Kristina Tkach Snatches Second Title For Russia This Week

Kristina Tkach
Kristina Tkach (RUS) just won the EPBF Treviso Open 2018 Women’s Euro-Tour event in the BHR Treviso Hotel, Italy. In the final match, she defeated Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) 7:0. After Fedor Gorst (RUS) winning the open event yesterday, this makes it a double victory weekend for Russia.
 
Usually, the matches get tougher the deeper the athletes advance in the field. Looking at Tkach’s matches today, this impression is turned upside down. In the early morning, she fought her way through the match against Tina Vogelmann (GER) and won 7:5. Her next opponent was Christine Feldmann (SUI) who also snatched 5 racks from Tkach. Again, 7:5 was the final result in Tkach’s favour. Then Kristina Tkach encountered Jasmin Ouschan (AUT). This match was expected to be a fierce fight with Ouschan being the favourite player. But to the surprise of the audience, Tkach smashed Ouschan and took her down with 7:3 to advance into the final match of the EPBF Treviso Open. There, Oliwia Czuprynska was waiting. The Polish athlete also did not have smooth sailing in the tournament so far. She eliminated Christine Steinlage (GER) 7:5 this morning after having trailed 2:4 and 4:5 in the match. But she overtook Steinlage and crossed the finish line first. Then, Czuprynska had a hill-hill thriller against Kristina Zlateva (BUL). Czuprynska one more time came back from trailing 2:5 and levelled the match at 6:6. Then, Czuprynska had the break shot. A nightmare unfolded when Czuprynska broke, had one ball pocketed but came up with an illegal break shot and left an open table for her opponent. But Zlateva could not run the rack. The match evolved into a safety battle with Czuprynska forcing Zlateva to commit a foul shot. With ball in hand, Czuprynska ran the rack and proceeded into the semifinal. Natalia Seroshtan (RUS) was eliminated with 7:4 which paved the way for Czuprynska into the final match against Tkach. The final match can be described with one word: one-sided! It was only Tkach who was able to play up to her normal performance. Oliwia Czuprynska seemed to have lost all energy and power and lost with 0:7 to a deserved Champion Kristina Tkach.
 
Top Eight EPBF Treviso Open 2018
1. Kristina Tkach RUS
2. Oliwia Czuprynska POL
3. Natalia Seroshtan RUS
    Jasmin Ouschan AUT
5. Kristina Zlateva BUL
    Ana Gradisnik SLO
    Christine Feldmann SUI
 
That victory pushes Kristina Tkach to the #1 position of the Women’s Euro-Tour ranking.
 
That concludes the coverage of the EPBF Treviso Open 2018.
 
The event was hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organised by International Billiard Promotion (IBP).  For further information and reference please go to the federation website eurotouronline under the Eurotour tab. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or check out the EPBF YouTube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.