WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA -- As 16 players went into battle on Thursday in best of five action, only two players were able to pull off "upsets" in the 2016 WCF AC World Championship. It happened to be the two Americans, David Maloof and Danny Huneycutt that went against the rankings. All of the other matches went according to the proper math, although #10 Samir Patel (ENG) had to go the distance to hold off #42 Jose Riva (ESP) 26otp-13, 22-26, 9-26tp, 26tp-20, 26-5. David Maugham (#7) (ENG) also had to go to five to hold off #26 Chris Williams (WLS) as did #8 Stephen Mulliner (ENG) in his match against #25 Stephen Forster (AUS).
It was #52 Huneycutt that pulled off the upset of the day, taking down #29 Greg Fletcher (AUS) 8-26, 26tp-23, 26-17, 26tp-17. Maloof (#18) was in a more "equal" match as he took on #11 Jeff Dawson, but he was able to get through 3-0.
The road finally ended for the last Cinderella story in the event. #116 Sam Murray (SCO) fell in three games to #28 Jenny Clarke (NZ). Clarke will now go up against #3 Reg Bamford (SAF) as he continued his march with a 3-0 win over #20 James Hopgood with a 26tp-0, 26otp-14, 26tp-9 score.
Full bracket with scores: croquetscores.com/2016/ac/wcf-world-championship/main-ko
PLAYOFF BRACKET WITH RANKINGS
Early action on Friday -- Bamford has quadrupled in game 1 against Clarke 26qp-0. Huneycutt leads Mulliner after a 26tp win in game 1. Patel 26tp-9 vs Maugham. No result yet in game one of Chapman v Maloof.
- Bamford gets a sextuple in game 2 and now leads against Clarke 2-0.
- Mulliner took game two, 26-16 and has evened the match with Huneycutt.
- Patel is up 2-1 against Maugham 26tp-9, 26-2, 9-26.
- Chapman came back in game two to even up at 1-1 with Maloof.