From 37 players, the Predator Slovenian Open is now down to the final four as three further rounds were completed today (Sunday). The tournament reconvenes on Monday morning with the two semi-finals set to start at 10.00 with the final starting at 12.00 midday.
Eyllul Kibaroglu, the No.1 ranked player on tour, is still in with a shout of winning back-to-back Euro Tour titles as she leads the field going into day three. A winner last time out in Petrich, Bulgaria, where she beat Pia Filler 7-4 for the title, Kibaroglu will be up against the rising young German talent once again.
Kibaroglu, like Filler, is undefeated in the event this far and today she enjoyed wins over young Norwegian, Nina Torvund by 7-2 and then took a 7-4 victory over Hannan Memic (BIH) in the quarter-finals.
Filler, who is looking for her maiden Euro Tour title, beat a brace of youngsters today to cement her spot in the final four. First, she despatched Alara Ghaffari (TNC) who had grabbed a silver and a pair of bronze medals at the recent European Junior Championships. Then she beat Austria’s talented Lena Primus by 7-2 in the last eight.
The second semi-final is an all-German affair, giving that nation three of the four semi-final players. Melanie Sussenguth, currently ranked No.11, will face Ina Kaplan (No.14) for a place in the final. Kaplan, who won on the Ladies’ Euro Tour in Austria in June, went to the one-loss side earlier in the tournament following a defeat to Chantal Stadler in the winners’ qualification round.
She bounced back though with wins over Anna Riegler (AUT), Bojana Sarac of Serbia and then local hero Ana Gradisnik in her quarter-final match. Sussenguth, who has already made her best finish of the year here in Slovenia will be hoping to carry today’s form into tomorrow.
She beat Poland’s Monika Zabek by 7-5 and then followed that up with a 7-3 win over Kristina Zlateva of Bulgaria. Both matches are played simultaneously at 10.00 with Eyllul Kibaroglu v Pia Filler a Facebook Live presentation. Melanie Sussenguth against Ina Kaplan will be available to Kozoom subscribers.
All Predator Euro Tour Women tournaments are 9-ball and the field contest a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 16 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are a race to 7 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
Eylul Kibaroglu
Ina Kaplan
Melanie Sessenguth
Pia Filler
Eylul Kibaroglu
Ana Gradisnik
Pia Filler
Pia Filler
Pia Filler
Joshua and Pia Filler
Pia Filler
Ina Kaplan and Pia Filler
Pia Filler with Luke Riches
Pia Filler is congratulated by Joshua
Pia Filler
Pia Filler
Pia Filler
Ina Kaplan
Pia Filler
Ina Kaplan
Pia Filler
Ina Kaplan
Pia Filler and Ina Kaplan
Pia Filler and Ina Kaplan
Melanie Suessenguth
Ina Kaplan
Pia Filler
Eylul Kibaroglu
Pia Filler
Eylul Kibaroglu
Pia Filler
Melanie Suessenguth
Ina Kaplan
Pia Filler
Ina Kaplan
Ina Kaplan and Melanie Suessenguth
Eylul Kibaroglu and Pia Filler
Ina Kaplan and Melanie Suessenguth
Pia Filler and Eylul Kibaroglu
Pia Filler, Eylul Kibaroglu, Ina Kaplan and Melanie Suessenguth
Thirty-four matches were completed in Lasko on Saturday as the opening day’s play at the Predator Slovenian Open on the Euro Tour Women completed. Of the starting 37 players, nine players have departed the competition, eight players are undefeated and through to the last 16 single elimination knock-out stage, and the remainder are scrapping it out on the one-loss side.
Eyllul Kibaroglu (Turkey) who is currently ranked No.1 and was victorious in Bulgaria at the last ET event, made it through to the last sixteen stage with two wins. It wasn’t without a scare though as she fell behind in her opening match against Germany’s Karen Michl before prevailing 7-6. She then followed that up with another squeaker, again 7-6 against promising youngster Alara Ghaffari of Turkish North Cyprus.
The number two ranked player, Ana Gradisnik who is carrying home hopes, made it through on the winners’ side after a torrid two months in competition. Gradisnik easily got the better of Emília Bystrianska (Serbia) and then followed that up with a gritty 7-6 win over No.10 ranked player Kristina Zlateva of Bulgaria.
Commented Gradisnik, “It was really difficult as I was losing four zero and I was playing pretty bad and gave it all away. I took a time-out and it kind of got easier because I told myself that I’ve got nothing to lose and I can relax a little bit and if I make a mistake, it doesn’t matter anymore.
Ana Gradisnik
“Then I just went ball-by-ball and in the end, I just managed to win. It feels good to get through as at the last Euro Tour I did very badly and at the recent World Championships I also went two-and-out so mentally I was really down but after winning the first match here I gained confidence from that and I’m just trying to trust my technique and whatever happens happens,” she added.
The eight players on the winners’ side, which also includes the likes of Pia Filler, Sabrina Hammer, Melanie Sussenguth and Bojana Sarac will sit out two more qualifying rounds on the one-loss side before their opponents are set. Play commences at 9.00 on Sunday morning with the last 16 matches scheduled to start at 13.30 in the afternoon.
The quarter-finals get underway at 18.30 on Sunday, with the semi-finals and finals take place on Monday morning.
All Predator Euro Tour Women tournaments are 9-ball and the field contest a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 16 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are a race to 7 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
The Predator Euro Tour Women is back in Lasko, Slovenia as 37 players from across Europe ready themselves to do battle in the fifth event of a six-tournament season. In total, 17 countries are represented and the lady to beat this week is No.1 ranked player Eyllul Kibaroglu of Turkey, a winner last time out in Petrich, Bulgaria where she took her maiden Predator Euro Tour title.
The Turkish star, who celebrated her 34th birthday yesterday, had a little too much for Germany’s Pia Filler in Bulgaria as she ran out a 7-4 winner in the final. That propelled her to No.1 in the standing following a run of form that saw her ascend the rankings.
Six players are within 300 ranking points of Kibaroglu, including Slovenia’s Ana Gradisnik who is just 50 points behind, so a high finish here in Lasko is essential for the Turkish girl. Gradisnik heads a contingent of three players representing the host nation, so they will all be hoping to still be competing on Monday in the closing stages.
We caught up with Ine Helvik (Norway), a veteran of the Tour, having played in its earlier incarnation as well as being a part of its latter revival.
“I’ve been playing the tour in two parts really. I played in the first one in the beginning of the 2000s and then myself and Ina Kaplan started this tour going now many years ago and I’ve been playing almost every tournament.
“I still enjoy it and I always want to win my matches and to perform as best as I can. I would like to win but some of these girls do nothing but play pool and I have a day-time job and stuff so it’s not that easy but I always go into a match with the aim to win it.
“Looking at the players here, Eyllul Kibaroglu has become very stable. She’s always been good and a very good shot-maker but the last year or two she’s been more stable and she performs on that level almost all the time.
“No.2 Ana Gradisnik likes playing at home as she has her family here and has all the support of the locals who are very good at coming out and supporting her. Of course, there’s always pressure playing on home ground but she enjoys it. The pandemic did Pia Filler very well as she could focus only on playing pool and practice and that shows. Put the hours in and you get the reward.
“Of the younger players, we have my Norwegian team mate Nina Torvund. She’s going to be really good in a couple of years. She’s now getting all the tournaments in and practicing and she’s definitely a future top European player. Also, Bojana Sarac and Hanna Memic are both playing really well. There’s definitely a future here!” she added.
The ranking is calculated on a rolling six event series with each player dropping the event which yielded them the least points. Once an event is concluded, the first event from the six is dropped to be replaced by points from the current tournament.
Play gets underway at 9.00am local time tomorrow. All Predator Euro Tour Women tournaments are 9-ball and the field contest a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 16 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are a race to 7 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
Kelly Fisher will meet Chieh-Yu Chou and Jasmin Ouschan will face Wei Tzu Chien in the semi-finals of the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship after the remaining 24 athletes played down to four at Sportpark Klagenfurt, Austria on Friday.
Ouschan faced three matches if she was to qualify for the semi-finals and came through them all to ensure she will feature on the final day of the event in her home city, and which she was a major driving force in the organization of.
After a defeat to Pia Filler on Thursday, Ouschan returned on Friday morning to face Bojana Sarac. The Serbian youngster didn’t allow her opponent to pull too far ahead at any time and twice fought back from behind to have the match level at 4-4. But Ouschan was able to reach the hill at 6-4 up, and though Sarac did pull another rack back, it was the Austrian who went through to the last 16 as 7-5 winner.
A re-draw took place before the last 16 began, with the tournament now playing to a single elimination format and all remaining matches a race to 9.
Ouschan’s draw pitted her against Germany’s Ina Kaplan, who earlier in the week defeated the reigning champion Rubilen Amit. Kaplan provided another tough match for the Austrian, who won 9-6, before beating Ho-Yun Chen 9-3 in her quarter final.
Awaiting Ouschan in tomorrow’s semi-finals is Wei, who conceded just three racks in three matches on Friday. First, she beat Veronique Menard 7-1, then Pia Filler was eliminated 9-2, and then on the feature table, Canada Open champion Chia Hua Chen was on the receiving end of a 9-0 demolition.
“I didn’t expect it to be like that,” said Wei after her win over Chen. “We have known each other for a really long time and she is a really good player. I am really enjoying playing the event. It has been three years without going to any international tournament because of Covid and lockdowns, so I have just tried to enjoy myself.”
The second semi-final will pit Fisher against Chieh-Yu Chou. Fisher started the day in the last 16 after coming through to single elimination undefeated. Her first match of Friday’s play was a re-run of the Germany Open final against Eylul Kibaroglu, which went to a shootout. This match wasn’t so close though, with Fisher in fine form in a 9-3 win.
Next up was Filipino Chezka Centeno, and again Fisher delivered a statement performance as she won 9-6 against a tough opponent.
“I am so happy to have won that one,” explained Fisher. “I have played Chezka so many times over the years but haven’t seen each other for three years. I know she fires on all cylinders, the only way to beat her is to keep her in her seat. I haven’t been playing at my best but today was a great day; I performed really well, used a little bit of tactics – I’m a bit older, a bit wiser – and managed to get the upper hand and keep control.”
Fisher’s semi-final opponent Chou began the day with a 7-1 win over Oliwia Zalewska to reach the last 16, when Allison Fisher was defeated 9-6. That set up a quarter-final with South Korea’s Yun Mi Lim, which Chou won 9-3 to guarantee herself a medal.
The semi-finals take place at 10am and 12noon local time on Saturday, before the showpiece final at 3pm. Matches will be streamed live and free on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel, watchbilliard.tv and on Kozoom.com.
Rubilen Amit is out of the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship, while Jasmin Ouschan suffered her first defeat of the event at the hands of Germany’s Pia Filler.
It means Ouschan will now face Bojana Sarac, the runner-up of last year’s Austrian Open, in the losers’ qualification round on Friday. Allison Fisher will also have to return on Friday morning having lost to ‘Amber’ Chia Hua Chen for the third time in the last four weeks.
Amit won the World Women’s 10-Ball last time it was staged – in 2013 – but her long-awaited title defense came to an end at the hands of Poland’s Monika Zabek, who won 7-3 against the Filipino but was later eliminated herself when she lost 7-3 to Norway’s Line Kjorsvik.
After Amit’s defeat to Zabek, a re-run of the recent Canada Open final between Allison Fisher and Chen took center stage on one of the two feature tables. Chen had also faced Fisher in the opening round in Canada, and both matches in that event went to shootouts won by Chen. There was no chance of a shootout in this tournament though, but it was another very close match. It nipped and tucked with neither player able to establish more than a one-rack advantage at any time, but Chen pulled away at the end to win 7-5.
The session’s final match on the main table saw Ouschan take on Filler. Ouschan had registered two 7-2 wins to remain in the winners’ side of the draw, but things wouldn’t be so easy against her German opponent in the qualification round. Filler is European 8-ball champion and stayed neck and neck with Ouschan, treating the spectators to a hill-hill thriller.
Filler’s break left a layout which promised a dramatic final rack and it delivered some nail-biting drama. Ouschan twice missed the 5 but was first to get an opening on the 6, which had been tied on the side rail with the 8, however, in the end, it was Filler who landed the victory, and with it a place in the last 16. For Ouschan, she’ll return tomorrow with another chance to qualify against Bojana Sarac.
Play continues from 9am on Friday.
The draw and brackets for the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship can be seen here: https://probilliardseries.com/event/1677/. Play continues at 9am on Wednesday.
The event is broadcasting two tables with full live coverage and commentary every day. One will be available on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel and another will be at watchbilliard.tv. All tables can be viewed live at Kozoom.com.
Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter to follow the next events.
Jasmin Ouschan, organizing two WPA World Championship events in her hometown, reverted to her familiar playing role and won through the first round of the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship with a confident 7-2 win over Kristina Grim at Sportpark Klagenfurt on Tuesday.
Three-time Pro Billiard Series champion Kelly Fisher was a 7-1 winner against Seo Seoa, while the current Women’s 10-Ball Championship – who won her title when the event was last staged in 2013 – also got off to a winning start, registering a 7-0 victory against Yi Yun Su.
Ouschan has been heavily involved in the organization of these events but more recently has switched her focus to preparations for competing, and she had plenty of support as she got her tournament underway against Grim.
Ouschan took the first rack after Grim gave herself a tough cut on the 10, which she hit too thin. The match was levelled when a dry break and subsequent foul from Ouschan allowed Grim back in with ball in hand. The Slovakian, who has previously represented Germany, couldn’t capitalize on her own break, however, and hit a tough 9 too full and Ouschan’s lead was restored at 2-1. The following two racks also went against the breaker, but Ouschan made it 4-2 from her own break.
That lead was extended further after Grim left an opening from a 1-ball safety. Ouschan completed another run out on her own break to reach the hill 6-2 up, and her progression to the next round was confirmed the next rack when the hometown hero cleared after Grim missed a long 1 under shot-clock pressure.
“The first match is always a big question mark, how it will feel,” said Ouschan. “But it went well and I’m totally happy with the set up in general, the whole team did great and of course I am proud to have such an event in my hometown.”
The World Women’s 10-Ball Championship was last held in 2013, when the Philipinnes’ Rubilen Amit won the title for a second time, beating Kelly Fisher in the final to add to her 2009 success. Amit has had a long time to wait to defend her title but made a perfect start with a 7-0 win over Yi Yun Su of Chinese Taipei.
Elsewhere, three-time Pro Billiard Series champion Kelly Fisher eased into the winners’ side of the brackets with a 7-1 win over Korea’s Seo Seoa, and there was a win for Austria’s 17-year-old rising star Lena Primus, who defeated Laura Saarinen 7-6.
Before the start of the World Teams Championship, players and officials paid tribute to Molrudee Kasemchaiyanan, who sadly died on Tuesday. Kasemchaiyanan fell ill after representing New Zealand at The World Games in July and was remembered by her billiard family with a minute of silence in Klagenfurt. Kelly Fisher paid tribute, saying: “She was a sweetheart who did a lot for the billiard world and was very passionate about the game, and was part of our billiard family. She is going to be missed very much.”
Matches in the World Teams Championship are a best of five sets and teams are made up one two male and one female player. The first set is between the two female players, before teams nominate a player for mens singles. All four players must have played by the third set, which is mixed doubles. Players can then nominate a singles player of their choice for the fourth set, and if scores are tied at 2-2 then all team members participate in a best-of-four shootout.
With Austria ‘A’ among eight teams seeded through the first round, it was left to the B team to fly the flag on the feature table. However, they were up against a USA team in no mood to be gracious to their hosts. April Larson set the tone for a defiant victory, defeated Lina Primus 4-0.
The momentum was carried into the second set by Tyler Styer, who defeated Daniel Guttenberger 4-1. Guttenberger’s rack was the only one won by Austria, however, as Joey Tate teamed up with Larson to send Austria B to the losers’ side of the brackets, winning the set 4-0 against Primus and Max Lechner. That sets up a mouth-watering clash between Great Britain (Jayson Shaw, Darren Appleton and Kelly Fisher) and USA tomorrow evening.
Japan (Yuki Hiraguchi, Masato Yoshioka & Tatsu Kuribayashi) won a thrilling encounter against Serbia (Bojana Sarac, Aleksa Pecelj & Andreja Klasovic). Japan took the first two sets by close scorelines of 4-3 for Hiraguchi over Sarac and 4-2 for Yoshioka over Pecelj. Serbia fought back strongly as Sarac and Klasovic won from hill-hill in mixed doubles against Hiraguchi and Kuribayashi but Yoshioka took his team into the next round with an emphatic 4-0 win against Pecelj.
Canada won the first shootout of the event to advance at the expense of Costa Rica, and a short while later Switzerland also advanced by shootout, sending Finland to the losers’ side.
The draw and brackets for the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship can be seen here: https://probilliardseries.com/event/1677/. Play continues at 9am on Wednesday.
The event is broadcasting two tables with full live coverage and commentary every day. One will be available on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel and another will be at watchbilliard.tv. All tables can be viewed live at Kozoom.com.
Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter to follow the next events.
The Predator Euro Tour Women reconvenes this weekend in Petrich, Bulgaria with the Petrich Open which gets underway on Saturday 6th August. It is the fourth tournament of the year on the Predator Tour and 29 players representing 15 countries will be competing over the weekend with the semi-finals and final set to take place on Monday afternoon.
Last time out in St Johann im Pongau, Germany’s Ina Kaplan surprised the field with a series of superb performances culminating in a 7-1 victory over Bojana Sarac (Serbia) to lift the title. It was Kaplan’s first Euro Tour triumph in over five years and she will be brimming with new-found confidence when play gets underway on Saturday.
No.1 ranked player Ana Gradisnik of Slovenia, will be looking to defend her position against a smaller field. She is will need to come with her best as her lead at the top is a slender 80 points ahead of second placed Oliwia Zalewska (Poland) and 150 points ahead of Spain’s Amalia Matas in third spot
The ranking is calculated on a rolling six event series with each player dropping the event which yielded them the least points. Once an event is concluded, the first event from the six is dropped to be replaced by points from the current tournament.
Elsewhere, there are plenty of strong contenders in attendance, all of whom have it within them to go all the way here in Petrich. With two semi-final appearances to her name, Pia Filler (Germany) will be hoping to go one better and reach the championship match. Also from Germany is Veronika Ivanovskaia who was the best placed Euro Tour player in the recent World Games. Sitting at a lowly 37th on the rankings, she can fire herself up the order of merit with a strong showing in Petrich.
Finally, Bulgarian hopes are carried by 10th ranked Kristina Zlateva. With a best finish of 3rd in the past 12 months, how dearly she would like to achieve her maiden Predator Euro Tour win on home soil.
Play gets underway at 9.00am local time tomorrow. All Predator Euro Tour Women tournaments are 9-ball and the field contest a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 16 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are a race to 7 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
Ina Kaplan is the 2022 Predator St Johann im Pongau Women’s Open champion following a dominating performance in the final match as she beat Bojana Sarac (Serbia) 7-1 to lift the trophy. It is the German lady’s third Predator Euro Tour victory and following a hiatus due to Covid and giving birth to her second child, she returned stronger than ever as she finished the tournament undefeated, having never looked in danger throughout.
“I just had the feeling that I could do it and that I just had to calm down and just play my game and be focused. I really feel that when I can get this game all the time, then I can beat everybody!” said a delighted Kaplan.
The German won the lag and took the first rack in the race-to-7 final. Both had visits in the next before Kaplan ran out of position travelling to the 6 ball and her safety attempt allowed Sarac to run the table to level at 1-1. A great break from Kaplan in the next saw three balls disappear and she worked hard to complete an excellent run out and a 2-1 lead.
An unsuccessful break from Sarac allowed her opponent back to the table and Kaplan took the rack to open up a two-game lead. That soon became a three-game lead before Sarac looked on track in the next but missed a relatively easy 7 ball and Kaplan made no mistakes to increase her lead to 4-1.
Looking supremely confident and in total control of her game, Kaplan ran the next game to put herself within two of victory at 5-1. A solid break from Kaplan gave her a good look at the lowest numbered ball. She came unstuck though, missing the 6 ball but left it safe. Both players went back and forth before it was left to Kaplan to finish it off and reach the hill at 6-1.
Looking calm and composed, Kaplan completed what would be the final rack of the final as she planted the 9 ball to secure a marvellous 7-1 victory.
Commented Kaplan, “I finally got to the knowledge that I don’t have to push myself all the time and to be so intense. Just be calm and play my game as I’m excited enough and have enough adrenaline in this situation. I have to mention Niels Feijen‘s Terminator College and the mental programme I took; I finally got the rewards and it’s great!”
For Sarac it was a disappointing ending after she battled hard throughout the tournament after going to the one-loss side at the first opportunity. “I lost my first match 7-6 and felt really bad but I honestly thought I could come back and play really good which I did of course.
“I was also losing in a few matches – the quarter-finals I was losing 5-1 and I came back and I thought I could do the same but she played really great. I do feel like I can win a Euro Tour; this is about my fifth or sixth Euro Tour so I’m still at the beginning.”
Earlier, Ina Kaplan had defeated Turkey’s Eyllul Kibaroglu 7-3 on the main table to book her place in the final. Meanwhile, Sarac got the better of Tina Vogelmann, this time by 7-3.
All Predator Euro Tour Women tournaments are 9-ball and the field contest a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 16 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are a race to 7 racks with alternate break. The next event on the Tour is the Predator Petrich Women’s Open which runs from 6th to 8th August in Bulgaria.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
The Predator Germany Open has reached the single elimination stage after players battled through the last double elimination rounds of the Pro Billiard Series event on Thursday.
Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan had to win through three rounds and will now face two-time Pro Billiard Series champion Kelly Fisher in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Division.
The Open division moves to single elimination for the last 32 and Germany’s World Junior Champion Moritz Neuhausen won 4-3, 4-1 against Hong Kong’s Ip Tung Pong to make it five players from the home country to reach the second stage. Ralf Souquet had won through the winners’ side of the bracket and will now face Mahmut Sami Koylu of Turkey. Can Salim also came from the winners’ side and will face German countryman Tobias Bongers, who scored a win against Vincent Gomez to reach the single elimination phase. Yuma Dorner is the fifth German into the last 32 and will play Mateusz Sniegocki.
Both divisions of the Predator Germany Open have added money of €45,400 and both champions will earn €20,000, along with a spot at the 2023 World 10-Ball Championship for the Open winner and a spot in the 2022 World Women’s 10-Ball Championship for the Women’s Division winner.
In the Women’s Division, Ouschan won a shootout against Kim Witzel and then defeated Angeline Magdalena Ticoalu to meet Amalia Matas for a place in the quarter-finals. Matas already has a Women’s EuroTour title this year but her run in Germany was ended with a straight-sets defeat to Ouschan. Germany’s Veronika Ivanovskaia is drawn against Bojana Sarac.
Among the players to reach the final 32 of the Open division is Finland’s Petri Makkonen, a winner on the EuroTour in 2015. He had been defeated on the first day of play by Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Alghamdi and the Finn then had to battle through three rounds on the losers’ side, which culminated in a shootout against Alex Montpellier of France.
Makkonen won the first set 4-2 but France’s Montpellier, who came to the losers’ qualification round after a shootout defeat against Pijus Labutis, took advantage of Makkonen’s struggles in the second set to win 4-1. That was the end of the tournament for Montpellier, as Makkonen regrouped and didn’t miss in the shootout while his French opponent missed on each of his last two innings.
Play resumes at 9am local time in Bremen, Germany, and Friday’s play on the TV table will commence with Nick van den Berg facing Mickey Krause.