Taiwanese sensation Chou Chieh-Yu won the inaugural PBS Women’s Showdown at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, battling back from a set behind to overcome Kristina Tkach.
Chou, who was crowned both the women’s world 9-ball as well as the women’s world 10-ball champion last year, pocketed the $35,000 top prize as the world’s elite female competitors collided in the 16-player invitational.
Tkach executed a relatively routine three-nine combination to take the opening set, however, Chou’s riposte was admirable as she produced two break and runs in restoring parity without response.
A missed five ball from Tkach allowed her opponent to draw first blood in the all-important set, although a slight lapse in concentration from Chou saw her miss position for the seven ball following an incredible thin cut for a five-six combination.
Both players made costly errors as the match edged towards the dreaded shootout, but a push out from Tkach showed too much of the one ball to Chou, who executed a tough long pot and cleared the table before saluting the knowledgable Las Vegas audience.
Chou had completed straight sets victories over Jasmin Ouschan and Chezka Centeno in the semi-finals and quarter-finals respectively, with Centeno being distracted pre-match after being forced to change her ankle socks due too much skin being shown.
It was a more arduous route to the title decider for Moscow-born Tkach, who narrowly avoided a shootout in the semi-finals following a crucial missed seven ball from Wei Tzu-Chien, having beaten Chen Siming in the last eight.
Bulgaria’s Kristina Zlateva overcame China’s Chen in an epic shootout to qualify for the quarter-finals and produced a sensational bank shot against Jasmin Ouschan, only to be narrowly edged out by the Austrian.
South Korea’s Seo Seoa, China Open winner Han Yu and Women’s Euro Tour number one Pia Filler all failed to surpass the group stage, while Kelly Fisher and Allison Fisher both lost their two round robin matches.
