RONCHIN - After a marathon day of matches between the locations in Faches-Thumesnil (Balk-line 47/1) and Ronchin (one cushion), Bernard Villiers has won his seventh French masters title. The Ronchin player won the championship in the game type one cushion in a final against Alain Remond. Villiers set the pace for the winning race in a blistering start, when he took a decisive 99-10 lead in 4 innings (run of 47).
A total of 18 titles have been divided since 1997, when Francis Connesson stopped playing in the championship: Alain Remond won 9 titles in one cushion, Bernard Villiers 4, Bernard Baudoin 2 and three players won the title once: Laurent Guenet, Jérôme Galerne and Pierre Soumagne.
Bernard Villiers, who ended up the competition with 9.09 average, started with a victory over Jacky Justice (120-84 in 12), Bernard Baudoin (120-106 in 15), then defeated Johann Petit in the quarterfinals (120-89 in 13) and Willy Gérimont in the semifinals 120-86 in 17.
Alain Remond finished second, averaging 8.11 and victories in 11, 12, 23 and seven innings against Pascal Dessaint, Xavier Le Roy, Jean-François Florent and Etienne Desaint. Remond made the highest run of the tournament: 71.
Etienne Desaint won his first French masters medal in one cushion and recorded 8.92. Willy Gérimont was the fourth on the podium with 8.15 and victories over Jérémie Picart, Xavier Le Roy and David Jacquet (14, 15 and 10 innings).
Bernard Baudoin, fifth in the ranking, closed his tournament with the best overall average 9.35. Johann Petit played the best match: 20.00 on average.