NICE - After the exceptional start of the 18th Crystal Kelly tournament, where three of the four matches ended in a 50-50 tie, was the second day a session with many surprises. Torbjörn Blomdahl, Frédéric Caudron and Semih Sayginer lost their matches, whhe le Marco Zanetti, the tournament winner in 2010, had a magnificent endrush in which he defeated Filipos Kasidokostas.
The second day was a day of many amazing moments. It started in the first session, when Torbjörn Blomdahl after a run of twelve took a leead of 36-23 against Peter Ceulemans and seemed to be on his way to win the match. But with his fighting spirit Peter Ceulemans came back into the match. He equalized at 41-41, at 47-47 and then the 30-year old Belgian could even decide to battle: 50-47.
Marco Zanetti couldn't get his rhythm in the first part of his match against Filipos Kasidokostas. The Greek left his opponent far behind with his offensive tactic. After a run of thirteen Kasidokostas had a 44-21 advantage in only fifteen innings. The Greek imagined to have won the match, but with his routine and spirit Zanetti was unbelievable strong in the final innings: he made 9-13-4-3, so 29 points in the last four innings and knocked the young Greek, who had two attempts to make the matchbal, but missed both times: 50-49 in only eighteen innings.
The second session of te day had a high orange level, because Frans van Kuijk beat his teamcaptain of this year, Frédéric Caudron. In the crucial phase the Dutchman was ten points ahead, but Caudron could counter and take a 29-27 lead. But in a great finish, Frans van Kuijk made some wonderful runs and won the match 50-35 in 21 innings.
Dick Jaspers shone again with a great performance. He started slowly against Semih Sayginer, but then jumped to with a strong final. On a score of 18-19 he made a run of ten, which was good for a bonus. Afterwards he continued to play accurately, running up to a lead of 35-29 and finished with fifteen, the highest run in the tournament so far. Jaspers closed the match against Sayginer in twenty innings, like he did in his first performance. He is the only player so far who has won both matches.