3-Cushion
HURGHADA - The gamblers among the billiard public are divided: will it be the cold-blooded Turk Adnan Yüksel who wins his first World Cup this afternoon or the explosive Frenchman Jérémy Bury with already some strong routine in his luggage.
For both players, a victory will be the first in a World Cup in their careers. Jérémy Bury was five times in the semifinal, is now for the first time in the final and so never won a World Cup. Adnan Yüksel played one final in Sluiskil in 2006 and lost that match against Dick Jaspers 3-2.
Adnan Yüksel worked himself through a wonderful circuit on his way to the final. He even comes from the preliminaries, in which he defeated Lütfi Cenet. Thereafter he beat Torbjörn Blomdahl, the new World Cup holder, in the main event.
This afternoon he defeated Eddy Leppens, the Belgian who had a wildcard in Hurghada and who impressed against Frédéric Caudron in the quarters. Also against Yüksel, Leppens was strong in the beginning, when he led 1-0 in sets. But Adnan Yüksel answered imperturbably, as he does already throughout the whole tournament. He won the final set 15-2 with a brilliant demonstration of his power (averages, Yüksel 2.521, Leppens 1.500).
The sets, Yüksel-Leppens: 15-13 (4), 2-15 (5), 14-15 (9), 2-15 (6).
Jérémy Bury and Kyung-Roul Kim went into a grueling battle and were in balance until 2-2. The Frenchman missed one matchball in the fourth set. He overcame his nerves and his opponent in the decider and won 3-2.
The sets , Bury-Kim: 15-10 (7), 8-15 (8), 15-10 (12), 14-15 (12), 15.6 (5). Averages: Bury 1595, Kim 1365.