Mika Immonen Makes History at the 2009 US Open 9-ball Championships

Story & photos by NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer

Pool fans from across the country gathered at the final day of the US Open 9-ball Championships in Chesapeake, VA, as they watched the showdown of the final four players, out of a field that started with 216.

And these fans did in fact get to see history in the making, as Mika Immonen was crowned US Open 9-ball Champion for the second consecutive time.  This had only been done once before, by Nick Varner nearly twenty years ago, with his back-to-back wins in 1989 and 1990.

Everyone had all but written off Mika Immonen as a contender in this event, with an early loss to Chris Bartram in only the second round.  After this loss, Mika had a long grind through the one-loss side, winning twelve matches to make it to the finals.

Read on for more details on the final day of this historical event.  Click here to view the photo gallery from Day 7 at the US Open.

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At 1:00 pm, on Saturday, October 24, two matches would determine the fate of the four final players at the US Open.  In the Predator Arena, in a match streamed live by Accu-Stats, “The Kaiser” Ralf Souquet and Donnie Mills faced off as the final two undefeated players in the event.

In this “hot seat” match between Souquet and Mills, where seasoned veteran Souquet was the favorite, it looked like Souquet would run away with the match, jumping ahead 9-5 in a race to 11.  However, after Souquet scratched on the break in the following rack, Mills went on a four-game tear to tie the score at 9-9.

Donnie Mills would break in the next game and make a ball, but he was left with the  3 and 6 blocking his view of the 1-ball. Mills broke out his jump cue, and with the cue ball so far into the table, he nearly had to climb on top to get a shot.

Mills jumped the ball, hit the one and the cue ball caromed into the 7 hanging in the corner, while the 1-ball landed in the opposite corner pocket, with the crowd cheering.  Mills then played an impressive safe, and although Souquet hit the ball, he left an open shot for Mills to run out.

With the score 10-9 in Mills’ favor, Donnie MIlls broke dry, leaving the 9-ball hanging in the bottom right corner pocket.  And yes, Ralf Souquet ran out to go hill-hill, while Mills sat stewing in his seat.  And in the next rack, Donnie Mill’s dreams of going into the finals undefeated were shattered as Souquet broke and ran out.

Meanwhile on the adjacent table, Mika Immonen was facing off against Lee Van Corteza of the Philippines in the quarterfinal match.  Once again, Mika looked to be exiting the event when being down 8-5, but turned things around to win six straight games to take the match 11-8.

Congratulations to Lee Van Corteza of the Republic of the Philippines for his fourth place finish at the US Open.  Corteza is becoming one of the most threatening Pinoy players around, having finished 7th in 2008 US Open, and winning the Derby City Classic 10-ball Challenge.  Watch out for him in upcoming major events, including the WPA World 9-ball Championships in Manila.

This moved Immonen into the semifinal match against Donnie Mills, where Mika Immonen got off to a slow start.  Mills led the match 7-4, but Immonen picked up speed after an untimely scratch on the 8 by Mills.  Following that rack, Immonen ran 3 racks to take the lead, 8-7.

Mills then tied the score at 8-8 after Mika left an open shot for Mills after attempting a safety.  In the following rack, Donnie Mills also left Mika a free shot after missing a safe, allowing him to reclaim the lead.  Mills also made a critical mistake in the next rack, as he stuck the cue ball behind the 4 after pocketing the 1.  Mills would then scratch in kicking at the 2, leaving a 2/9 combination for Mika, as he took the hill 10-8.

However, in the next rack Immonen fouled while attempting a safe, and Mills ran out: 10-9.  Mills was also successful in winning the next rack, to go hill-hill against the #1 player in the world.  However, Mills had another letdown as the cue ball headed right into the side pocket in his hill-hill break, and Mika ran out to claim the spot in the finals against Ralf Souquet.

The final match of the 2009 US Open 9-ball Championships would be a showdown between two European Champions who have undoubtedly matched up many times before.  The undefeated Ralf Souquet faced Mika Immonen, in a single race to 13 games.

The arena surrounding the beautiful Diamond Paragon Table was packed, and this would be the defining match to make one of them a two-time US Open Champion.  After US Open promoter & founder Barry Behrman introduced the players, the match began shortly after 7 pm.

Mika Immonen jumped to take the lead at 4-2, and looked to take a 3-game lead, but missed an easy 8-ball, with the crowd gasping in shock.  Souquet took that game, the broke and ran to tie the set 4-4.  Following that, Immonen missed a 6-ball, which allowed Souquet to take a 5-4 lead.

Souquet claimed the next fwo racks for a 7-4 lead, but the momentum shifted again in favor of Immonen, and after a solid safety on the one ball, Souquet fouled, allowing Mika to take a 9-7 lead.

Immonen and Souquet both added a game to the score to go 10-8, and after Ralf’s dry break in Rack 19, it looked like “The Iceman” was out for sure.  However, he misjudged the angle to get to the 8 ball on the head rail, and landed the cue ball on top of the 8.  Immonen attempted to play a safe on the 8, but ended up nearly banking it into the bottom corner pocket, leaving the 8 and 9 for Ralf, who edged closer with a score of 10-9.

In Rack 20, Souquet broke and ran to the 3, where he played a safety.  This forced Immonen to jump, and although he got a good hit, he left an open shot for Souquet to run out and tie at 10-10.  The next rack brought a safety battle over the 3, which ended when Souquet left it hanging in pocket and Immonen cleaned up to take the lead.

Immonen broke in the next rack, and shocked the audience by missing the 2 ball entirely.  This gave Souquet ball in hand, however, a scratch on the 6 ball proved lethal, and Immonen took the hill, 12-10.

Immonen successfully made a ball on the break in the next rack, and a clear 1-9 carom laid out for The Iceman to claim the match.  He collapsed to the floor in shock as his name would be put in the history books as only the second player to ever win back-to-back US Open titles.  The celebration proceeded in the arena as fans and friends watched Mika Immonen receive his plaque memorializing this event. Click Here to view our photo gallery from the final day of the US Open.

In his blog, www.icemanmika.blogspot.com Mika shared his thoughts on his comeback win. “I’m still in disbelief that it really happened. I lost my second game in the tournament and went on a crazy mission to win 14 games in a row to snap it off from the B-side of the double elimination chart.”

Look for more updates on the Iceman’s blog on his performance at the US Open.

Congratulations to Mika Immonen for this landmark in his career.  Immonen continues to prove that he one of the most dominant players in the sport today, and we will look to see many more great performances from him to come… Let’s see if he can do it again next year!

Make sure to stay on the NYC Grind for more news on the The 34th Annual US Open 9-ball Championships, which is sponsored by Diamond Billiards, The Delta-13 Rack, Iwan Simonis Cloth, Aramith Balls, and Accu-Stats Video Production, along with Q-Master Billiards. You can watch matches from the US Open on the web by visiting www.accu-stats.com. Check out www.usopen9ballchampionship.com to learn more about this event.

NYC Grind’s 360º coverage of the 2009 US Open is sponsored by Simonis Cloth and CSI - Cue Sports International.

CueSports International (CSI) is the parent company of the BCA Pool Leagues, The NCS (National Championship Series and produces the U.S. Bar Table Championships and the Jay Swanson Memorial. CSI’s goal is to create and improve opportunities for all pool players. For more information about the BCA Pool League or CueSports International call 702-719-7665 or visit www.playbca.com