Chieh-Yu Chou and the WPBA US Open Comeback 2026: How the First Women’s US Open Title in Over a Decade Reset the Tour

The 2026 WPBA Island US Open was the first US Open contested on the women’s professional tour in over a decade, and the player who walked through it without a loss was the one most insiders predicted would carry the new era. Chieh-Yu “Rita” Chou won the event undefeated at Island Resort and Casino in Harris, Michigan, defeating Savannah Easton in the final after a week of nineball that turned heads inside and outside the women’s game. The check was $17,000. The bigger payoff was the message it sent about the level women’s pool is operating at right now and the equipment the top of that group is using to get there.

Chou is not new at the top. She has been a fixture on the international women’s tour for years, traveling between Taipei, Las Vegas, and the European circuit, and she has been a Predator-sponsored player long enough that her cue setup has evolved alongside every major change in the Predator lineup. What was new in Michigan was the stage. The US Open women’s event had been off the calendar for so long that an entire generation of players had only seen it on tape. Rita Chou wrote her name on top of the comeback edition.

What Rita Chou’s Run Actually Looked Like

The 2026 WPBA Island US Open ran April 15 through April 19, with 64 players and $60,000 in added money on a true double-elimination format. Chou never dropped a match. She handled a difficult bracket that included Allison Fisher veterans, the new Filipino contingent, and the Texas-based field that has produced most of the recent US women’s results. The final against Savannah Easton was a coronation moment for Easton too, since runner-up at a US Open is the biggest result of her career to date and she earned $12,000 for the week.

The way Chou played mattered as much as the result. She runs out cleanly, but the part of her game that separated her in Michigan was cue ball control on safeties. When the bracket got tight, she did not over-fire. She placed the rock, made opponents kick out of trouble, and waited for the open table to come back to her. That is a style built on a low-deflection shaft and a hit she has spent years dialing in.

The Equipment Behind the Run

Chou plays a Predator BLAK series cue with a REVO carbon shaft. Predator’s BLAK platform is the higher-end performance line that sits between the Throne series and the limited custom builds, and it is the family of cues that most of the company’s sponsored pros gravitate to once they have settled into their permanent specs. The build is intentionally not flashy. The forearm is clean, the joint is a Uni-Loc Radial in most builds, and the balance is set up to give a player like Chou a forward-feeling cue that still gets out of the way on a draw stroke.

The shaft is the part of the rig that has the biggest effect on how Chou’s stroke shows up on the cloth. A Predator REVO carbon fiber shaft reduces squirt to a level that lets a player use side spin at speed without rebuilding their aim point. On a US Open table running new Simonis, where the cue ball comes off the rails fast and the pockets pinch on hard strokes, that low-deflection profile is what keeps a one-pocket safety from leaking into a hanger.

If you want the full BLAK series experience that mirrors what a sponsored Predator pro plays with, the Predator PREBLK52 BLAK Series cue at $2,500 is the closest in-stock build to the spec sheet Chou and her peers are using in tournament play. It pairs a four-point ebony forearm with the same Uni-Loc joint setup and ships ready to mount a REVO. For players who want the Predator hit at a lower entry point but still want a real tournament cue, the Predator Throne3 3 in brown and white at $1,829 is the same family one tier down, and it is the model that shows up under most of the sponsored Predator players who are not yet on a fully custom contract.

Why the Break Cue Choice Also Matters for a Player Like Chou

Women’s pool sometimes gets miscast as a finesse-only game, but the modern women’s nineball break is not soft. Chou breaks with intent. She is not trying to bust a rack like Filler, she is trying to spread it open enough to see all nine balls and end the rack on one inning. That requires a dedicated break cue with a phenolic tip, a stiffer shaft, and a balance point a little farther forward than a playing cue. The Predator BK4 break cue with sport wrap at $469 is the build most Predator-sponsored players reach for, and it is the entry point into the same break system Shane Van Boening, Joshua Filler, and the Predator women’s roster all use in some form.

What This Result Means for Women’s Pool in 2026

The WPBA Island US Open was not a one-off. The tour has been actively rebuilding since 2023, and the 2026 schedule has more added money, better venue partners, and a real broadcast plan through major streaming platforms. The first US Open back in over a decade was the proof of concept, and Chou winning undefeated gave it a clean storyline that anyone in the broader pool world could understand. The next test is whether the tour can string together three or four big events in a calendar year and start producing the kind of season-long narratives the men’s nineball tour has built around the World Nineball Tour.

There is also a generational shift happening underneath the result. Chou is a top player, but the women’s field in Michigan included a wave of younger Filipino and Taiwanese players who learned the game on the same carbon-fiber, low-deflection rigs that the men’s Filipino school has been using to dominate Predator Pro Billiard Series events. That equipment overlap is going to matter. The gap between the women’s tour and the men’s tour in terms of stroke quality has narrowed faster than people outside the game realize, and it is partly because women in the new wave are not learning on hand-me-down wood cues. They are learning on REVO and Cynergy from the start.

The Setup to Steal From a Player Like Chou

If you are a serious league player or a tournament player trying to build a setup that mirrors what the top of the women’s game is running, the recipe is simple. Start with a real low-deflection carbon shaft. A carbon fiber shaft from Predator, Cuetec, Jacoby, or Mezz will hold its profile for years and let you use side spin at speed without re-aiming. Build it on a serious playing cue, ideally something from the Predator cues lineup or a comparable build from McDermott or Cuetec. Add a dedicated break cue. Then pair the whole rig with a real case that protects the carbon shaft on the road, since carbon shafts are durable but the joint pin and the ferrule still need a hard pool cue case with proper compartmentalization between the playing cue and the breaker.

That is the rig Rita Chou used to win Michigan, in slightly more polished form. It is also the rig that almost every top women’s player on the 2026 WPBA tour is using in some configuration, with the brand mix coming down to who is sponsoring them. The Predator group, the Cuetec group, and the smaller Jacoby and Mezz cohorts all show up at the same events with similar performance profiles. The differences are in feel, not in raw capability. The capability is on the table for anyone who wants to put in the work.

Quarter King Billiards Coverage of the Women’s Tour

We have been tracking the WPBA rebuild and the broader resurgence of women’s pool for the last two seasons, and the Rita Chou US Open win is the result that puts the narrative on the map for casual fans. If you want to follow the rest of the 2026 WPBA calendar, the next major stop is the Mezz Olhausen CPBA Invitational, and Chou will be back at the table along with the Filipino contingent. We will be covering it, and we will be stocking the same Predator, Cuetec, McDermott, and Pechauer cues the top of the field is playing with. The new era of women’s pool is real. It is on TV. And the equipment is the same equipment that wins on the men’s side, available to any player who wants in.

About Corey Bernstein

Corey Bernstein is a competitive pool player, billiards equipment specialist, and co-owner of Quarter King Billiards in Wilmington, North Carolina. With over a decade of experience in the sport, Corey has competed in regional APA and BCA sanctioned tournaments and maintains an intimate knowledge of cue construction, shaft technology, and table mechanics. As a certified dealer for brands including Predator, McDermott, Jacoby, Viking, Lucasi, Meucci, Joss, and Cuetec, Corey personally tests and evaluates every cue that comes through the shop. His hands-on approach to the business means he has racked thousands of hours behind the table — breaking in shafts, comparing tip compounds, and dialing in the nuances that separate a good cue from a great one. When he is not behind the counter or on the table, Corey is researching the latest advances in low-deflection technology, carbon fiber shaft construction, and cue ball physics. His articles on Quarter King Billiards combine real-world playing experience with deep product knowledge to help players at every level find the right equipment for their game.