LOMMEL - The two players, who met each other in seven finals this year, will face now in a thrilling match for the semi finals of the Superprestige tomorrow. Frédéric Caudron against Eddy Merckx is the battle of the best: they were the best winners of the evening matches in the quarter finals. In the other semifinal Eddy Leppens is playing against Peter Ceulemans.
Roland Forthomme, the double winner of the last two years, was eliminated by Peter Ceulemans, his teammate in the team of Snellen in the Netherlands. The youngest of the four quarter finalists crowned his victory with a final run of seven, leaving Forthomme behind on a score of 40-30.
Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx, are already each others rivals through out the whole year, mainly in the finals of the VES tournaments, but also in the final of the Belgian championship, which ended in a thriller and a win with one carom for Eddy Merckx.
The two best Belgian players, who are also high ranked in the world, shone in the quarterfinals in great matches. Eddy Merckx beat the young Davy van Havere 40-28 in 19 innings (Merckx averaged 2.105), Frederic Caudron was even faster at the finish against Frédéric Mottet (40-13 in fifteen innings, average Caudron 2.666). The most remarkable in the match of Caudron was, that he even didn't need high runs: his best was six, Mottet only three.
Eddy Leppens needed a little time to find his feeling and his rhythm in his match against Steven van Acker. After 22 innings he made the gap (32-22), thereafter he attacked with a run of six to 38. Leppens won the match 40-27 in 26 innings.
Peter Ceulemans had a shiny start in his duel with Roland Forthomme with an early run of ten (to 17-13), wasted some innings in the next phase (32-30 in 30 innings), but came to the finish line with a decisive run of seven in the 32nd innings.
The semi-finals tomorrow (14.30):
Caudron, Merckx, Leppens-Ceulemans.