Mario He (AUT) just defeated Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) in the final of the Dynamic Billard North Cyprus Open with 9:5 and took his first Euro-Tour title ever.
The final match saw both players under completely different conditions. Ekonomopoulos especially needed the points from the victory to make it to the Mosconi Cup Team Europe again. He was under a lot of pressure. On the other hand, Mario He had once entered a Euro-Tour final in 2009 which he lost. Last year, he achieved a few third places but really had not so much to lose. He is on fire at the time, winning the German Bundesliga with his team and a Grand Prix event in Austria in the last weeks. Both of the contestants started out quite self-confident. Rack 3 saw the first missed shots of the match. After five racks, He was leading by a small margin 3:2. He then took the next two racks and increased this advantage to 5:2. That was a huge lead in a race to 9. At that point in time, Ekonomopoulos had just committed some mistakes and needed a time-out which he took in order to get his senses together again. But he could not stop He from winning his racks. The Austrian was too strong today for Ekonomopoulos and he consequently took the points he needed to win the event 9:5.
„I really played well here“, stated He after the final, „I am feeling well and I can put this in my game and on the table when I play“. „This is my first Euro-Tour victory and I feel really self-confident about my game at the moment“, added He.
Top Eight Finishers
- Mario He AUT
- Nikos Ekonomopoulos GRE
- Jayson Shaw SCO
Mika Immonen FIN - David Alcaide ESP
Sebastian Ludwig GER
Karol Skowerski POL
Ralf Souquet GER
The Women North Cyprus Open will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time with matches from the loser’s qualification round. The final match is scheduled for 15:30 local time.
On Monday morning, the North Cyprus Challenge Cup will begin here in Kyrenia, North Cyprus.
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The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website eurotouronline.com, womeneurotouronline.com , visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.