Seo Seoa has been crowned the women’s champion of the world for the first time in her young career, having denied Kristina Tkach in a four-hour-long five-set thriller in Florida, decided by an intense shootout.
Seoa, who has also won significant titles in Indonesia and Spain this year, capped off the most successful year of her career by pocketing the $50,000 prize and an elusive Women’s World 9-Ball Championship title.
Having avenged her defeat to Tkach in last year’s World 10-Ball Championship final, an emotional Seoa fulfilled a lifelong ambition and transformed dreams into reality in Jacksonville, Florida, following in the footsteps of fellow South Korean and a two-time world champion in Kim Ga-Young.
It was 23-year-old Seoa who claimed the opening set with a relative degree of ease, although Tkach quickly reversed the scoreline with three break and runs, and the former women’s world number one would soon develop an opportunity to seal the title herself.
However, having fought back from 2-0 down in the fourth set, a dry break from Tkach in the all-important seventh rack proved particularly costly, and Seoa grasped her chance to force a determining fifth set.
Nerves were palpable in the deciding stanza and both players missed relatively routine shots. Tkach was unable to execute four shots in the set, including a crucial four ball in the sixth rack, while Seoa squandered two of her own, and the pair could not be separated in normal play.
In a gripping yet tense shootout, Seoa spurned two of her first three spot shots on the nine ball, although a visibly exhausted Tkach was unable to take advantage and missed her next two to hand the ascendancy back to her South Korean opponent.
Seoa rattled the jaws of the pocket with the match-winning shot before breaking down into tears as she was saluted by the Florida crowd, before being hugged and congratulated by her boyfriend, Robbie Capito.
Beforehand, Seoa had dropped just a solitary rack on her way to the final, brushing aside four-time champion Allison Fisher in the semi-finals after wins over the likes of Wang Wan-Ling, Pia Filler and Eylul Kibaroglu.
Tkach, meanwhile, was also a straight sets winner in her third straight semi-final as she beat 2010 champion Fu Xiaofang, having already defeated the likes of Chezka Centeno, Chou Chieh-Yu and Chen Chia-Hua.
Defending champion Rubilen Amit exited in the last 16 at the hands of three-time winner Liu Shasha of China, while world number one Jasmin Ouschan was beaten in the quarter-finals by Fu Xiaofang.
