After a match against Denis Grabe (EST) which was dominated by him most of the time, Alexander Kazakis (GRE) won the Dynamic Billard Sankt Johann im Pongau Open 2018 with a clear 9:5 result in the final match.
Kazakis’ way into the final was not an easy one in this tournament. Already in winner’s round two he lost 6:9 to Edmond Zaja (ALB). He had a long way in fron of him on the loser’s side. In the loser’s qualification round, he was already 4:8 down to Mieszko Fortunski (POL) when he fought back and stayed alive in the tournament with 9:8. Maybe that match kind of woke him up since the results from then on were much clearer. 9:4 over Oliver Szolnoki (HUN), 9:1 over Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS), 9:2 over Abdullah Alshammari (KSA) and finally 9:5 over Eklent Kaci (ALB) the winner of the last Euro-Tour event in Treviso. The final match with Grabe was close until the score was 5:4 for Kazakis after 9 racks. Then both players went for a time-out. Kazakis came back a lot fresher and had better layouts after his break shot than Grabe did. Furthermore, Grabe played some poor safety shots which Kazakis turned into points for his account. His consistent break shot and his structured performance brought Kazakis the advantage he needed to get on the hill with 8:4. In rack 13, Grabe pocketed a 2-9 combination shot and turned the scoreboard to 8:5 with Kazakis’ break shot coming up next. The likeable Greek fired his break shot and pocketed the 1-ball, 5-ball and 6-ball, having a nice and easy layout in front of him. He did not commit any mistake anymore and consequently ran the table, winning the match and the tournament with 9:5. „I’m playing the Euro-Tour for four or five years now“, stated Kazakis after the award ceremony, „I lost the final twice and once I finished third. those were my best results so far. This time I won it, so of course I am very happy“. „When I started the tournament I was not feeling comfortable at the table. I had hard times making the balls“, Kazakis added, „for whatever reason I don’t know. I have prepared well for this tournament and practised hard but somehow I was thinking other things so I was not focussed on the table.“ „When I was 4:8 down to Fortunski I thought to myself ‚just play pool now an don’t think too much about other things‘ which I did and it seemed to help me. Of course, I was also lucky in that match. When you are 4:8 down in a match, you need luck if you still want to win it.“ „After that match it seemed as if the holy spirit came inside me. I played much better and felt much more comfortable at the table“.
Top Eight Finishers
1. Alexander Kazakis GRE
2. Denis Grabe EST
3. Eklent Kaci ALB
Mario He AUT
5. Wiktor Zielinski POL
Roman Hybler CZE
Abdullah Alshammari KSA
Joshua Filler GER
In the women’s tournament which started today, most favourites won their opening matches. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT), Kristina Tkach (RUS) and Oliwia Czuprynska (POL), all ranked in the top 5 of the European rankings are already in the round of the last 16 players single elimination. However, the #1 ranked player Marharyta Fefilava (BLR) lost her first match against Claudia von Rohr (SUI) with 5:7. She went to the loser’s side and ousted Denise Steinmetz (GER) 7:1 and Ortenzia Haefliger (SUI) 7:2. Tonight, she will face Tina Vogelmann (GER) for a spot among the top 16 women.
Tomorrow, the EPBF Ballazzo Women Open will continue at 09:00 CET with matches from the last 16 players single elimination.
Every day, two matches from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 20 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open.
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