Tournament report for WPBA US Open in Norman, OK (July 29 - Aug 3rd, 2009) 

In the first round Gerda faced Stephanie Mitchell and cruised to a comfortable 9-2 victory. 

The opponent in round two was Megan Smith.  Megan started out playing really well, but made some crucial mistakes towards the end of her run outs, and Gerda was able to capitalize on Megan’s mistakes.  The final score of 9-5 in Gerda’s favor doesn’t really reflect the much improved efforts of Megan. 

In round three Gerda had to play Kim White.  The match went head to head almost all the way.  Only towards the end Gerda was able to get a two game lead for 8-6.  Even though she had opportunities, Gerda was unable to close out the match. The always dangerous Kim put up a great fight and took Gerda all the way to the hill.  In game 17 Kim missed position on the 4-Ball, and Gerda was able to secure the win by running the remaining balls.

In the first match of the single elimination stage (which was played Friday night due to the two TV day format at this event) Gerda drew Tracie Hines.  Tracie has a very strong game and brought it to the table, but some unfortunate mistakes allowed Gerda to stay in control of the match the whole way.  Gerda won the match 9-3 and secured a spot in the televised quarterfinals.

Gerda’s opponent in Saturday evening’s quarterfinal No. 4 was Monica Webb.  Monica, who won 2 of the last 5 events, didn’t play her best in this match.  Coupled with no rewards on her powerful breaks, Monica allowed Gerda to come out on top with a 7-5 win.  Monica was visibly disappointed, while Gerda was elated to have made it to Sunday’s semifinal against Ga Young Kim.

A fairly nervous start on Gerda’s part in the semifinal match, and great run outs by Kim resulted in an early 3-1 lead for Ga Young.  Gerda was able to get her nerves under control und won the next two racks.  After tying the match at 3-3 Gerda sensed that Ga Young was annoyed, and she knew that game 7 was very crucial for the outcome of the match.  Faced with a very tough layout (two balls on the long rail near the side pocket), Gerda opted to go for a low percentage 1-9 carom.  A slight mishit resulted in the cue ball finding the pocket instead of the 9-Ball.  Ga Young stepped up and ran an incredibly difficult table.  Delighted with her efforts she gained a lot of momentum and cruised ahead to a 6-3 lead.  Gerda didn’t give up and showed a lot of heart to close in to 6-4.  Unfortunately game 11 went in favor of Ga Young and she closed out the match 7-4.

Gerda finished 3^rd for the second time in three Classic Tour events this year.

Ga Young went on to win the finals against Karen Corr.  Congratulations to Ga Young on her second US Open title.  You played awesome!