The winner, Nikos Ekonomopoulos from Greece Foto: EPBF/AMM
Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) has won the final of the Dynamic Austria Open and defeated Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) with 9:4.
The tournament was different to other Euro-Tours. That could especially be witnessed in the latter stages of the event. IN the quarter-finals, eight different nations were represented. In the semi-finals, three out of four players have never gotten so far. The two finalists, Ekonomopoulos and Szewczyk belonged to them.
The match started out quite evenly. After 7 racks, Ekonomopoulos was leading 4:3. Up until then, none of the two players was able to get an advantage over the other one of more than one rack. But suddenly, Ekonomopoulos seemed to get in better shape. He benefitted from some mistakes from Szewczyk and took a three point lead. The scoreboard showed 6:3 for Ekonomopoulos. The 10th rack was determined by safety play. Szewczyk came out on top of the Greek and put another point in his account. But it was still 6:4 in favour of Ekonomopoulos. The next two racks were taken by Ekonomopoulos who went on the hill and took an 8:4 lead over Szewczyk. The pressure was on. In the 13th rack, Ekonomopoulos executed the break shot and came up dry. However, he was a bit lucky since Szewczyk could not see the 1-ball. Wojciech Szewczyk tried a safety shot but left a tough but makeable 1-ball for Ekonomopoulos. That was all that the Greek player needed. He finished the rack and took the Euro-Tour tournament victory for the first time in his life.
That concludes the coverage of the Dynamic Austria Open 2012.
The event was 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
Friday, 01 June 2012: In a match that was determined by many errors, “The Kaiser” Ralf Souquet (GER) ousted Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) with 9:5.
The match began with a bad omen for Chinakhov. He miscued on his first shot. He seemed to be not as focussed as he should have been when playing a Hall of Famer. Souquet benefitted from Chinakhov’s mistakes and took a comfortable 3:0 lead. In the 4th rack, Souquet was almost sure to take the point but when he played position for the 9-ball he scratched. Was that the turn of the tide for Chinakhov? AT least the Russian was able to tie the match at 3:3 and then took a time-out. The next two racks were full of mistakes. At 3:3, Chinakhov missed an easy 2-ball and gave Souquet the possibility to take a 4:3 lead. “The Kaiser” did not want to come across unappreciative and also misses an easy ball, the 7-ball in the next rack. That tied the match again at 4:4. From then on, Souquet seemed to gain a bit more momentum than Chinakhov. Though both players did not play their A-game, Chinakhov made more errors than Souquet. In the 13th rack, the score was 7:5 in favour of Souquet, Chinakhov had an easy layout in front of him. But instead of closing the gap he missed an easy and avoidable 6-ball and let Souquet get on the hill with 8:5. Then again, in the 14th rack it was Chinakhov to be at the table with a makeable layout. He had his final chance but he blew it again. He missed another easy 8-ball and left the table to congratulate Souquet for his win.
Chinakhov was frustrated from his poor performance. Souquet will be drawn in the round of the final 32 players which will be played at 20:30 CET tonight. Other notable results include Manuel Gama (POR) sending Chris Melling (GBR) home with a surprisingly clear result of 9:3. Denis Grabe (EST) ended all hopes of last event’s winner Dominic Jentsch (GER) by defeating him with 9:5. Guilherme Sousa (POR) came up with a little upset as he unexpectedly ousted former 9-ball World Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) from the event with 9:4. Norway’s Kristoffer Mindreboe terminated Mark Gray (GBR) with 9:7. Another Brit got sent home from the event. Oliver Ortmann (GER) creamed Richard Jones (GBR) with 9:8.
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.
Dalmatin was not on his best game. He was said to have suffered from some illness lately. That is probably why he could not find into his game at all. He got smashed by Roger Rasmussen with 8:4. Bozo Primic evened out the team score by winning over Mindreboe with the same score. So the deciding match happened between Schjetne and Putnik. And that was a dramatic encounter. Both players did not perform very well and seemed to be very nervous. In the 15th rack, the score was 7:7. Both of the contestants have had their chance to get on top of the other one but failed in doing so. Putnik broke the balls and had a tough rack. He played a safety but left an open shot for Schjetne. The Norwegian made the 1-ball but snookered himself on the 2-ball. He played a safety and Putnik committed a foul. Schjetne came to the 9-ball… and missed an easy shot. What a drama for team Norway! Putnik was on the hill, 8:7. Then Schjetne won the next rack due to several mistakes from Putnik. In the final rack, Putnik broke, and had some balls pocketed. He tried to play a safety but committed a foul. Schjetne opened up the problem that was on the table but happened to hook himself behind a ball. He hit the ball and gave Putnik an open table. The Croatian went there and ran out of position after the first shot. He committed a foul and Schjetne won the match 9:8. The match was not of the highest standard and team Norway needed the point to stay alive in the team competition whereas team Croatia can leave the European Championships.
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.
