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31055 Quinto di Treviso
Italy
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Thurs-Sat 6-8 February 2014
Nick van den Berg wins the first Euro-Tour stop in 2014
Nick van den Berg just won the Dynamic Billard Italian open in Treviso, Italy, with a 9:5 victory over Karol Skowerski.
The final match between started with a dominant phase from van den Berg. He ran out the first two racks and the capitalized from a mistake from Skowerski, turning the scoreboard to 3:0 after only 13 minutes. Then van den Berg scratched on his own break and allowed Skowerski to open up his account with 3:1. The next racks were equally shared and after 8 racks the score was 5:3 for van den Berg with Skowerski’s break shot coming up. At that point in time, van den Berg seemed to lose his domination in the match a bit. Skowerski broke the 9-ball and came within one point to van den Berg. The tide seemed to turn in the match. But van den Berg took his time-out and tried to remain cool. After 11 racks, the score was only 6:5 in favor of the Dutch. Rack 12 turned out to be the main rack in the match. Van den Berg snookered Skowerski with a good safety shot and forced him to commit a foul. Then van den Berg ran the rack to gain a two-point lead at 7:5. Rack 13 and 14 were again dominated by safety play from both side with van den Berg having the better outcome on his end. Finally, the result was 9:5 in favor of van den Berg who took the second Euro-Tour title in a row. He also won the final Euro-Tour in 2013 which also took place in Treviso, Italy. „I think it must be the food or the air here“, said van den Berg with a big smile on his face after the awards ceremony. „I really feel well here even though I struggled with a bad jet lag“, van den Berg added, „but my coaches Sjaak and Johnny helped me a lot to improve my game ad the mental aspects of it“. According to the statistics, van den Berg had a break ratio (break shots with balls down) of 100% and a break efficiency (shot on the lowest numbered ball after the break) of 43%. Skowerski had 86% ratio and 33% efficiency.
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Karol Skowerski had to deal with Mark Gray (GBR) in the semi-final. The match was totally leveled and both players competed at equal strength. It were the little things that made the difference in the match. Skowerski was a bit more consistent in his re-safes and his position play regarding safety shots. In the end, this created the advantage he needed to win the semi-final with 9:7.
In the other semi-final, Nick van den Berg dominated his opponent and fellow countryman Niels Feijen (NED). Surprisingly, the match was only open in the early stage. After six racks, the score was tied at 3:3. Then both players seemed to be a bit out of focus and allowed some mistakes to interfere with their strong performance. Van den Berg was the first one to get back on track and collected rack after rack. Feijen seemed to be left in the dark. He could not find the answer to his opponent and finally had to accept that van den Berg was the better player today, winning clearly with 9:4.
The quarter-final matches all finished with the same result today. 9:6 was good for van den Berg over Tomasz Kaplan (POL). Feijen ended Mateusz Sniegocki (POL), Skowerski won over Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) and Gray allowed Chris Melling (GBR) to go home early.
In the round of the last 16 players, Marco Dorenburg’s (GER) quest ended here in Treviso. The German junior player who had ousted some top players yesterday including former World 9-Ball Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) lost relatively clear to Tomasz Kaplan from Poland with 3:9. Nick van den Berg and Niels Feijen both won their matches clearly with 9:5 and 9:4 over Radoslaw Babica (POL) and Karl Boyes (GBR). Mateusz Sniegocki eliminated #2 ranked player Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) with 9:4. Albin Ouschan (AUT) committed a fatal error at 7:7 in his match with Karol Skowerski. Instead of getting on the hill, he dogged the 9-ball and allowed Skowerski to get to 8 racks first. That mistake obviously broke his neck in the match and Skowerski won with 9:7. Nikos Ekonomopoulos ousted the final remaining Italian player of the Italian Open. He defeated Pietro Caperna (ITA) quite clearly with 9:2. Chris Melling powered over Serge Das (BEL) with 9:6. In the all-British clash between Mark Gray and Richard Jones (GBR), Gray remained the upper hand and took care of Jones with 9:6.
Final Standings Top 16 Dynamic Billard Italian Open 2014:
1. Nick van den Berg NED 1000 3.500,00 €
2. Karol Skowerski POL 900 2.500,00 €
3. Niels Feijen NED 800 1.500,00 €
Mark Gray GBR 800 1.500,00 €
5. Nick Ekonomopoulos GRE 700 1.250,00 €
Tomasz Kaplan POL 700 1.250,00 €
Chris Melling GBR 700 1.250,00 €
Mateusz Sniegocki POL 700 1.250,00 €
9. Marco Dorenburg GER 600 1.000,00 €
Radoslaw Babica POL 600 1.000,00 €
Karl Boyes GBR 600 1.000,00 €
Konstantin Stepanov RUS 600 1.000,00 €
Albin Ouschan AUT 600 1.000,00 €
Pietro Caperna ITA 600 1.000,00 €
Serge Das BEL 600 1.000,00 €
Richard Jones GBR 600 1.000,00 €
DAY 2
Feijen ends Souquet’s hopes for another Euro-Tour title
Niels Feijen (NED) ousted Ralf Souquet (GER) from the Dynamic Billard Italian Open 2014, handing him a clear 9:3 defeat in the round of the final 32 players. The fact that these two players met in this early stage of the event was a bit unfortunate. However, Feijen dominated the match and the balls also did not roll in Souquet’s favor. In the end, Feijen deserved the victory. He will now play Karl Boyes (GBR) in the round of the final 16 players.
Boyes took care of Italy's Fabio Petroni (pictured above), one of the local heroes of the event. The whole day was determined by close matches and strong comebacks. Already at 09:00 in the first round of the day, Radoslaw Babica (POL) performed a marvelous comeback. He was already trailing 2:6 to Pierfrancesco Garzia (ITA) when he managed to turn the match around and claim the victory with 9:7.
In the next round it was Henrikas Strolis (LIT) who came up as a big surprise. He was trailing 3:7 and still managed to win 9:8 over Michele Bianchini (ITA) who missed the 7-ball at 8:8.
Roman Hybler (CZE) looked like the sure winner in his match with Sanne Azar (SWE). He suddenly snookered himself with only three balls left on the table. He tried a jump shot but could not pocket the object ball. Azar accepted the gift and won 9:8.
The drama continued through the winner’s qualification round. Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) and Marcus Chamat (SWE) also went hill-hill and this time Chamat committed a foul on the 2-ball when he tried a difficult safety shot. Sniegocki ran out an booked his seat among the top 32 players of the event, sending Chamat to the loser’s side. There, he met Phil Burford (GBR) as a revenge match from round 1 where Chamat defeated Burford. In the loser’s qualification match, Burford succeeded in taking revenge winning the match this time - 9:8 of course!
Talking about revenge matches, Marco Dorenburg (GER) made his way through the loser’s side with victories over Olivier Mortier (BEL) with 9:1, Manuel Gama (POR) with 9:8 and Ivica Putnik (CRO) with 9:8. He then met Great Britain's Daryl Peach (pictured above) in the loser’s qualification round. Dorenburg lost his opening match to Peach and looked forward to his chance to get even. And he achieved the impossible! Dorenburg ousted Peach with 9:7 from the event. He was then drawn against Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) who he also defeated with 9:2. Dorenburg booked his seat in the round of the final 16 players.
Tomorrow’s lineup is as follows:
Dorenburg GER v Kaplan POL
vd Berg NED v Babica POL
Feijen NED v Boyes GBR
Sniegocki POL v Stepanov RUS
Ouschan AUT v Skowerski POL
Caperna ITA v Ekonomopoulos GRE
Melling GBR v Das BEL
Gray GBR v Jones GBR
The tournament continues at 10:00 local time.
DAY 1
Fortunski wrestled down van den Berg in a tough showdown
The Dynamic Billard Italian Open have started today in the Best Western Premier BHR Hotel in Treviso, Italy. 137 players from 28 countries play for 34.000,-€ prize money and ranking points for the European rankings.
The tournament contained some real surprises on day one. Probably the biggest upset was young Mieszko Fortunski (POL) sending nr.1 ranked player Nick van den Berg (NED) to the loser’s side with the closest of all results, 9:8. It was already an enormous effort from the Polish to keep up the speed with van den Berg. He never allowed the favorite player to get away from him during the match. They took turns, running and winning racks. This finally led to a hill-hill situation at 8:8. The 17th rack was action-packed and full of drama and excitement. With his own break shot coming up, Nick van den berg had all the chances in the World to leave the final arena as the winner. His break shot worked. He had some object balls down and a shot at the lowest numbered ball. During the rack, he ran out of position for the 6-ball. Instead of playing a safety shot, van den Berg tried to cut the 6-ball in the side pocket and missed. That brought Fortunski back to the table. He probably did not believe that he would get another chance. However, he also had a thin cut on the 6-ball and missed it as well. Fortunately for him, he left van den Berg a bad position on the table. The 6-ball was hidden by some object balls. Van den Berg needed to play rails first and try to come up with a resafe. He hit the 6-ball but after that contact, no ball had any cushion anymore so it was a foul. Fortunski got back to the table and ran the rack, winning 9:8 over Nick van den Berg, sending him to the loser’s side of the event. Mieszko Fortunski will play Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) in the winner’s qualification round while Nick van den Berg needs to win three more matches to get to the final stage of the tournament. His next opponent will be Mehmetali Sözgen (TNC).
Number 2 ranked played Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) also lost his match in winner’s round 2 with 4:9 to Serge Das (BEL).
Former World 9-Ball Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) won his match with Marco Dorenburg (GER) with 9:8. Dorenburg is a German junior player. Peach commented after the match on his Facebook page: „Won my first match here in Eurotour 9-8. Played really well and so did my young German opponent.“ That post says it all. Dorenburg gave Peach a hard time but in the end, the British won through his experience.
Another victim from winner’s round 2 was BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER). He fell to Chris Melling (GBR) in a tight encounter with 8:9.
„Napoleon“ Marcus Chamat from Sweden won both his opening matches today. After one year of absence from the Euro-Tour, Chamat had to deal with England’s Phil Burford in winner’s round 1. He demonstrated that he did not lose any of his class, winning the match with 9:5. „Phil is a good player. I think the reason for that clear victory is that his break did not work for him today“, stated Chamat after the match. In the next round, Chamat was almost defeated by unheralded Henrikas Strolis from Lithuania. The underdog surprised the crowd with rock solid pool and Chamat needed 17 racks to win the match with 9:8 over Strolis.
10 of 16 tables can be viewed during the whole time in the LIVE Stream. Check out most matches and more at www.kozoom.com/en/pool-billiard/. Join the site, become premium and feel the action as it happens.
The tournament will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time. For more info, check out www.epbf.com.