Most favourites on their way to glory
Monday, 26 March 2012: In a thrilling encounter, Andreas Gerwen (SWE) wrestled Zoran Svilar (SRB) down with 8:4.
Already in the very first rack, Svilar committed a grave mistake. He was on the table and the balls had a nice layout for him to draw first blood. But he missed an easy shot and gave the first rack away to Gerwen. That is something that you should not do with players of this level. The next rack, Gerwen broke and came up dry. Svilar started potting and again missed an easy shot. What a catastrophe for Svilar. Was it lack of concentration? Gerwen benefitted again from that mistake and took the rack. These two mistakes in the early stage of the match were quite critical for Svilar. He always carried them with him like a ball and a chain through the match. Gerwen was always on top of things and even when Svilar played without mistakes, Gerwen did as well. Until the 10th rack. Then Gerwen scratched on his break and left an open and easy table to run for Svilar to try and tie the score at 5:5. But Svilar lost position for the 8-ball and hooked himself. He tried to make it but did not succeed. Gerwen took that rack and instead of a tie situation, the score was now 6:4 in favour of Gerwen. That probably broke Svilar's neck. He broke the balls in the 11th rack and nothing went in with the cue ball in a nice position for Gerwen. The Swede thanked in his own way by pocketing all balls and going on the hill, taking a 7:4 lead over Svilar with his own break to come up. He broke the balls, had a tough shot to begin with but played very strong and won the rack and the match with 8:4. Gerwen has played stronger than Svilar and is rightfully through to the last 32 player's in the men's division.
Other notable results in the men's division include Ralf Souquet (GER) winning over Miquel Silva (POR) with 8:3. David Alcaide (ESP) made it with 8:1 over Johan D'Hondt (BEL).
In the women's division, Katerina Polovinchuk (UKR) ended the roll of Kristina Zlateva (BUL) with 6:4. The Bulgarian was eliminated from the 8-ball competition. The same fate was shared by Louise Furberg (SWE) who got beaten by Darya Sirotina (RUS) with 2:6. Amalia Matas (ESP), winner against Jasmin Ouschan last night, got ousted by unheralded Claudia Kunz (SUI) with 5:6). Tamara Rademakers (NED) ended Line Kjoersvik's (NOR) hopes for a medal in 8-ball this year with 6:4.
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.epconline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
