.

Congratulations to Ronnie Alcano who made the Philippines proud for earning a spot in the finals for the second consecutive year.

Overall the event was tremendous success, and the feedback from the players and fans alike was overwhelmingly positive.

Stay Tuned for pictures from the event to be posted soon!

The US Open 9 Ball Championships was streamed live all week on Billiard Club Network www.billiardclub.net

You will be able to all of the US Open video’s from Accu Stats. www.accu-stats.com
Be sure to visit the US Open’s website at www.usopen9ball.com for further details on the event.

You can also check out the tournament brackets by going to AZbilliards.com

See everyone next year!