Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski took the honours in the final Dynamic Billiard Euro Tour of the year as he defeated Mats Schjetne of Norway 9-4 in the championship match at the BHR Treviso Hotel in the northern Italian city. It was the 20 year-old’s second Euro Tour title, his first coming in the same venue in 2017 when Zielinski became the youngest ever player to win an ET title.
“Treviso is a really nice place for me; I’ve won two Euro Tours here now, I met my girlfriend here, so yes, I really like this place!’ commented a delighted Zielinski.
“My girlfriend really helped me a lot here as I was playing five matches a day for two days in a row and I didn’t have time to eat so she bought me some pizza so I’m really thankful to her.
“I lost my first match of the tournament and was on the losers’ side so I had to win five matches yesterday so I was exhausted but I felt better today though. I felt I could have been out of the event yesterday so this morning I thought, ‘let’s see what happens’”, he added.
Seemingly from a never-ending production line of top-drawer Polish players, Zielinski always had too much for his opponent in the final. Ironically, Zielinski lost his opening match of the tournament to local player Filippo Cataldi, but from there he put his foot down.
A win 9-5 win over Ralf Souquet put him into the single elimination last 32 where he beat Fedor Gorst 9-8. The winning shot, a 3/9 combination into the centre pocket saw the 9-ball wobble in the jaws before rolling across the table and falling into the bag opposite.
A comfortable win over countryman Daniel Maciol put him into the last eight before successive 9-8 victories against Alexander Kazakis and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz advanced him to the final. In fact, he derailed Sanchez Ruiz’s ambition of winning three consecutive Euro Tour titles, squeaking through by the narrowest of margins.
Schjetne enjoyed some high-quality wins en route to the final defeating the likes of Mariusz Skoneczny before going down to Dennis Grabe in the winners’ qualification round. A do-or-die 9-8 win over the highly commendable teenager Bojana Sarac saw him through to the last 32.
Wins over Nikos Ekonomopoulos, Francesco Candela and Sergey Lutsker put him into the semi-final where he also defeated a Spaniard in the last four; this time David Alcaide by a 9-6 margin.
The final was finely poised at 4-3 to Zielinski with Schjetne breaking, but the Norwegian failed to make contact with the object ball kicking off the side rail and Zielinski ran out to go 5-3. The Pole capitalised on it as he ran the next to put three racks between him and his opponent.
A dry break from Schjetne cost him dearly in the tenth game as Zielinski cleared the table to continue his sprint to the line at 7-3. The next rack was make or break for Schjetne and both players executed some high-quality safeties but it was the Pole who prevailed to reach the hill.
Schjetne showed some great heart to run out the next but it was too big a gap to bridge as the young Polish star composed himself after a solid break shot to take his second Euro Tour title.
For Mats Schjetne, it was his best ever finish in a Euro Tour event following three previous semi-final appearances; “Right now it feels a little bad but tomorrow it will feel awesome I hope so! Wiktor played almost perfect in the final and there wasn’t much I could do. I’ve had a lot of support though, and it’s been an amazing ride this week.”
Play continues tomorrow, Sunday, in the third and final event of the Predator Ladies Euro Tour. Play will commence at 9.00 local time with the losers’ qualification round, followed by the last 16 and plays to a conclusion on Sunday evening.
Friday the 13th is unlucky for some, none more so than Norway’s Mats Schjetne. For some unknown reason, Mats failed to show up for his 2nd match today and gifted fellow Norwegian Emil-Andre Gangflot the win.
In what could arguably be the best match of the day, Spain’s David Alcaide beat former world champion Russia’s, Fedor Gorst 9-7. The match had everything you could want as a pool fan as David steamed into a 5-0 lead before anyone could catch their breath. Fedor took a time out and lost the next to trail 6-0 and seemed to accept he would lose this match. This helped to relax the Russian and at 7-2 up David also took his foot off the gas and before you knew it, Fedor had clawed back a couple of racks to trail now by 7-4. The next rack went to David, putting him on the brink of victory at 8-4 but Fedor had the crowd dreaming of a hill-hill match as he kept plugging away. With the score now 8-7 and David’s break, the fans held their breath again as David got hooked behind the 4-ball with the 1-ball close to the pocket and nowhere to hide.
Fedor is known for his wicked jumping ability and was ready to pounce from anywhere but a clever shot from David left only a kick possible and forced Fedor to pass it back. David played a brilliant kick shot leaving Fedor in trouble. Out came Fedor’s jump cue for what was a very tough ask and after contact with the 1-ball the cue-ball dropped into the pocket giving David the run-out and a place in the last 32.Fedor himself had one last chance when he played Norway’s Emil-Andre Gangflot to see who would join the elite in the single elimination and he did not let the Norwegian have it as easy as Mats did earlier in the day winning 9-7 to enter the fray once more.
Fedor will not be booking any holidays in Spain though as the last 32 draw paired him with another Spaniard in Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz. This time there was no close encounter as the Spaniard ensured a last 16 place at the expense of the Russian, winning that match 9-2. David Alcaide’s good form was ended by Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski 9-7 as fellow countrymen Konrad Juszczyszyn and Tomasz Kaplan joined Wiktor in the last 16.
Other notable results saw Estonia’s Mark Magi beat Germany’s Ralf Souquet while Greece’s Alex Kazakiz beat Europe’s number 1, Albania’s Eklent Kaci.
Alexander Kazakis says losing the partypoker Mosconi Cup to Team USA last year was the worst feeling of his career, but that defeat has motivated him to help Europe reclaim the Cup at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas, this November 25-28.
Kazakis won the weekend’s Klagenfurt Open in Austria and it was in winning his semi-final match against Mats B. Schjetne that he became the third player to qualify for the team, after Joshua Filler and Eklent Kaci. Captain Marcus Chamat’s two wildcard picks will be named later this week.
Kazakis made his partypoker Mosconi Cup debut at Alexandra Palace last year and was in the European chair when Shane Van Boening sealed the winning point for USA. But the Greek star reacted well after a tough week in London, taking the silver medal at the World 9-Ball Championship and finishing runner-up at the World Pool Masters in March.
At the Klagenfurt Open he negotiated a tough road to the final, beating the likes of David Alcaide, Kaci and Fedor Gorst, who was also fighting for the final qualification spot.
“I was working so hard this year to get in the team,” said Kazakis. “It was my number one goal of the year and the feeling to get in, I can’t describe it with words; you just have to see the video how I scream after the match I won to get in the team! I have never screamed like that for any tour I won in my life.
“It was the worst feeling of my career when I lose that final match. I thought I could handle the pressure but I didn't. I had my chances and didn't take them because of the high pressure. You have to take every bad experience and learn from it and get better. That's what I did. I'm so motivated this year that I'm going to play with all my heart.
“We have to stay together in bad and good belief to each other’s game and do our jobs, runout everything!
“To play the Mosconi Cup is the best feeling a pool player can have in his life. The emotions you get when playing in the Mosconi arena; it's from another planet. I cannot wait to get up there!”
The 2019 partypoker Mosconi Cup will take place at Mandalay Bay Resort, Las Vegas this November 25-28, live on Sky Sports and DAZN. Tickets are available now at www.mosconicup.com. Prices start at $48 per day with silver season tickets at $161. Additional gold seating has now been released with day tickets at $70 and a season ticket available for $239.
VIP Platinum packages are available priced $225 per day or $950 for all four days and include a breakfast buffet, unlimited drinks, VIP seating in the front three rows and much more.
The 2019 partypoker Mosconi Cup is partnered by Rasson Billiards who supplies the Official Table; the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and Saluc is the Official Ball Provider. Predator is the Official Cue of the event, Kamui the Official Chalk and Tip and Ultimate Team Gear provide all partypoker Mosconi Cup apparel.
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.
Jaroslav Polach (SVK) was able to win against Petri Makkonen (FIN) with 8:4 in the early rounds of today’s 8-ball competition.
With straight pool and 10-ball already finished, today the 8-ball competition started at the Dynamic European Championships. One of the feature matches was the clash between Slovakia’s Jaroslav Polach and Finland’s Petri Makkonen. Polach quickly found his rhythm, unlike his opponent. Makkonen was always trailing throughout the whole match and committed some remarkable errors. The match however was on a high level since one mistake mostly meant the end of that rack to the player who did not manage to run out. Polach showed some strong potting skills and position play. Makkonen, who seemed to be off the roll a bit, struggled with his own game and found no possibility to stop Polach from taking the victory in this match.
Other notable results include Marcus Chamat (SWE) destroying his opponent, Ozgur Akkurt (TUR) with 8:0. Manuel Gama (POR) won unexpectedly clear over Mats Schjetne (NOR) with 8:3. First upset of the day was probably the fact that 10-ball World Champion Huidji See (NED) fell with 7:8 to his opponent, Dmitry Chuprov (BLR). Also a big surprise was the fact that Sina Yuksel (TUR) demolished yesterday’s finalist Stephan Cohen (FRA) with 8:7.
In the women’s division, Tamara Rademakers (NED) stood tall over Kristina Zlateva (BUL) with 6:4. In an all-Russian clash, Anna Majirina succumbed to Natalya Seroshtan with 2:6. Straight Pool bronze medallist Christine Wiechert (GER) lost her opening match to KaterinaPolovinchuk (UKR) with 3:6.
In the wheelchair division, two favourites met in the first round. Jouni Tahti (FIN) was able to remain the upper hand over Henrik Larsson (SWE) and win with 5:3.
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
Thursday, 01 March 2012: In the first winner’s round, Ralf Souquet (GER) defeated Mats Schjetne (NOR) with 9:6 after having trailed 1:6 in the match.
The match started out as a nightmare for favoured player Souquet. He made a mistake in the first rack and then the balls did not roll to his liking anymore. While Souquet struggled for every shot, Schjetne got on a roll and put rack after rack into his account, coming to a comfortable 6:1 lead over Souquet. Then, Schjetne took a time-out. “I changed my shaft in the time out breakâ€, said Souquet, “I have two different shafts. From tournament to tournament, one or the other plays and works a bit better for me.”Obviously, the other shaft worked better for him today. He did not make any more mistakes and was able to gain a two rack lead over Schjetne, making the score 8:6 in his favour.
Then, Souquet had a bad outcome from his own break and tried a shot which did not work the way he wanted it to. He then played a bad safety shot. But Schjetne was obviously impressed by Souquet’s performance who managed to take 7 racks off him in a row with alternate break. Schjetne got a bad position and missed the next shot, giving “The Kaiser”the opportunity to take the rack and win the match 9:6.
Other notable results include Juan Carlos Exposito (ESP) defeating Nicolas Ottermann (GER) with a margin of 8:9. Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) was successful in advancing to the next winner’s round over Balasz Miko (HUN) with 9:7. Two whitewashes could also be noted in the first winner’s round. Toni “The Tornado”Drago (MLT) crushed Faik Catibusic (BIH) 9:0 while Niels “The Terminator”Feijen (NED) handed a doughnut to his opponent, Balasz Koles (SVK).
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.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
