Petri Makkonen (FIN) has just won his first Euro-Tour tournament of his career, winning the final match with a convincing 9:3 result over Konrad Juszczysyn (POL).
Juszczysyn had the tougher fight in the semi-final match the round before. While Makkonen overcame Florian Hammer (GER) quite easily with 9:4, Juszczysyn needed the full distance to oust former World Champion Karl Boyes (GBR) from the Dynamic Billard German Open. In the final match, Juszczysyn's break shot did not work at all for him. He seemed not to be able to find a proper mean against Makkonen who almost steamrolled him. Makkonen played as confident as he did all day long. His first match in the single elimination was a 9:8 over Pijus Labutis (LIT) last night. Today, things went better for him. He defeated Nick van den Berg (NED) 9:5, Denis Grabe (EST) 9:7, then Florian Hammer 9:4 and finally Konrad Juszczysyn with 9:3 even. „I think my break shot worked better today than yesterday", stated Makkonen in an interview after the final match. „This game is all about the break shot nowadays. Mine worked fine today and if that will continue, I'm sure to be back to the winner's podium for some more tournaments in the future", added Makkonen.
Both players had their first final match appearance in a Euro-Tour event today. Makkonen's best result so far was a third place 2013 in St. Johann, Austria, while Juszczysyn had never made it to the medal ranks before. It is striking that so depth in quality in European Pool Billiard is so widely spread and high. Today, two young players who probably no one had on the list for the winner before the event, played the final match. In the high ranks, famous and familiar names are found as well as new and promising names of rising stars. The quality and strength of the players rise with the level of the Euro-Tour tournaments.
Top eight finishers
- Petri Makkonen FIN
- Konrad Juszczysyn POL
- Florian Hammer GER
Karl Boyes GBR - Radoslaw Babica POL
Albin Ouschan AUT
Denis Grabe EST
Kevin Becker GER
Top Ten Players Euro-Tour rankings
- Niels Feijen NED
- Denis Grabe EST
- Mark Gray GBR
- Nikos Ekonomopoulos GRE
- Mario He AUT
- Nick van den Berg NED
- Marcus Chamat SWE
- Petri Makkonen FIN
- Mateusz Sniegocki POL
- Albin Ouschan AUT
The women's Euro-Tour event will start tomorrow at 10:00 local time. Up to 8 tables can be watched LIVE throughout the event on www.kozoom.com. The event is hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion, IBP. For further information, please check the event website at www.womeneurotouronline.com, visit our Facebook page or contact the EPBF press office at press@epbf.com