Alexander Kazakis (GRE) has had a good day „at the office“ today. After having won the 10-ball Kremlin Cup earlier this month, Kazakis came here to Treviso with a lot of wind underneath his wings to play the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open, the final event of the Euro-Tour in 2016. He seems to be on a streak. In his first winner’s round match, Kazakis wasted no time with Guilherme Sousa (POR) and defeated him 9:4. In the next round, the opponent was punished even harder. Ryan Pisany (MLT) fell to the sharp blade of Kazakis and received the maximum penalty. 9:0 was the final result that put Kazakis in the winner’s qualification round where he will be up against Arjan Matrizi (ALB).
Former World 9-ball Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) did not catch that good of a day as Kazakis. He won his first match 9:4 over Adam Mscisz (POL) but then met Sascha Trautmann (GER). The German prove to be too strong for Peach today and showed no mercy for him. 9:3 was the final result that put Peach on the loser’s side of the draw.
Joining the list of the fallen heroes from today is Albin Ouschan (AUT), current 9-ball World Champion. He started with an easy prey in winner’s round one with a comfortable 9:4 victory over Mariusz Skoneczny (POL). In the next round, Ouschan stood against Andrey Seroshtan (RUS). That match went completely against the World Champion. Seroshtan dominated the table and in the end handed Ouschan a tough and painful 9:4 debacle. Seroshtan, who earlier today overpowered Andreas Madsen (DEN) 9:5 now will go against Jose Alberto Delgado (ESP) in the winner’s qualification round.
Another interesting encounter took place in winner’s round one between Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) and newbie Aleksa Pecelj (SRB). The 16-year-old kid from Serbia came here to Treviso for his first Euro-Tour experience and he came up with some impressive performances. In round one, he defeated Jorge Garcia-Fonseca (ESP) with 9:0. Then he met Stepanov who is constantly ranked in the top 32 in Europe since years. However, Pecelj did not show too much respect and tried to live for the moment. He used his chances whenever he got them and Stepanov committed some unnecessary mistakes. This combination lead to a score of 8:8 with Pecelj having the final break shot. He could not make a ball off the break but left no shot for Stepanov. The cue ball was hiding partly behind the 8-ball and he could not see the whole of the 1-ball. He played a push-out and left a tough position for Pecelj. The young Serbian decided to go for a combination shot that was very hard to make. Playing that shot in that situation would have probably not been the choice of many players. But Pecelj went for it and made it. He then used his chance and ran the rack to win with 9:8 over a disappointed Stepanov. In his next match in winner’s round two, Pecelj lost to Olivier Mortier (BEL) 7:9.
This year’s Mosconi Cup Captain for Team EUROPE, Marcus Chamat (SWE). received a painful whipping today from Hubert Lopotko (POL). In winner’s round one, Lopotko destroyed Chamat on table 1 and handed him a clear 9:5 defeat. Thereafter, Chamat went to the loser’s side and ousted Tom Bjerke (NOR) 9:6. Having received a walk-over in the next round, Chamat will be up next against Thomas Poeschl (GER) on Friday morning at 10:30 local time. On the other hand, Lopotko has made his way through to the winner’s qualification round by taking down Kristjan Kuusik (EST) 9:5 after the destruction of Chamat. At 13:30tomorrow, he will face Stephan Cohen (FRA) for a spot in the single elimination of the event.
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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.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
The 42nd US Open 9-Ball Championship kicks off at 10:30 EST Sunday morning, with a field of 139 players competing for the most presigious title on US soil.
Great Britain’s Karl Boyes has been on a tough mission in this Dynamic Billard Slovenian Open so far. Yesterday, he defeated Ralf Souquet (GER) with 9:3. Then, he won over Adam Mscisz (POL) 9:1, probably the only „easy“ match so far. Today, he fell to the sharp blade of „The Terminator“ Niels Feijen (NED) 3:9 in the winner’s qualification round. He went on the loser’s side just to mert Ralf Souquet again. There, he was having a comfortable lead when Souquet started pulling back rack after rack from him. He broke at 8:7 in his favor and the 9-ball went in the pocket. That brought „The Grinder“ to the round of the last 32 players. There, Boyes met another heavyweight in David Alcaide (ESP). He remained the upper hand in that match and will not meet last Euro-Tour’s winner Denis Grabe (EST) in the round of the last 16 players which will be played tomorrow morning at10:00 CET. Grabe had ousted Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) 9:7 earlier.
It is also remarkable that Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) is among the best 16 players of the event. She lost to her brother yesterday but came back strong. While Albin made his way over the winner’s side with victories over Richard Jones (GBR) 9:4 and in the single elimination Joshua Filler (AUT) 9:5, Jasmin had a bit more work to do. She got the better of Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) 9:4, Michael Schneider (SUI) 9:1 and Roman Hybler (CZE) 9:5 to earn a spot among the best 32 players of the event. She met Michal Turkowski (POL) and added him to the list of her victims with 9:4 to enter the round of the last 16 players, just like her brother Albin. There she will face Mark Gray (GBR) who won 9:5 over his fellow countryman Daryl Peach (GBR).
Mats Schjetne (NOR) delivered a huge upset to the tournament. He ousted „The Terminator“ Niels Feijen (NED) in the round of the final 3 players with 9:7. That victory was completely unheralded. Schjetne was drawn in the match with Feijen. He came from the loser’s side.
The Dynamic Billard Slovenian Open had a novelty today: For the first time, brother and sister met in the second winner’s round. We are talking about Jasmin and Albin Ouschan from Austria.
They both had a walk-over in the first round. Then, in the first winner’s round, Jasmin defeated Andrey Seroshtan (RUS) 9:5 while Albin overcame Michael Lichodziejewski (POL) 9:7. This brought the two together in winner’s round two. They started out quite equally. Then, Jasmin committed two mistakes which was enough for her brother to snatch the needed points off her, winning the match with 9:4. „When we saw we had to play each other, we had to laugh“, stated Albin after the match. „Jasmin and I have played each other in competition six or seven years ago for the last time“. When asked whether they would now have a tense time, Albin added: „No, I think all is good. After the match we talked about what we are going to eat for dinner tonight“. Albin Ouschan will continue in the winner’s qualification round tomorrow while Jasmin needs to seek her luck in the loser’s round.
Other remarkable results include Ralf Souquet (GER) losing to Karl Boyes (GBR) with 3:9 in the first winner’s round. This match was exactly the final match of this year’s Dynamic Billard North Cyprus Open in April. Then, Souquet had the better end and won the tournament with a victory over Boyes. Today, the Brit prove to be the stronger player and advanced to the next winner’s round where he made short work of Adam Mscisz (POL) with 9:1.
Reigning World 9-Ball Champion Niels „The Terminator“ Feijen (NED) lost three racks today in total! He defeated Antonio Neves (POR) with 9:2, then Anthony Brabin (CYP) with 9:1. Strong performance as usual from the Dutch superstar.
His fellow countryman Nick Van Den Berg (NED) was not so lucky today. He lost his first match to Carlos Cabello Ariza (ESP) 8:9 and now has to make his way all through the loser’s side. This happened to van den Berg before, and he actually won the tournament so maybe this first round defeat was kind of a wake-up-call for the Dutch.
It can be viewed here that many players from the younger generation give the experienced players a hard time. Joshua Filler (GER) defeated Serge Das (BEL) with 9:6. Daniel Tangudd (SWE) remained victorious over former World Champion Oliver Ortmann (GER) by a hair’s breadth with 9:8.
Another player who should be taken a close look at is Marcus Chamat (SWE). After a break of one year for personal reasons, he shows his face back on the tour and seems to be as dangerous as always. He defeated Ivo Aarts (NED) with 9:4 and then Harald Stolka (GER) also with 9:4.
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.eurotouronline.com
The event is hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
