GANDIA - Which team will be crowned as the new Spanish champion around 18.00 this afternoon? And who will win the golden battle between two top star players of the finalists: Frédéric Caudron and Dani Sánchez. They will lead the two teams that have seeded in the semifinals, Gandia Cafemax and Coral Colón. The final starts at 16.00.
Gandia Cafemax with Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Leppens, Alfonso Legazpi and Armando Moreno have made a very strong impression throughout the tournament. The team remained unbeaten in the group and defeated in the semifinals Paiporta 6-2.
Eddy Leppens lost the only match for the winning team. The Belgian was defeated by Ruben Legazpi 40-32 in 24 innings. Frédéric Caudron (40-24 in 19 against Javier Palazón), Alfonso Legazpi (40-36 in 28 against Antonio Ortiz) and Armando Moreno (40-26 in 34 against Francisco Unguetti) colored the Gandia victory.
Dani Sánchez grew in his match for the semifinals to the form he will need to battle with Caudron in the final. The Spanish, triple world champion beat Sergio Jiménez even in the best match of the tournament so far. Dani Sánchez had a kickstart against Jiménez and blew his opponent off the table: 50-16 in 15 innings (2.666 average, highest run 10).
His teammates finished the job with Jose Maria Mas'as best: a great win against Javier Yeste de Pablo (40-24 in 27) and an impressive comeback of Carlos Crespo against Juan Bouterin. Crespo trailed 29-17, but lifted the match to 39-32. Therefor the Ricardo Garcia's match didn't need a finish.
Which team is the big contender for the title?
Frédéric Caudron against Dani Sánchez promises a lot of spectacle and an unpredictable result, because both players showed a great form so far.
Eddy Leppens, who only lost his match in the semifinals, is slightly favorite against Jose Maria Mas.
Carlos Crespo had great moments and some less but he should be estimated slightly higher than Alfonso Legazpi.
Ricardo Garcia had a better tournament so far than Armando Moreno.
The performance of the two starplayers is impressive in any case:
Caudron won in 33, 34, 16 and 19 innings. Sánchez in 32, 22 and 15 and played a draw in 26 innings.