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Diamond Nine - Euro-Tour/ Dynamic Italian Open
Basso Hotels & Resorts Spa
S.R. 53 Via Postumia Castellana 2
31055 Quinto di Treviso
Italy
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14-16 April 2011

Ralf Souquet - Germany
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
Ralf Souquet wins Dynamic Italian Open 2011 - Nobody could stop him in 2011 yet

Ralf Souquet (GER) has won the Dynamic Italian Open 2011 Euro-Tour tournament in Treviso, Italy. He overcame Jayson Shaw (SCO) with 9:7 in the final. After Paris in February, this is already the second Euro-Tour stop that Souquet puts in his account. He seems to be unstoppable this year.

Like the semi-final before, the final match seemed to be very single-sided in �The Kaiser�s� favour. He took a quick 5:0 lead and benefitted from unforced errors that Shaw has played. But then suddenly Shaw started to shift into overdrive. He snatched rack after rack, playing without any mistakes. Souquet had a hard time with his break and Shaw used his opportunities to even the match at 6:6. The arena which was packed with people turned silent. One could physically feel the tension. Everybody was curious whether Shaw could do the same to Souquet as he done to Melling in the match before. But there was still one man who had something against that: �The Kaiser� himself! At 6:6, Shaw played a bad safety shot and gave Souquet the chance to take a 7:6 lead. Then Shaw broke the balls. He had two balls down and a promising looking layout on the table when he missed the 2-ball. Souquet accepted the gift and ran out the next two racks and rightfully took the title of the Dynamic Italian Open 2011.

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April 16 2011: - Jason Shaw is in the final at Treviso

Jason Shaw - Scotland
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
Unbelievable comeback by the Scotsman

The second semi-final of the Dynamic Italian Open 2011 just ended. Jayson Shaw (SCO) defeated Chris Melling (GBR) with an unbelievable comeback with a margin of 9:8. In the beginning, everybody thought it would be an easy match for Melling. He broke better, controlled the cue ball on the break better and seemed to be much more in his game than Shaw. Shaw missed shots and ran out of position quite some times. At latest when the score was 8:3 in favour of Melling, nobody believed in Shaw�s victory anymore. But he did!

�I always believed that I still have a chance� said Shaw after the match when asked about his feelings. �In the quarterfinals, I was down 3:7 against Stepanov and also accomplished my mission.� �I only focus on the table when I play.� It was amazing to see how Shaw got back. Melling who seemed to be so confident, just had to sit and watch what Shaw did to him at the table. Shaw made no more mistakes while Melling could not run out racks anymore. When the score was 8:8, Melling broke but could not pocket a ball on the break. Shaw pocketed the 1-ball and the 2-ball and got no position on the 3-ball. He kicked into it and pocketed the 7-ball which fell in the corner pocket. After that, Shaw played a good safety shot. Melling was frustrated. He hits the 3-ball but leaves everything open for Shaw. The Scotsman pockets the remaining balls and finishes one of the most entertaining matches of the whole tournament with 9:8 in his favour. He will now face Ralf Souquet from Germany in the final match.

April 16 2011: - Souquet ousts Feijen

Ralf Souquet - Germany
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
Close match ends in favour of Souquet

Ralf Souquet (GER) just defeated Niels Feijen (NED) in a very close encounter with 9:7. In the beginning, Souquet made some mistakes which allowed Feijen to take a 4:0 lead over �The Kaiser�. But Souquet struggled his way back into the match. He left no room for errors and played a bit more solid in the end. When asked after the match what made the difference, Souquet replied with a smile: �I won nine racks and Niels only won seven.� �The match could have ended the other way around as well. I have made some mistakes in the early stage but towards the end, I broke better and played more solid.�

April 16 2011: - Melling destroys Ortmann

Chris Melling - Great Britain
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
No chance for the former World Champion

Chris Melling (GBR) crushed Oliver Ortmann (GER) with 9:1. Ortmann never had a chance against Melling who seemed to be overflowing with energy. The match was over in about 45 minutes. �I�ve been playing well recently�, said Melling after the match. �It�s a learning process for me. I did not take the game seriously enough, probably abusing it a bit too much. I thought I did not have to practice and took everything for granted�. �With that attitude you might be able to win a game. But to win tournaments, you got to dedicate yourself to the game�. �I played Snooker, English Pool and American Pool, but now I have stopped playing the first two. I concentrate completely on my pool game now.� Melling also stated that though he is a natural talent for the game, there are so many other good competitors who make it hard to win a tournament.

In the match between Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) and Jayson Shaw (SCO), a dramatic development could be watched. The match looked like a hopeless cause to Shaw. He has been trailing 3:7 to Stepanov already and everyone expected the match to be over soon. But Shaw came back. He managed to tie the game at 8:8 with Stepanov to execute the final break. Two balls went down and Stepanov had a tough but makeable shot on the 3-ball. He missed it very far and Shaw got to the table. He pockets the 3-ball and the 4-ball and runs out of position for the 5-ball. He plays a safety shot and brings Stepanov back to the table. The Russian aims at the 5-ball and pockets it over one rail in the center of the corner pocket. Four balls remain on the table. Stepanov pockets the 6-ball and also runs out of position. He tries to play a safety shot on the 7-ball but he misses it completely, giving Shaw ball in hand with three balls on the playing field. Shaw pockets them and snatches the match with 9:8.

The semi-finals will be played one after the other, starting at 14:00 local time with the match between Souquet and Feijen, followed by Shaw versus Melling.

April 16 2011: - "Napoleon" loses to "The Kaiser" 8:9

Marcus Chamat - Sweden
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
Tight matches determine the final day

The results speak for themselves. 50% of the matches went hill-hill. This shows how close the power density of the players is.

�The Kaiser� Ralf Souquet was always trailing with one or two racks to �Napoleon� Marcus Chamat. But somehow the Swedish could not enlarge the advantage. To the opposite, Souquet was always able to come back which lead to the score of 8:8. It was Chamat to break the balls. He was completely unlucky since all balls were spread wide open, the 1-ball was on but no ball was pocketed. He left an open table to Souquet who used this chance to gain the first lead in the entire match: 9:8.

Another thriller happened between Petri Makkonen and Roman Hybler. None of the two actors ever managed to gain a two-rack-lead over the other. In the end, Makkonen turned out to be the luckier of the two, winning�9:8!

The match between Manuel Gama and Alexander Kazakis went similar. The experienced Gama always trailed by one or two racks to the young gun from Greece. In the end, Kazakis had the better outcome winning over Gama with� 9:8!
Thomas Mehtala already had a comfortable 6:3 lead over Scotsman Jayson Shaw when Shaw decided to fight back and keep a foot in the door. He ran rack after rack and the match went to a hill-hill situation. Then, Shaw scratched while he attempted to play a safety shot. But Mehtala was not able to benefit from that, making another error. That gave Shaw the opportunity to snatch the rack and the match and win with� 9:8!

April 15 2011: - Single elimination starts!

Mario He - Austria
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
Petroni leaves the field as he loses to Daryl Peach

The last Italian man standing has left the tournament. Fabio Petroni has lost to Daryl Peach (GBR) with 6:9. Around 200 spectators saw the match that was at all times dominated by Peach. Towards the end, Petroni managed to get closer but some bad executed safety shot gave Peach the chances that he needed to finish Petroni in the tournament.

Also �The Tornado� Tony Drago (MLT) is on his way home. He had to give in to Austria�s Mario He with 4:9.

Probably the three biggest surprises in this round were the victories of Gabor Solymosi (HUN) with 9:8 over Carlo Dalmatin (CRO), Alexander Kazakis (GRE) beating Christian Reimering (GER) with 9:4 and Petri Makkonen (FIN) defeating Darren Appleton (GBR) with 9:5.

April 15 2011: - Van den Berg out!

Milos Verkic - Serbia
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
9-Ball European Champion falls to Milos Verkic

Milos Verkic (SRB) defeated European 9-ball Champion Nick van den Berg (NED) with 9:5. �I play in the Euro-Tour for many years now. My best place was 5th�, says Verkic. The Serbian took a quick lead in the match but van den Berg was able to get back to 4:4. From then on, Verkic marched on and never gave the chance to van den Berg to get back in the game. When asked, which place would satisfy him in this tournament, he replied �only 1st place� with a smile on his face.

In the next round, the loser�s qualification round, Verkic got eliminated by Ivica Putnik from Croatia with a score of 9:5, too.
Ralf Souquet will be joining Putnik in the single elimination stage. He won his match against Guilherme Sousa (POR) clearly with 9:5.

David Alcaide - Spain
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
A thriller was promised to be staged on the feature table #24 between David Alcaide (ESP) and Bruno Muratore (ITA). But the match did not quite keep what it promised. Alcaide won with 9:3 over a Muratore who never really got into his game. �I think I have played better safeties and Bruno missed too many shots. The balls didn�t roll in his favour�, said Alcaide friendly. In fact, Muratore was completely disenchanted with his own performance. �I really played very bad�, said Muratore when he left the arena.

Other players who made it into the final 32 were Thomas Mehtala (SWE), Mark Gray (GBR), Alexander Kazakis (GRE), Jakob Belka (GER), Imran Majid (GBR), Konstantin Stepanov (RUS), Petri Makkonen (FIN), Mario He (AUT), Gabor Solymosi (HUN), Roman Hybler (CZE), Italy�s last man standing �Fabulous� Fabio Petroni, Manuel Gama (POR) and Marcus Chamat (SWE). They will be drawn into the single elimination stage and will each face one of the players who have made their way through the winner�s bracket.

April 15 2011: - Petroni, Muratore and Iacobucci all sent to losers side

Dimitri Jungo - Switzerland
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
Not a good round for the Italian contingency

The Italian players in the winner�s qualification round would have probably hoped for a better outcome for them. �Fabulous� Fabio Petroni was crashed by Oliver Ortmann (GER) with 3:9. His fellow countrymen Bruno Muratore and Giuseppe Iacobucci had tighter matches but they also both lost their contests. Muratore fell to Thomas Engert (GER) with 7:9. Iacobucci lost with the same result to �The Terminator� Niels Feijen from the Netherlands. All three Italian players will have another chance to get to the single elimination stage of the tournament which starts tonight at 21:00 local time. They need to win one more match in the loser�s qualification round. The winners have already secured a spot in the group of the final 32 players.

Other notable results include the match-up between �The Kaiser� Ralf Souquet (GER) and Dimitri Jungo (SUI). They battled each other until they had a double hill situation at the score of 8:8. Souquet broke the balls and had a shot at the 2-ball but the layout of the balls on the table was not so easy.

The 7-ball was blocked by the 8-ball and the 9-ball in two pockets. Souquet analysed the situation, pocketed the 2-ball and missed the 3-ball. Jungo got to the table, pocketed all balls until he got to the 7-ball. After quite some time of evaluation, Jungo tried to play the 7-ball into the 8-ball and make the 8. He missed and accidentally pocketed the 9-ball. As if that was not bitter enough for �The Kaiser� yet, the cue ball rolled towards the corner pocket and stopped right on the edge, giving the match with 9:8 to Jungo. Souquet will also need to win another match in order to qualify.

Konstantin Stepanov - Russia
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
In the meantime, some big names are playing on the one-loss side. European 9-ball Champion Nick van den Berg (NED) overcame Daniel Konrad (GER) with 9:5. His compatriot Huidji See sent Kristoffer Mindreboe (NOR) home with the same result. Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) defeated Giorgio Margola (ITA) with 9:6. European 10-ball Champion Stephan Cohen (nothing) also put a foot in the door by winning his match against Gianluca Capella (ITA) with 9:3.

April 15 2011: - Petroni beats Cohen

Fabio Petroni - Italy
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
Top Italian player defeats European 10-ball Champion

In the encounter between two very interesting characters, Fabio Petroni (ITA) remained predominant and won with 9:5 over Stephan Cohen (nothing), the reigning European 10-ball Champion. Petroni was always ahead in the match and seemed to play with a newly found self-confidence. �I used to be arrogant. But I have had some six to seven months without any competition now and I changed my attitude�, said Petroni after the match. �I respect the game and my opponent much more than I did before. That helps me focussing on my game only�. At the score of 7:5 for Petroni, Cohen broke but could not pocket the 1-ball. Petroni starts with a combination shot and convincingly clears all balls on the table, gaining a comfortable 8:5 lead. With his own break to come, Petroni fired 3 balls in and ran the table to win the match with 9:5. Again, he looked very concentrated and made no errors at all.

�Though I never played good in events in Italy in the past, I love to play here with my fellow countrymen giving me the support I need�, says the likeable Italian. He will now have to deal with Oliver Ortmann from Germany to find out who will make his way into the last 32 players through the winner�s side and who has to walk to the loser�s bracket.

Other notable results this morning include Chris Melling (GBR) defeating David Pascasi (ITA) with 9:3, Tony Drago (MLT) bowling over Radoslaw Babica (POL) with 9:5 and Marcus Chamat (SWE) winning against Damian Overton (GBR) with 9:5. These results are all from the winner�s bracket.

April 14 2011: - Mark Gray through to next winner's round

Mark Gray - Great Britain
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
No real surprises in tonight�s matches

The second winner�s round did not bring too many big surprises to the event. Most of the seeded players made their way through to the next round in the winner�s bracket. The exemption so far is Mario He (AUT), the runner-up in this year�s 9-ball European Championship. He succumbed to Dominik Zajac (POL) with 7:9. Another favoured player who lost is Huidji See (NED). He was defeated by underdog Cliff Castelein (BEL) with 5:9.

The feature match on table #24 was the encounter between Mark Gray (GBR) and J�rgen Jenisy (AUT). Mark Gray won the match with 9:6. Any knowledgeable pool fan would have expected Gray to win the match with a clear result. But the story behind the match was a different one. Jenisy took a 1:0 lead. In the following three racks he always made an avoidable unforced error which brought Gray 3:1 up instead of Jenisy leading 4:0. That brought the British player into his game.

Jenisy continued to have his game disturbed by some mistakes. He either missed shots or he played a bad position for the cue ball. In the end, Jenisy could have won over Gray but due to the amount of mistakes he has made, Gray is the deserved winner of that match. Gray will proceed to the winner�s qualification round while Jenisy gets another chance in the loser�s bracket. If he wants to come back he really needs to prevent these errors.Other notable results include Alexander Kazakis (GRE) defeating Richard Jones (GBR) with 9:7, Christian Reimering (GER) winning 9:4 over Pascal Budo (BEL) and Thomas Engert (GER) snatching the match from Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) with 9:6 after trailing 2:5 in the match. �The Kaiser� Ralf Souquet (GER) also won his second match over Giorgio Margola (ITA) with 9:6 while Jayson Shaw (SCO) managed to win against David Alcaide (ESP) with 9:7.

Eight more matches of the second winner�s round will be played tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time.

April 14 2011: - Chinakhov on his way home!

Ruslan Chinakhov - Russia
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
Russian hope loses two straight matches and leaves the tournament

The first casualties have been recorded in the Dynamic Italian Open in Treviso.

Ruslan Chinakhov has lost two matches in a row. In the winner�s bracket he had to give in to Mariusz Roter (POL) with 6:9.

Straight after that match, in the loser�s bracket Chinakhov encountered Ekkhard Schneider-Lombard (GER). After a match that was determined by many missed opportunities and shots, the German player managed to win over Chinakhov by a margin of 9:8. Chinakhov did not make use of his close first round win against Rozwadowski.

Newly crowned European 9-ball Champion Nick van den Berg (NED) unexpectedly lost his first winner�s round match to Harald Stolka with 8:9. The match was tight at all times and Stolka had the luckier end on his side. Van den Berg encountered Erwin Konrad (GER) on the loser�s side and won the match 9:3, keeping his hopes to make it back to the last 32 players alive.

Another recently crowned European Champion lost his first winner�s round match, too. Dominic Jentsch (GER) who just won the title in 8-ball two weeks ago, lost to Richard Jones (GBR) with 6:9. He joined van den Berg in the loser�s bracket where he also won his next match with 9:5 over Frederico Campanelli (ITA).

April 14 2011: - Inside Outside rule played in 2011 Dynamic Euro Tour!

Bartosz Rozwadowski - Poland
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
First matches already filled with dramatic encounters

In the first rounds of the Dynamic Italian Open 2011, which is a 9-ball tournament, some interesting matches were played. One of the most exciting matches happened on the feature table #24 between Ruslan Chinahov (RUS) and Bartosz Rozwadowski (POL). Chinahov was clearly favoured to win the match but the past weeks have not seen him to be in a good shape. No surprise, the match was dominated by Rozwadowski. The young Polish had a small lead during the entire match and with the score being 8:7 in favour of him it looked like another first round loss would be on the agenda for Chinahov. He miscued on the 5-ball, leaving 4 balls for his opponent on the table with ball in hand. But totally amazing, Rozwadowski could not make them, leaving the rack for Chinahov to tie the match at 8:8 with the Russian to break. Chinahov broke the balls and pocketed one ball, finding himself without a shot at the 1-ball. He played a push out which Rozwadowski passed back to him. Chinahov tried to jump the 1-ball in but he did not make it, leaving a tough shot for his opponent.

After a few safety attempts were played, Chinakhov missed the 1-ball and scratched. Open table with ball in hand for the young player from Poland. Rozwadowski again missed an easy combination shot. Chinakhov played safe and put the cue ball behind the 5-ball. Rozwadowski executed a perfect jump shot and pocketed the 2-ball, having position on the 3-ball. At least now everybody thought that Rozwadowski could finish the match in his favour. But he found himself in a tough angle on the 4-ball and he scratched during the attempt of pocketing the same. Chinakhov had ball in hand and four balls on the table and he took the rack to win the match 9:8. The entire match was determined by many mistakes by both players and Rozwadowski looked like the winner at all times. However, he gave away the victory to Chinakhov and now walks to the loser�s bracket.

Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
One novelty in the 2011 Euro-Tour is the implementation of the �break box�, using the �inside-outside� rule. What does that mean? According to the rules and regulations, an organizer is free to adopt break regulations for a tournament. The Euro-Tour consists of six to seven tournaments a year which are either played in the discipline 9-ball or 10-ball. In order to make the break shot a bit more unpredictable and adjust it to the player�s high standard, a box is drawn into the kitchen area.

The longitudinal lines are 42 cm away from the side rails. In 9-ball competition, the player executing the break shot must position the cue ball �inside� the box which means he must place it in between the two lines. In 10-ball competition, the cue ball must be placed �outside� the box lines while executing the break shot. This has to do with the geometrical shape of the racks (diamond shape in 9-ball; triangle in 10-ball) and makes it harder for the players to predict the break shot.

Daniele Corrieri - Italy
Photographs � EPBF - & used by Pro9 with express permission.
Other notable results this morning included Damianos Giallourakis (GRE) defeating Russian Konstantin Stepanov with 9:4. Nicolas Ottermann from Germany fell to the sharp blade of Elvis Ambord from Switzerland also with 9:4. Local hope Daniele Corrieri (ITA) almost had the victory in his hands but his nerves played a bad joke on him when he missed the 9-ball at the score of 8:8, giving his opponent Sandor Tor (SRB) the rack and the match.

April 13 2011: - Almost complete selection of top players invade Treviso!

39 of Europe�s Top 40 players will line up in Italy this week!

More than 200 players from around 30 nations will come to Treviso, Italy, competing for the second Euro-Tour title in 2011.

Among these fine cue artists, almost the complete European Pool-Billiard elite will come for a rendezvous. �The fact that almost all top players show up in Treviso underlines the importance of the event and the Tour�, says IBP President David Morris.

The Euro-Tour is the most known ranking system in the World and is well renowned for its quality and quantity of players. It is also the qualifying system of the EPBF for international events, including World Championships. The stop in Italy is the second of 6 tournaments altogether in 2011.

Last year�s event which was the first Euro-Tour tournament in the Treviso region was won by Daryl Peach from Great Britain. He overcame Polish Mateusz Sniegocki in the final match and he will now try and defend his title this year.

EPBF / IBP will inform regularly through press releases.

The event will be hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the event website www.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office.

Rank	Points	Prize-money (Euros)
1	550	4,500.00
2	480	2,800.00
3-4	420	1,800.00
5-8	370	1,380.00
9-16	330	900.00
17-32	300	750.00
33-48	275	400.00
49-64	230	Total Prize Fund 42,020 Euros
65-96	200
97-128	180
129-192	160
193-256	140

THE EURO TOUR ITALIAN OPEN 2011

THE LAST 16

Ralf Souquet (GER) v Marcus Chamat (SWE) 9:8
Manuel Gama (POR) v Alexander Kazakis (GRE) 8:9
Petri Makkonen (FIN) v Roman Hybler (CZE) 9:8
Niels Feijen (NED) v Ivica Putnik (CRO) 9:4
Daryl Peach (GBR) v Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) 6:9
Thomas Mehtala (SWE) v Jayson Shaw (SCO) 8:9
Oliver Ortmann (GER) v Gabor Solymosi (HUN) 9:3
Mario He (AUT) v Chris Melling (GBR) 2:9

THE EURO TOUR ITALIAN OPEN 2011

THE QUARTER FINALS

Ralf Souquet (GER) v Alexander Kazakis (GRE) 9:4
Petri Makkonen (FIN) v Niels Feijen (NED) 5:9
Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) v Jayson Shaw (SCO) 8:9
Oliver Ortmann (GER) v Chris Melling (GBR) 1:9

THE EURO TOUR ITALIAN OPEN 2011

THE SEMI FINALS

Ralf Souquet (GER) v Niels Feijen (NED) 9:7
Jayson Shaw (SCO) v Chris Melling (GBR) 9:8

THE EURO TOUR ITALIAN OPEN 2011

THE FINAL

Ralf Souquet (GER) v Jayson Shaw (SCO) 9:6

Good luck to all the players making the trip to Italy, from everyone at Pro9!!!

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