WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA -- It was a tough day for the American hopefuls as five of seven players were knocked out in the round of 32 at the 2016 WCF AC World Championship in West Palm Beach, Florida. It was particulary surprising to see four of five US players fall in the bottom (or right) half of the bracket. Included in that group was the top-ranked US player Ben Rothman (#13) as he fell 26-10, 21-26tp, 0-26tp to Jose Riva (#42) from Spain.
On the other hand, an American notched one of the more notable upsets of the day as Danny Huneycutt (#52) did take out high-flying James Death from England 26tp-24, 26-20. Death went into the knockout with a 9-0 block record, but he wasn't the only favorite to see his tournament end prematurely. #116 Sam Murray from Scotland kept his run rolling with 26-1, 0-26, 26-25 win over #12 Gavin Carter from England. Surely, that 26-25 game had to be an epic. I hope there's a video out there.
Overall, England flexed their muscle as they had six players advance to the sweet 16. Australia, USA and New Zealand each had two players advance, while South Africa, Scotland, Australia, Wales and Spain all placed one player in the bracket.
OTHER NOTES:
--Reg Bamford seems to be on cruise control. He won 2-0 today over Kevin Beard and finished with a sextuple. That was his third for the event.
--The qualifiers finally all saw the end of the road. Ted Salter, Simon Jenkins and Mark Avery all went down today.
--It's tough to pick the most interesting match for Thursday, but I would suspect the Jenny Clarke (#28) vs Sam Murray (#116) contest would probably be in the discussion.
Bracket with scores: croquetscores.com/2016/ac/wcf-world-championship/main-ko
KNOCKOUT WITH RANKINGS
