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
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina:Daniel Schneider (SUI) defeated Alen Muratovic (BIH) in a one-man show with 8:1 in the semi-finals of the junior's division 9-ball.
Muratovic was the darling of the crowd. He obtained a medal for his home nation for the first time in history, That burden obviously rested hard on his shoulders. He could not get into his game as he used to in earlier rounds. On the other hand, Schneider played solid pool with few mistakes. When he missed shots, the position for Muratovic very often was not good. All these factors lead to the match becoming pretty much a one-man-show for Schneider. In the second semi-final of the junior's division, Andrey Seroshtan (RUS) ousted Tobias Bongers (GER) with 8:6.
The pupil's final will be played between Raphael Wahl (GER) and Jan Van Lierop (NED). Wahl eliminated Cyriel Ledoux (NED) with 7:1 while van Lierop just made it over Can Salim-Giasar (GER) with 7:6.
In the girls division, the final match will be played between Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) and Sabrina Hammer (GER). Hammer terminated her teammate Veronika Ivanovskaia 6:3 while Polovinchuk ended Kristina Tkach's (RUS) hopes for a set in the final with 6:4.
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.billiardapps.com or contact our press office.
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: With an 8:0 whitewash, Nino Andreuzzi (GER) finished Azur Ibric's (BIH) hopes in the 9-ball competition.
The game was 9-ball and the round was the single elimination round of the final 32 junior players. 9-ball is a short rack game and is said to be the fastest of all pool-billiard games. However, Andreuzzi took that probably a bit too literally in his match with Ibric. He played fluently and quick, coming to a 5:0 lead after only 23 minutes. The Bosnian definitely was the underdog in this encounter from the very beginning. Andreuzzi had already taken two medals this week – Bronze in straight pool and Gold in 10-ball. But still Ibric was playing on his home turf having the support of the vivacious Bosnian crowd. But that did not seem to impress Andreuzzi at all. He consequently played his rhythm and punished Ibric for his mistakes. In the 6th rack, Ibric got to the 9-ball and had a good chance to finally open his account and avoid a complete demolition by Andreuzzi. However, Ibric dogged the 9-ball and Andreuzzi said thank you, pocketing the 9-ball to get him on the hill. That was the last time that Ibric was allowed to the table in that match. The next rack was another break-and-run from Andreuzzi and he finished Ibric with 8:0 in a pretty one-sided face-off. Andreuzzi will continue to play in the round of the final 16 players in the 9-ball individuals while Ibric will have to settle for 17th rank.
Other notable results from today's 9-ball individuals include Sabrina Hammer (GER) getting the better of Kamila Khodjaeva (BEL) with 6:5 in the girl's division. While Hammer makes it to the single elimination stage, Khodjaeva needs another victory on the loser's side where she will be facing Russia's Ksenia Karkavina.
In the pupil's division, Andreas Madsen (DEN) booked his seat in the single elimination round with a 7:2 victory over Florian Zuewert (GER). Can Salim-Giasar (GER) powered past Ben Dvash (BUL) with 7:0. Local hero Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) defeated newly crowned 10-ball Champion Daniel G.ttenberger by a whisker with 7:6. Germany's Raphael Wahl managed to achieve the same result over Cyriel Ledoux (NED). All winners will go straight into the single elimination while the losers will get another chance on the left side of the draw.
Today, 9-ball individuals will be played until 17:00 CET when all quarterfinalists are determined. The quarter-finals will be played tomorrow morning. At 17:00 CET, the team competition continues. You can follow all the action LIVE on 20 tables at www.kozoom.com/en/ pool-billiard/ .
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.billiardapps.com or contact our press office.
