Chou Chieh-Yu has won the Women’s World 9-Ball Championship for the second time in her illustrious career, defeating defending champion Seo Seoa 4-1, 1-4, 4-1, 4-1 in a relatively one-sided final in Bali, Indonesia.
Chou staggeringly dropped just two sets throughout the entire tournament during a relentless performance, sealing the $55,000 champion’s cheque and etching her name into the history books.
Also following in the footsteps of Taiwanese great Liu Shin-Mei in becoming a two-time women’s world 9-ball champion, Chou now accompanies Allison Fisher, Robin Bell, Liu Shasha, Kelly Fisher and Kim Ga-Young in winning the prestigious title on two occasions.
The 39-year-old added to her 2023 World 9-Ball Championship and 2022 World 10-Ball Championship successes, creating history as the first woman from her country to win three world titles, perhaps becoming the greatest female player to ever emerge from Taiwan.
Chou survived a significant first round scare in a dreaded shootout against Indonesian local Chandra Kenny, although she responded to that with straight sets victories over Soledad Ayala, 2011 winner Bi Zhuqing, Silviana Lu, Huang Qingning and Chihiro Kawahara.
Having beaten Seoa in five of their previous six meetings in Pro Billiard Series events, including twice on her to winning this very title three years ago, Chou carried that mental edge into a mouthwatering final on paper.
Chou had also never been beaten in a world championship final, and it was April’s Women’s US Open champion who made the perfect start, breaking and running in the the opening rack and opening up the table with a safety on the two ball to take a 2-0 lead in the opening set.
Nonetheless, a peculiar push-out shot caused all kinds of problems for Chou. Seoa punished that error and halved the deficit, only to unexpectedly leave the five ball short of the pocket in the following rack. As Chou moved onto the hill, she closed out the first set in impressive style with a second break and run.
Positional errors on the eight and nine balls from Chou gifted Seoa an early lead in set two, and she was unable to profit from a missed five ball in the proceeding rack, allowing the Gwangju cueist to double her advantage.
Chou cleared the table following a subsequent dry break from her opponent, although that proved to be a mere consolation as Seoa received ball-in-hand after a good safety and then compiled her first break and run in the following rack to restore parity at a set apiece.
With both of the opening two sets being dominated by the player breaking first, the third stanza followed suit. Seoa was unable to create herself an opportunity and four unsuccessful safety attempts, including one which left a dead straight four-nine combination, allowed Chou to quickly reinstate her slender sets advantage.
Despite losing the opening rack of the fourth set due to a scratch on the two ball, Chou capitalised on a catalogue of unwanted errors from the defending champion. A dry break, a missed six ball and a shot on the one ball which unfortunately left her glued behind the eight ball saw Seoa let Chou onto the double hill.
Seoa received one final opportunity as Chou pushed out, but she rattled the pocket on a table-length shot on the one ball and evaporated her hopes. Chou’s composure remained intact and she cleared the table, smiling before sinking the championship-winning nine ball.
South Korean sensation Seoa was unable to emulate the stellar standard she produced in her semi-final win over Wei Tzu-Chien, where she produced six break and runs, and the 23-year-old’s aspirations of winning back-to-back world titles at the same age as her mentor Kim Ga-Young were dashed.
As one dream was postponed, another became reality. Chou was greeted with immense pride from her Taiwanese teammates, before standing on the podium as a three-time world champion.
