BRANDENBURG - The Italian maestro Marco Zanetti who defends his 3 cushion title at the European championship sometimes has the feeling he must climb Mount Everest. The championship at the Stahlplatz in Brandenburg is the place where the 57-year-old expert on the world stage and two-time champion feels at home. He acts like a fish in the water and is in the semi-finals again, tomorrow, Saturday, with Dick Jaspers, Murat Naci Coklu and Ruben Legazpi. The place in the best four is secured. "I feel strong enough to go for the title again."
The starting day of the 3-cushion European championship had striking winners and losers among the top playersers on the international circuit. Dick Jaspers and Marco Zanetti, the two most honoured players in this four, survived the wear and tear that led to the final four. Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Dani Sánchez were already eliminated after two laps, Eddy Merckx and Semih Sayginer followed in the final evening round. On Saturday morning at 10:00am, Marco Zanetti faces Murat Naci Coklu, Dick Jaspers is the adversaire of Ruben Legazpi.
Marco Zanetti concluded that it was his day of happiness. ''I usually face opponents who reach their best level. Now it felt as if it was easier. Birol Uymaz did not play well after the break. Eddy Merckx, who is normally my black horse, against whom I have lost many times, had a bad day. Of course I feel more pressure and tension, because I want to defend my title, but top players are used to dealing with it." Zanetti defeated Merckx in the quarterfinals 40-19 in 16.
Dick Jaspers had to put up a hard fight against Dion Nelin. ''I started poorly, just like against Peter Ceulemans this afternoon. But honestly, I prefer to play well at the end, so that I can still repair the score." He did it to Nelin, whom he beat 40-37 in 21. "Actually, it feels strange, because my focus is always good, however, I had a day today that I had to fight hard to recover from a big backlog."
The two Turks Coklu and Sayginer fought to the very last inning for the win. The match was always in balance (15-15, 22-22, 32-32), in the end the victory went to Coklu 40-38 (28), who had a slightly better final sprint. The Spaniard Ruben Legazpi stopped the triumph march of Glenn Hofman, who had fired his guns against Caudron and Sánchez earlier on the day. Legazpi won 40-24 in 21.
The best of the first day was Semih Sayginer's top run of 19 in his match with the best sixteen against Filippos Kasidokostas. The Turk had a slow start of the game (8-12 in 8), but exploded one inning later with the run of 19! Th attack couldn't be countered by his Greek opponent. Sayginer won 40-25 in 14.
The come-back of Dion Nelin, Glenn Hofman and Ruben Legazpi was central in the run-up to the quarter and semi-finals. Glenn Hofman, who had his best year in 2013 when he was on stage at the World Games and the European championship, but after that achieved just a few notable successes, defeated first Caudron and then Sánchez with impressive performances at this championship. The victory against Caudron only signed off at the end (40-34 in 21), against Sánchez, the Dutchman dominated from the start. He handed out the knock-out to the Spaniard with a final run of ten: 40-25 in 17.
Dion Nelin, who won silver at the World championship in Randers long ago in 2002, behind Marco Zanetti, wants to return to the international stage. "I found a sponsor to pay for my World Cups and so I will play them all. That's why I was able to stop working'', the 42-year-old Dane said after he first eliminated Nikos Polychronopoulos (40-28 in 19) and then Eddy Leppens (40-36 in 24) in the last sixteen. "For me, this is already a very good tournament. I hope to be in the top 20 again for the World championship in my country this year."
Ruben Legazpi first performed a piece of art by beating Martin Horn in the first round of the main draw. In the final phase, the German was the first to cross the finish line, but Legazpi equalized by 6. The shoot-out turned into a desillusion for Horn, who missed the break shot, after which Legazpi scored the winning point. It was the prelude to his place among the best four.
Tonny Carlsen had the best average in the first round in the match in which he eliminated Tayfun Tasdemir 40-22 in 16 (2.500). Semih Sayginer won against Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-19 in 19 (2.105), David Martinez was beaten by Filippos Kasidokostas 40-22 in 21 (1.904).
Dick Jaspers, the world's number 1, in the last 4 after he beat Dion Nelin
Murat Naci Coklu beat Semih Sayginer and meets Marco Zanetti in the semis
Semih Sayginer ran a brilliant 19 in his match with Kasidokostas
Ruben Legazpi beat two Dutch players and is in the final against Dick Jaspers
Free game under 21
Frenchman Pierre Martory and the Dutch Leon Dudink play the final of the free game under 21 on Saturday at 13.00. In the semis, Martory beat the other French guy, Sébastien Verel 300-22 in 2. Leon Dudink was the better of German Simon Blondeel 300-68 in 5.