NEW YORK - The man at the top of his game, 50-year old Dick Jaspers, has marked the milestone in his life by one of the greatest victories in his career. The Dutch world class player, triple world champion, won the Verhoeven Open tournament in the metropolis New York, where almost all the star players battled for the trophy and the 8000 dollar main prize. Dick Jaspers defeated in the final Tayfun Tasdemir 40-33 in 13 innings. In the run-up to the final, the Dutchman had showed his superior form against Alexander Salazar (40-24 in 22), Marco Zanetti (40-26 in 16) and Frédéric Caudron (40-21 in 15). Tayfun Tasdemir reached the final by wins over Lars Dunch (40-35 in 36), Murat Naci Coklu (40-28 in 18) and Torbjörn Blomdahl (40-32 in 14).
The Open Verhoeven brought sixteen finalists in the spotlights at the end of the tournament and looked back to a very high quality event. The only bad luck at the start was the withdrawal of two strong Koreans Sung-Won Choi and Dong Koong Kang, who had to show up for a tournament in Korea.
The organization in the Carom Cafe reduced the format from eight to six seeded players, of whom Jaspers, Caudron, Blomdahl, Zanetti and Merckx qualified for the knockout round. Raymond Ceulemans, the legend, got stuck in the semi-finals.
The final match was a real masterpiece between two players, who were in balance for a long time, launched by a fifteen-run of Jaspers and averages in the first part over three. Dick Jaspers opened the attack after the break, as he had done before with Salazar, Caudron and Zanetti with a lot of ball feelings, positional play, well timed high runs, a solid defense, showing his strong mental power at the table.
The Dutchman put up a fight to close a small gap in the middle of the match when Tasdemir showed himself the great fighter who refused to give up. But then, eventually, Jaspers decided the match, leading 32-30, running out to 39-32 and then closed the game with a magnificent winner.
The crowd in the Carom Cafe cheered for the two finalists: Dick Jaspers, who received 8000 dollars for the main prize, showed his touching joy with the cue in the air and thanked the organization and the audience during the ceremony for a great week in Michael Kangs' billiard palace.
Dick Jaspers (right) and Tayfun Tasdemir, the final players in New York
Tayfun Tasdemir was a fabulous second, followed by Frédéric Caudron, who bested Blomdahl in the battle for third place (40-17 in 15) including a run of fifteen. Marco Zanetti was fifth ahead of Huberney Catano.
The tournament was in the preliminary rounds and in the semi-final sessions marked by a great start of Eddy Merckx with a match in ten innings and a run of 19, unbeaten series of Torbjörn Blomdahl and Frédéric Caudron, a setback of Merckx (four losses in nine), many high runs and high averages of Marco Zanetti (2.246), Frédéric Caudron (2.105) and Torbjörn Dahl (2.000).
Dick Jaspers lost his only match in the semi-finals when he met Colombian Robinson Morales, who had a furious start against the later tournament winner (fifteen-run), put him under pressure and closed the match with a 35-32 win in fifteen innings. The only misstep of Jaspers.
Three of the main contenders, based on those semi-finals, Torbjorn Blomdahl (defending champion), Marco Zanetti and Frédéric Caudron were eliminated in the run-up to the final: Zanetti and Caudron by the dauntless Jaspers, Torbjörn Blomdahl by Tayfun Tasdemir, who suffered only lost one match in the semi-finals to Therese Klompenhouwer.
Dick Jaspers won the tournament in New York never before. The only time he was successful in the Big Apple was in an invitational tournament in 1995. The Flying Dutchman demonstrated in New York again to be back on top of the world after two victories in the World Cup in Porto in 2014 and Luxor this year.
The average of the winner in the final rounds was a convincing proof: 2.424.
The sixteen final players in New York
The results of the matches for the ranking:
Final: Jaspers-Tasdemir 40-33 (13)
Place 3 and 4: Caudron-Blomdahl 40-17 (15)
Place 5 and 6: Zanetti-Catano 40-20 (18)
Place 7 and 8: Sidhom-Coklu 40-19 (21)
Place 9 and 10: Piedrabuena-Sayginer 40-38 (23)
Place 11 and 12: Lizarazo-Garcia 40-22 (27)
Place 13 and 14: Forthomme-Merckx 40-21 (23)
Place 15 and 16: Salazar-Dunch 40-31 (30).
The final ranking:
1 Dick Jaspers
2 Tayfun Tasdemir
3 Frédéric Caudron
4 Torbjörn Blomdahl
5 Marco Zanetti
6 Huberney Catano
7 Sameh Sidhom
8 Murat Naci Coklu
9 Pedro Piedrabuena
10 Semiy Sayginer
11 Andrés Lizarazo
12 Jose Juan Garcia
13 Roland Forthomme
14 Eddy Merckx
15 Alexander Salazar
16 Lars Dunch.
The ranking on average (with matches played):
1 Dick Jaspers 2.107 (13)
2 Marco Zanetti 2.038 (13)
3 Torbjörn Blomdahl 2.036 (13)
4 Frédéric Caudron 1.940 (12)
5 Semih Sayginer 1.875 (13)
6 Tayfun Tasdemir 1.745 (13)
7 Eddy Merckx 1.685 (13)
8 Roland Forthomme 1.640 (14)
9 Murat Naci Coklu 1.615 (13)
10 Pedro Piedrabuena 1.608 (12)
11 Huberney Catano 1.426 (13)
12 Sameh Sidhom 1.419 (13)
13 Alexander Salazar 1.282 (13)
14 Lars Dunch 1.257 (13)
15 Andrés Lizarazo 1.255 (12)
16 Jose Juan Garcia 1.246 (13).
Frédéric Caudron and Torbjörn Blomdahl in the match for three and four.
Marco Zanetti (r) took fifth place against Huberney Catano
Huberney Catano, Alexander Salazar, Sameh Sidhom, Lars Dunch and Murat Naci Coklu
The sixteen players for the final rounds during the ceremony