MARSEILLE - The French champion Michael Hammen, the Spanish favourite Xavier Fonellosa, the Dutchman Rene Dericks and the Spaniard Sergio Sanchez meet each other in the semi-finals at the Euro Grand Prix artistic in Marseille. The four players qualified for the final rounds after victories over Jean Reverchon, Eric Daelman, Serdar Gümüs and Erik Vervliet.
The match between the European champion Serdar Gümüs and Sergio Sanchez was exciting until the last points. The Turk, who is the number one on the European ranking, finally was eliminated in a high level match against his young 29 year Spanish opponent: 3-2, who controlled his nerves in the last set, in which he scored the maximum points. Gümüs 71.060, Sanchez 67.450.
Michael Hammen made the strongest impression, first in the eighth final and then in the quarter-finals with his 3-0 victory over Jean Reverchon, scoring 74 418. Xavier Fonellosa defeated Eric Daelman 3-1 and 69.642. René Derickx outplayed Erik Vervliet, who was suffering a cold and Serdar Gümüs was sent home by Sergio Sanchez.
In the eighth finals Michel Hammen already showed his form with a 75.502 against Hector Cuadrado. The most exciting match in that session was between Xavier Fonnelosa and Kevin Tran, which ended with the Spaniard as the winner 3-2. Fonnelosa recorded 73.015, Tran 71.726.
Erik Vervliet, the Belgian champion, was the best player in that round with 76.780 against David Keller, but the Belgian, who suffered a flu, played far below his level in the quarterfinals against Rene Dericks. Dericks won 3-1, scores 59.695 against 47.826. Serdar Gümüs and Sergio Sanchez closed the evening in the quarterfinals with a victory for the Spaniard.
Tomorrow, Sunday, Michael Hammen plays against Rene Dericks, Xavier Fonnelosa finds Sergio Sanchez on his way in a Spanish battle. Matches at 10.00.
The Dutchman Rene Dericks and Belgian Erik Vervliet