BERLICUM - When the smoke from the prerounds at the Masters had cleared, Dick Jaspers looked back with a smile of satisfaction on the late Saturday afternoon. The Dutch record champion (18 times), this year's defending champion again at the Masters, made his entrance at the most appealing tournament in his new, stylish outfit, which he chose with his girlfriend not so long ago. ,,How nice, and so chic'', said Anja, one of the hostesses at these Masters. ,,He looks like the Masters' White Tornado'', said a Brabant fan after Dick's last match.
The over two average after the preliminaries (2.222, to be exact) after two days was the best on the ranking with the other seven finalists. Jaspers has done better before, for example with his overall average in Nijverdal in 2009, where he set the record so far with 2.395. But Jaspers looked happy with it after his three victories in 17, 21 and 16 innings. It should help him on his way to his 18th Masters title, because Jaspers once took the title when the tournament was not called Masters.
Four Brabant players (Dick Jaspers, Barry van Beers, Jean van Erp, Harrie van de Ven), one Limburg youngster (Raymund Swertz), one 'Zeeuw' (Jean-Paul de Bruijn), one 'Hagenaar' and one 'North Hollander' (Raimond Burgman) will show up later this Saturday in the quarter final contest in front of the crowded stands in Den Durpsherd in Berlicum. The battle for Dutch gold can start now.
The matches for the quarter-finals:
20.00:
Jaspers-De Bruijn
Swertz-Van Erp
21.30:
Van Beers-Van de Ven
Jorissen-Burgman.
Dick Jaspers was not far from the average that another world top player, Frédéric Caudron, realized at the Belgian championship in the preliminaries. Caudron recorded 2.352 of average out of three matches and a best run of 14, Jaspers 2.222 out of three and a run of 11. In his last match, Jaspers outplayed Therese Klompenhouwer, who walked around at the Masters with a severe cold these days. The second in the group was Barry van Beers after he won his last match against Martien van der Spoel 40-29 in 28 innings.
Jeffrey Jorissen ended up as group winner ahead of Raimond Burgman. The two teammates from The Hague took the positions one and two, Jorissen won the match 40-23 in 28 and played his best match against Huub Wilkowski: 40-35 in 23.
The Hague clash between Jean van Erp and Glenn Hofman decided who was the behind Raymund Swertz, the surprising and undefeated group winner. Jean van Erp showed himself superior to his leading team mate in The Hague, who had a terrible start, eventually seemed to come back, but then lost the match 40-22 in 26. Raymund Swertz defeated Sander Jonen in his last match 40-20 in 30.
Harrie van de Ven defended his leading position in the last evening group in a hand and tooth match. The 'Brabander', who returned last year from a year and a half suspension for having used a blood pressure, led sovereignly after two rounds. The fight was still open in the final session, as Jean Paul de Bruijn also had a chance to win the group and the two other players, Roland Uijtdewillegen and Dave Christiani were in the race for the second position. De Bruijn quickly ran away from Christiani with a run of 8, had a 26-15 lead in 16 innings, but lost his control in the final stage and lost 40-36 in 29. The 'Zeeuw', however, found himself back among the eight finalists. He advanced as the only player with one win and two losses.
Roland Uijtdewillegen took control of the match against Van de Ven by 24-19 in 17 innings. However, the final sprint was for Harrie van de Ven, with the support of a big fanclub. Roland Uijtdewillegen recorded the best run in the preliminaries with 12.
The rankings after the preliminaries:
Group A:
1 Dick Jaspers 6-2.222-11
2 Barry van Beers 4-1.347-7
3 Martien van der Spoel 2-1,202-8
4 Therese Klompenhouwer 0-0.987-6
Group B:
1 Harrie van de Ven 6-1.224-8
2 Jean Paul de Bruijn 2-1.272-9
3 Dave Christiani 2-1.184-5
4 Roland Uijtdewillegen 2-1.048-12
Group C:
1 Jeffrey Jorissen 6-1.445-9
2 Raimond Burgman 4-1.119-5
3 Huub Wilkowski 2-0.981-6
4 Frans van Schaik 0-0.747-6
Group D:
1 Raymund Swertz 6-1.124-7
2 Jean van Erp 4-1.383-7
3 Glenn Hofman 2-1.112-11
4 Sander Jonen 0-0.964-7.
Jeffrey Jorissen, group winner with the second best average
Harry van de Ven, great come-back with three wins in the Masters
Raymund Swertz, the revelation, unbeaten in the prerounds