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Diamond Nine Dynamic Treviso Euro Tour Open
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S.R. 53 Via Postumia Castellana 2
31055 Quinto di Treviso
Italy
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1-3 December 2011

David Alcaide - Spain
Alcaide finishes Petroni

Friday, 02 December 2011: In a classic encounter of two players who know each other for a long time, David Alcaide (ESP) finished Fabio Petroni (ITA) with 9:4.

The match started with both players playing not on their A-game. They made unnecessary mistakes and benefitted from each other�s errors. In the 5th rack, when the score was tied at 2:2, things changed for Alcaide. He played better and Petroni got really unlucky with some shots and positions. Though Petroni was trying hard to satisfy the expectations of his home crowd, Alcaide took rack after rack off Petroni and got into a comfortable 6:2 lead.

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Then, in the 9th rack, Petroni makes a terrible mistake on the 4-ball and misses it after having played tougher shots before. Alcaide does not reject that gift and makes the score 7:2 in his favour. The next rack was determined by safety shots. It was again Petroni to make the first mistake, giving a chance to Alcaide to run out which the Spaniard did, climbing on the hill with an 8:2 lead over Petroni. The next two racks were taken by Petroni who seemed to struggle back and keep himself in the game.

In the 13th rack, Petroni broke the balls and the 9-ball was hanging over the corner pocket. However, he did not have a shot at the 2-ball which was the lowest numbered ball on the table. So he played a good safety shot. Alcaide answered that by kissing into the 2-ball and pocketing the 9-ball with the cue ball. That was the 9:4 victory for Alcaide over Petroni. �I think Fabio and I have not played well in this match�, said Alcaide after the match, �I have missed too many balls and played bad positions. Normally, I would have lost that match but I was lucky here to beat Fabio. The balls did not roll in his favour�.

Daryl Peach at the table with Fabio Petroni watching him closely
Peach sends Petroni to the one-loss side!

Drago out of the Dynamic Treviso Open

Friday, 02 December 2011: Former World 9-Ball Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) has won against one of the last remaining Italian hopes, Fabio Petroni, with a clear result of 9:3.

His victory was never really endangered. The match looked like it would be close in the first four racks. After the score was 2:2, Peach played more solid and Petroni also got a bit unlucky in scratching with the cue ball and running out of position.

Peach played merciless and did not get impressed by the fact that most people in the arena wanted to see him go down. Maybe that even motivated him more. Anyway, Peach took five straight racks in a row, achieving a comfortable 7:2 lead over Petroni. �Fabulous� Fabio Petroni tried to fight back but all he could get was one more rack. His striking back was interrupted by another cue ball that scratched. Peach took his chances and ran two more racks, winning deservedly with 9:3. Since this was the winner�s bracket,

Petroni will get one more chance to make it to the final 32 players while Peach has secured his seat in the single elimination part of the tournament.

Other notable results in the winner�s qualification round include Roman Hybler (CZE) destroying �Napoleon� Marcus Chamat (SWE) with 9:4. Thomas Engert (GER), very experienced player and several times German and European Champion, fell to the blade of youngster Mario He (AUT) with 7:9.

Another favorite who had to give in was Darren Appleton (GBR). The US-Open and Champion of Champions winner was defeated by his fellow countryman Imran Majid with 9:6. The matchups Nick van den Berg (NED) v David Alcaide (ESP), Artem Koshovyi (UKR) v Christian Reimering (GER) and Manuel Ederer (GER) v Serge Das (BEL) all had one thing in common: They all ended 9:8 and made van den Berg, Reimering and Ederer walk to the loser�s side where they will need to win one more match in order to make it to the last 32.

Also notable was the match in the 4th loser�s round where Tony Drago (MLT) met with Alexander Kazakis (GRE). Tony �The Tornado� was almost there, being on the hill and leading 8:5 when Kazakis started an impressive comeback. He took rack after rack from Drago and achieved what no one would have believed: He won the match 9:8 over Drago and proceeded to the loser�s qualification round where he will fight Petri Makkonen (FIN) for a seat in the single elimination stage of the tournament whereas Tony Drago is eliminated.

Drago eliminates Shaw in thriller!

Showdown at Dynamic Treviso Open Euro-Tour

Friday, 02 December 2011: In a match that can definitely be regarded as a high class thriller, Tony Drago (MLT) ousted Jayson Shaw (SCO) with 9:8.

The match was a classical showdown between two players who are known to play fast and aggressive pool. Both players performed on a very high level. Since they do execute their shots quite quickly, some errors could be observed on both sides. However, since they both are excellent shotmakers, the match went along with no player being really able to create a distance to his opponent.

The drama started to unfold in the 13th rack. Drago was looking like the winner of the rack when he missed an easy 6-ball. Shaw came to the table and pocketed the 6-ball and the remaining balls. When playing position for the 9-ball, he almost scratched and left himself a relatively tough shot.

However, he made it and took a 7:6 lead over Drago. After that, Shaw had no ball down on the break and Drago ran the balls in about one minute, tying the score 7:7. The match really started to heat up. Drago broke in the 15th rack and scratched. What a catastrophe for the Maltese �Tornado�. All balls were spread wide open and Shaw ran the rack, climbing on the hill and taking an 8:7 lead over Drago. If worse would have come to worst, Drago would not have another visit at the table anymore. But the story of the match continued differently In the 16th rack, Shaw broke the balls and made a ball but had a really tough shot on the 1-ball. After thinking about it for a long time, he played a push-out and left a the devils playground of a shot on the table for Drago who passed it back.

�That shot had a percentage of about 5% for Jayson and 95% for me. It was so hard to make, it was almost unbelievable. When Jayson fired that one in, I thought �That was it for me� �, commented Drago after the match. But the match was not yet over. Shaw fired an unbelievably tough 1-ball in and ran the balls until he got to the 6-ball. He ran out of position and snookered himself behind another ball. He tried a jump shot but the cue ball jumped off the table. That was a key situation in the match and it gave a second life to Tony Drago.

In the final rack with both players being on the hill, Drago came dry on the break shot. After a push out and safety shots were exchanged, Shaw played a safety shot but left a thin cut for Drago. The �Tornado� went for it and ran all balls, winning the match by a whisker with 9:8.

The lesson here is clear: It was a great match, very entertaining to watch and both players would have deserved to win but Drago had the better roll on his side in the end. One who is definitely happy to see this result is nr. 1 ranked player Ralf Souquet since Shaw would have been the only player to eventually stop him from winning the Euro-Tour rankings 2011, but only if Shaw would have won this tournament. �I need opponents like Jayson in order to play my best game�, mentioned Drago, �when you see the energy and the precision with which Jayson played, I really find my best game against opponents like him.�

Other notable results from this morning loser bracket rounds include Huidji See (NED) handing a doughnut to Robert Kovacs (ALB), smashing him 9:0. Senharip Azar (SWE) ousted Jonni Fulcher (GBR) who defeated Ralf Souquet yesterday, with 9:6.

Fulcher had lost to Ruslan Chinakhov 8:9 and went into the loser�s bracket, just to get his second consecutive loss in a row. Niels Feijen (NED), another name who would not be expected to appear in the early stages of the loser�s rounds, kicked out Albin Ouschan (AUT) from the event with 9:7. Ivo Aarts, young talented player from the Netherlands, overcame Poland�s star player Mateusz Sniegocki with 9:7. Sniegocki will join Fulcher and Shaw on the way home today.

Mark Gray (GBR) keeps his foot still in the door. He is actually on the one-loss side, but after defeating Stefano Bazzana (ITA) with 9:5, he needs only two more wins in order to make it to the round of the last 32 men standing.

The event is 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 federation website www.eurotouronline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.

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