EPBF Antalya Open Day Two – Big Names Fall as Field Reduces to 16
Ronnie Regli
The field is down to the last 16 at the Dynamic Billiard Turkish Open with some of the heavyweight favourites for the title suffering shock losses in the round of 32. Played out at the Venezia Palace Hotel on the Antalyan coast in Turkey, this is the third stop on the Euro Tour in 2021.
With some names absent from the event this time around, it was a terrific opportunity for others to climb the rankings but for No.2 ranked Eklent Kaci, WPA World No.2 David Alcaide, and veteran champion Niels Feijen it was all over in the last 32.
Kaci (Albania) who recently triumphed in the WPA World 10 Ball Championship in Las Vegas, went out 9-6 to Finland’s Kim Laaksonen while Feijen departed 9-5 to Mariusz Skoneczny, another in a very long line of strong Polish players.
David Alcaide had the misfortune to run into Switzerland’s ever-dangerous Ronnie Regli who prevailed via a 9-6 scoreline.
There are some exciting matches set for tomorrow (Saturday) as the event concludes with four more rounds to find a champion. The picks of the round of 16 are the talented Pole Wojciech Szewczyk against Czech/German veteran Roman Hybler, dangerman Ronnie Regli against up-and-coming Dane Mickey Krause and Norway’s Matt Schnetje v Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz as the Spaniard hunts back-to-back Euro Tour victories.
Play gets underway at midday local time with the championship match scheduled for 17.30.
Meanwhile, alongside the men’s’ event is the Antalya Open on the Predator Euro Tour Women.
Starting with 32 runners, the event is now down to the final four who play off tomorrow (Saturday) at 10.00 local time, with the final following at midday.
Russia’s Kristina Tkach looks to be the favourite following an intensive summer competing in men’s events with some success, but she will need to overcome Ana Gradisnik (Slovenia) first. In the other semi-final, Kamila Khodjaeva, who had the unenviable job of beating her sister Diana in the quarter finals, takes on Poland’s Oliwia Zalewska, who is the defending champion following her win here in 2019.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com