SEOUL - Frédéric Caudron is on his way to another success in the PBA, the Korean professional league. The top Belgian player qualified for the semi-finals in the Nonghyup Card tournament today in a world class match against Greek Filippos Kasidokostas (3-0). The second Belgian, Eddy Leppens, is also in the semi-finals.
Frédéric Caudron, over three sets won, played the best match ever in the PBA, which is in its third year. On the way to 3-0 win in sets of 15 points, Caudron needed only seven innings: 45 in 7, is 6.429 on average. The set scores in that match against Kasidokostas were 15-4 (2), 15-3 (2) and 15-6 (3). Caudron shone with runs of 9, 14 and 10. Kasidokostas played 2.600 as a hopeless loser.
Belgian Caudron won four tournaments in a row last season, but could not yet triumph this season. Eddy Leppens won in the quarterfinals over Sung-kyun Yim 3-0 (1.875/0.636) and faces Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma in the semi-finals. Caudron will play for a place in the final against Jung-gun Park.
It was notable in this tournament that seven of eight Spanish players were eliminated in the first round. Only David Zapata, the number one ranked player, survived, but was also outplayed in the next rounds. Of the Europeans, apart from Caudron, Leppens and Kasidokostas, only Adnan Yüksel and Zapata reached the last 32.
The women's final will be a battle between two Koreans: Ye-eun Kim and Ga-young Kim.