LAUSANNE - Dani Sánchez, unbeaten in his four matches, Frédéric Caudron with two fewer match points in the other flight, Marco Zanetti and Dong-Koong Kang as the two runners-up: those are the four players who will decide on Sunday who wins the Lausanne Billard Masters 2016. The qualification stage of this event, held in the Casino Montbenon four the fourth consecutive year, culminated in a marathon day with twelve matches, to reduce the field to four. Last year's winner Dick Jaspers could not play a major part this time: he lost three of his four matches.
Frédéric Caudron was as good as certain of his place in the cross-finals, with an evening round yet to play. The two contenders for second place in that flight, Korean Dong-Koong Kang and Swede Torbjörn Blomdahl, were on different table, trying to decide who would accompany Caudron to the semis. Dong-Koong Kang played the best match of the tournament so far: he beat Jérémy Bury with impressive numbers. From 18-6 in six and 27-8 in nine, the match ended 40-10 in 11 innings.
Torbjörn Blomdahl at that point had his back against the wall, playing Caudron. The recently dethroned world champion was at 34-33 in 11, knowing he had only two more innings to finish and end ahead of Kang on average. The Swede only scored once in those two innings, then won 40-36 in fifteen. It was close, but two innings too many to give him second place. Kang ended on 1.897, Blomdahl on 1.843.
On the final day of group play, two of the biggest names in modern 3-cushion reigned supreme. Frédéric Caudron, the number one on the world ranking, recorded a 2.516 average over four matches. Dani Sánchez, inspired by his recent world title win, made a strong impression against Dick Jaspers (40-29 in 18), Marco Zanetti (40-26 in 24) and Jae-Ho Cho (40-22 in 23). Korean Cho excelled in the best match in this group when he beat Michael Boulaz (40-9 in 13, 3.076), but squandered his chances in the evening session against Dani Sánchez. Having played so solidly until then, the Korean suddenly lost his touch and stumbled in the home strait. The Spaniard won that match 40-22 in 23, leaving the Korean under 1 average even.
Dick Jaspers, usually a feared prize-fighter, had a poor tournament by his standards, with three emphatic losses (Cho, Sánchez and Zanetti) in a row. The Dutchman's average (1.532, with a high run of eight) was far below his normal level. Marco Zanetti first lost to the Spanish world champion, but still grabbed the second spot when he beat Jaspers and stayed ahead of Cho, Jaspers and Boulaz with his six match points.
Frédéric Caudron recorded the best average of the ten players, and owed that to three strong matches: against Gretillat (16 innings), Kang (13) and Bury (18), giving him 2.516. Dong-Koong Kang had the best finish of all ten players: his win of 40 in 11 gave him the final spot in the semifinals.
Frédéric Caudron in the last part of his match against Blomdahl
Dani Sänchez, the world champion, during his winning streak
Marco Zanetti, the two fold winner, still in the race on the final day
Final ranking of the two flights:
Group A:
1 Dani Sánchez 4-8-1.758-8
2 Marco Zanetti 4-6-1.445-9
3 Jae-Ho Cho 4-4-1.773-6
4 Dick Jaspers 4-2-1.532-8
5 Michael Boulaz 4-0-0.602-4
Group B:
1 Frédéric Caudron 4-6-2.516-12
2 Dong-Koong Kang 4-6-1.897-9
3 Torbjörn Blomdahl 4-6-1.843-8
4 Jérémy Bury 4-2-1.513-10
5 Xavier Gretillat 4-0-0.651-3.
The matches for Sunday (10.00 en 12.00):
Sánchez-Kang
Caudron-Zanetti
Final at 14.30.
Caudron has the highest average so far: an impressive 2.516
Zanetti grabbed second spot by beating Jaspers
Dong Koong Kang played the best match: 40 in 11
