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2011 Open de Paris
Cercle Clichy Montmartre
84, rue de Clichy
75009
Paris
www.lcb94.fr
www.academie-billard.com
www.billardfacile.fr
www.opendeparis.fr

Saturday/Sunday 15-16 January 2010

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2011 Paris 9-Ball Open Championship

Nick van den Berg had one of those days where everything seemed easy, great breaks, unmissable potting, and the confidence of a champion - producing some epic matches with one-sided results in his favour, and a couple of matches that went to the hill - on Saturday Imran Majid took him all the way, and today it was Raj Hundal's turn to test the man from the Netherlands. Despite these oh-so-close single elimination matches going to the wire, van den Berg's game grew and grew as the final approached, resulting in a penultimate drubbing of his fellow countryman Niels Feijen 9-3 in the Semi-Finals, and a solid 11-8 victory in the final against a tricky customer by the name of Tony Drago.

The more intensely you study the player list, the more familiar names you notice - a very popular event with players from these shores, and it's not just the usual big guns who have made the trip to Paris this weekend. A tribute to the organisers, David Bare and Gael Yard, who invited players to attend the brilliant Paris Open at the elegant Cercle Clichy Montmartre.

Despite no celebrity players receiving free invitations this year, there were plenty in attendance - all vying for a share of the �18,000+ prize fund on offer.

Surprising results were plentiful, as last year's winner of this event, home favourite Vincent Facquet was knocked out comparatively early in the Last 16 stage by Greece's Nikos Oikonomopoulos, and New Zealand's Matthew Edwards has cut a swathe through the best of the field into the Semi-Finals only to be stopped by the speedy play of the other finalist - Malta's Tony Drago.

"Read More..." for the details.

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30 SECOND INTERVIEW WITH PARIS OPEN WINNER - NICK VAN DEN BERG

Pro9: Congratulations on a great win in Paris, there were some very close results and some very strong results, tell us about the Saturday match that went 9-8 against Majid, was that a tough one?

Nick van den Berg: Hi Dave, thanks. The match against Imran was intense, I was up 7-2 and all of a sudden the table started reacting funny. I got down 8-7 but was able to clear a good last rack to win 9-8.

Pro9: Hundal also took you to the hill - how do you cope mentally with close matches like that?

Nick van den Berg: Against Raj every 3 racks somebody else was winning. At 8-7 he had a good chance to win, but scratched. In the last rack I played a 2 rail bank 2-9 combination to win the match. I just love it when it gets tense. That's when my A game comes up. Just keep on breathing properly is my secret.

Pro9: Was it tough playing your countryman Niels Feijen in the semi-finals?

Nick van den Berg: Against Niels I knew I had to play very well to beat him. It doesn't really matter to me if I play him or some other top player as I know I have to play well to win. I have a lot of respect for Niels and his game.

Pro9: Where are you going to play next, and what are you going to do with the prize money?

Nick van den Berg: Next big tournament for me is the Eurotour in the same club in France. And about the money... We need a new bathroom so I think we will start to look for a nice one.

Regards, Nick.

THE 2011 OPEN DE PARIS
PLAYER LIST
ANTONA Pierre ARMER Brett BARE David BEAUFILFS Yannick BECKER Kevin BELHAJ REDA BIGOTTEAU Marc BOURDELLES Laurent BOYES Karl BRUYNOOGHE Noel BUCKLEY Benji BURATO Fabrizio CHELLEN Kervin CHEN Eric CHESHIRE Nick COHEN Stephan COTTANCE Francois CRUZ Carlos DA COSTA Alain DAMY Gregory DAS Serge DE LORIOL Bertrand DELESALLE Thierry DERVAUX Nicolas DOS SANTOS Laetitia DRAGO Tony EBERHARD Jeff EDWARDS Matthew EUSEBIO Christian	FACQUET Vincent FEIJEN Niels FREITAS Ricardo FRERET Manu GEORGOPOULOS Giannis GOKHUL Ramesh GUERDER Fabien HAMRAH Aziz HIGGINS Scott HUNDAL Raj JUDGE Sean JUNGO Dimitri KAFOUSIS Michail KALB Nicolas KAZAKIS Alex KERCSO Zoltan KOTINURMI Jalo KUYOLANT Valery LACROIX Olivier LADANY Ioan LAMBERT Christophe LANNOYE Kevin LAUWEREYNS Moritz LECOQ Fabien LEMAIRE Emmanuel LETOUZE Antoine MAICAN RAUL Adrian MAJID Imran MALAI Nick	MELKONYAN Babken MELLING Chris MERABTENE Michael MIHALACHE Nicolae MNRKA Ralf MONZEIN Christophe MORTIER Olivier NYDEGGER Pascal OIKONOMOPOULOS Nick OJSIMIR Jot ORTMANN Oliver PASPATIS Kostantinos PEACH Daryl PERSIJN Curd PETERSEN Arnar PIRES Herminio PISKLOV Juri ROBAINE Eric SHAW Jayson STOJANOVIC Philipp SURDEA Christian TERCIER Michel VAN DEN BERG Nick VERNEDAL Lionel VOLOSCIUC Corneliu VUJANIC Molrudee WU Willy YARD Ga�l -
Total = 86/128 entrants!

THE 2011 OPEN DE PARIS
THE LAST 64
TREILLE Serge SURDEA Christian KOTINURMI Jalo EDWARDS Matthew MAICAN RAUL Adrian LADANY Ioan FACQUET Vincent OIKONOMOPOULOS Nick SEM Kem DE LORIOL Bertrand GEORGOPOULOS Giannis DRU Rodolphe BURATO Fabrizio COHEN Stephan JUNGO Dimitri NYDEGGER Pascal MAJID Imran VAN DEN BERG Nick BRUYNOOGHE Noel HAMRAH Aziz GOKHUL Ramesh BUCKLEY Benji MALAI Nick ROBAINE Eric KAZAKIS Alex FEIJEN Niels SCHAW Jason PISKLOV Juri KALB Nicolas TERCIER Michel HIGGINS Scott DOS SANTOS David	9 6 9 5 8 9 9 2 9 0 9 5 9 0 9 3 4 9 9 7 3 9 8 9 9 0 9 2 9 4 9 2 9 2 9 5 9 6 9 3 9 4 1 9 9 5 9 1 9 1 9 1 9 1 9 4 9 7 8 9 9 2 9 5	CANY Olivier FILLON Michael PASPATIS Kostantinos GARCIA LOURENCO Antonio GUGA Ciprian SCHEFFKE Rainer KAFOUSIS Michail OGSIMER JOJET DA COSTA Alain BAUP Pascal DRAGO Tony LI Boris JOUIN Eric CHELLEN Kervin KERCSO Zoltan DERVAUX Nicolas BECKER Kevin NGUYEN Khanh EVE Alex CHARBONNET Michael MASHA Zarif HUNDAL Raj CHEN Eric LEROY Otto PIZZINAT Delphine MONTPELLIER Alex PEOU Visal MNRKA Ralf OLIVEIRA Luis LARDIER David TITAUX S�verine PETERSEN Arnar

THE 2011 OPEN DE PARIS
THE LAST 32
TREILLE Serge PASPATIS Kostantinos MAICAN RAUL Adrian FACQUET Vincent DA COSTA Alain DRAGO Tony BURATO Fabrizio JUNGO Dimitri MAJID Imran BRUYNOOGHE Noel GOKHUL Ramesh MALAI Nick KAZAKIS Alex SHAW Jayson KALB Nicolas HIGGINS Scott	9 8 8 9 6 9 2 9 9 5 9 8 2 9 9 3 8 9 9 3 1 9 9 5 2 9 9 2 9 6 9 7	SURDEA Christian EDWARDS Matthew LADANY Ioan OIKONOMOPOULOS Nick DE LORIOL Bertrand LI Boris COHEN Stephan NYDEGGER Pascal VAN DEN BERG Nick HAMRAH Aziz HUNDAL Raj ROBAINE Eric FEIJEN Niels PISKLOV Juri LARDIER David DOS SANTOS David

THE 2011 OPEN DE PARIS
THE LAST 16
TREILLE Serge LADANY Ioan DA COSTA Alain COHEN Stephan VAN DEN BERG Nick HUNDAL Raj FEIJEN Niels KALB Nicolas	1 9 5 9 3 9 2 9 9 3 9 3 9 5 5 9	EDWARDS Matthew OIKONOMOPOULOS Nick DRAGO Tony JUNGO Dimitri BRUYNOOGHE Noel MALAI Nick SHAW Jayson HIGGINS Scott

THE 2011 OPEN DE PARIS
THE QUARTER FINALS
Mathew Edwards	9 : 8	Nikos Oikonomopoulos
Tony Drago	9 : 8	Dmitri Jungo
Nick van den Berg	9 : 8	Raj Hundal
Niels Feijen	9 : 0	Scott Higgins

THE 2011 OPEN DE PARIS
THE SEMI FINALS
Matthew Edwards	1 : 9	Tony Drago
Nick van den Berg	9 : 3	Niels Feijen

THE 2011 OPEN DE PARIS
THE FINAL
Tony Drago	8 : 11	Nick van den Berg

THE 2010 OPEN DE PARIS
PRIZE FUND
1st	5,000 Euros
2nd	2,500 Euros
3rd	1,500 Euros
4th	1,500 Euros
5th to 8th	750 Euros
9th to 16th	300 Euros
17th to 32nd	Reimbursed
Entry fee: BIG SHARK" : 150� - "LITTLE SHARK" : 80�

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