CAPELLE A/D IJSSEL - At the venue where Dave Christiani won his first and only Grand Prix so far, he was crowned with the final win of his second Grand Prix victory this Saturday evening. The venue was again in Capelle aan den IJssel, the opponent in the final was Hague-player Jeffrey Jorissen now. The two leading players of this Grand Prix remained in balance until the last inning, when Jorissen equalised after a thrilling catch-up game (40-40). The penalty shots had to decide the final win. Dave Christiani scored four times from the spots, Jeffrey Jorissen missed after three hits: 4-3. It was the exciting showdown of this year's first Grand Prix.
The Limburg player Dave Christiani, 43 years of age, actually had a flawless race with wins in which he was hardly in danger. Jeffrey Jorissen went through a slightly more difficult circuit, with most of all the escape against Adrie Demming, whom he caught up with a final run of 9 and finally beat the opponent in the shoot-outs. The two other finalists were Jean Paul de Bruijn and Jean van Erp, which already indicated that it was the Grand Prix of routines and already more or less seasoned players. The main contender missing in the final stage was Dick Jaspers, the Dutch champion who was defeated in the eighth finals by Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-22 in 16. Glenn Hofman, also one of the standouts, was eliminated by Jean Paul de Bruijn as well, this time in the quarterfinals (40-28 in 19). In turn, De Bruijn was floored by Jorissen in the semi-finals 40-29 in 17.
Dave Christiani stayed away from the top of the Grand Prix tournaments for a remarkably long time, but finally demonstrated his huge class again. ’’I am happy to have won another Grand Prix. For the second time in Capelle, where I played the final for the fifth time, because the billiards suit me so well. I always come here with a pleasant feeling and usually I live up to it.''
The winner looked back on the first knock-outs with mixed feelings. ''I had a good start in every match, took a good lead, but needed too many innings.'' Still, he felt mentally very strong in all his games. ’’In that way, I did grow, I put myself better over setbacks. That might be because I started to practice less than before and because of the little child we have now. I hope this is a fresh start and I can shine more than before in the Grand Prix tournaments.''
Jeffrey Jorissen's comments after the final: ’’I should have been a bit further away in the first part of the match, but I failed to do so. After that, Dave played very strong. I was still able to come back super well in the last innings, because at 38-31, I make 6, but arrived unhappily for my seventh point. So I end up losing on one point in the penalties, a pity, but there will be other chances in the Grand Prix events.''
The final started with an 8-2 lead for Jorissen, Christiani fought his way to 12-8 with a run of nine, later ran out to 22-15 and 25-17 and got the finish in sight at 30-22 and 36-26. That was the phase, when Jorissen got and cashed in a trio of chances to come back to 38-37. At that score, Christiani played out and Jorissen equalised from the break with 3: 40-40. The penalty series ended in 4-3 for Christiani.
The main tournament started early Saturday morning, including Adrie Demming's real stunt against Jeffrey Jorissen (eventually 5-2 for Jorissen in the penalty series), an unexpected win by Jean Paul de Bruijn against Dick Jaspers (40-22 in 16), Raimond Burgman being eliminated by Joey de Kok 40-35 in 24 and Sam van Etten, maker of the highest run (15), losing to Jean van Erp 4-3 after 40-40 in the penalty series.
Jean Paul de Bruijn also passed Glenn Hofman (40-28 in 19) in the next round, with the best 8 players, Jeffrey Jorissen beat Frans van Schaik (40-33 in 28), Jean van Erp won against Joey de Kok (40-25 in 26) and Dave Christiani vs. Volkan Cetin with 40-34 in 27.
In the run-up to the final, Jeffrey Jorissen grew into excellent form against Jean Paul de Bruijn (40-29 in 17) and Dave Christiani settled with Jean van Erp (40-30 in 23).
The top four of the Grand Prix in Capelle a/d IJssel:
1 Dave Christiani
2 Jeffrey Jorissen
3 and 4 Jean Paul de Bruijn and Jean van Erp
5 to 6: Glenn Hofman, Volkan Cetin, Frans van Schaik and Joey de Kok.