NEW YORK - On Main Street, outside in Queens, thousands of Koreans walk in and out the shops and eateries. Inside the Carom Cafe, they are already outplayed after one round in the main draw of the Open Verhoeven in New York. The verdict over the last two players of one of the strongest nations in billiards was handed by Frédéric Caudron and Dick Jaspers. Seven Europeans and one Asian show up in the quarter finals just after noon. Three Belgians, one Dutchman, one Frenchman, one Turk, one Vietnamese and one German remain from the first session on the final day. Torbjörn Blomdahl and Semih Saygıner were the main victims. The Swede ran into a strong and solid Merckx and concluded after his match: ,,I didn't feel good, the entire tournament. I have the feeling all things went wrong. No high runs, no feeling, leaving my opponents good positions, so let's say, a bad tournament for me.''
Eddy Merckx was twice on the podium in three participations so far in New York. He lost one final against Frédéric Caudron and was second behind Torbjörn Blomdahl. ,,I suffered a few curious losses against Blomdahl these years, including in the semifinals of the World championship in Bordeaux last year. Therefore, it feels good to beat him with a good win.'' Semih Saygıner was facing a backlog whole his match against Vietnamese Vinh The Ly, lost his confidence and the match 40-30 in 22 innings. The most impressive winner was Tayfun Tasdemir, who started his final sprint with another high run (17) and finished 40-12 in 17 against Huberney Cataño.
Frédéric Caudron was - not unusual, the first man out in his match against Haeng Jik Kim, in a one-way contest, in which the young Korean could'nt impress any moment: 40-16 in 19. Dick Jaspers had a poor start against Jae Ho Cho (20-8 down), then attacked with six, took the lead with eleven (31-21) and had nothing to fear from the Korean at the end: 40-28 in 14.
Roland Forthomme, who survived in a tough last match in the previous round, now showed an amazing form against Murat Naci Coklu, one of the stars in the semi-finals. ,,I started with a few lucky's'', said the Belgian, who showed his daring and confidence, running out to 22-5 at the break and smoothly won 40-28 in 20 innings.
Martin Horn continued his winning streak and defeated the Vietnamese Quoc Nguyen Nguyen after a start with eleven, 16-15 in between and finally a 40-22 victory in 23 innings.
The matches for the quarterfinals:
Tayfun Tasdemir-Frédéric Caudron
Vinh The Ly-Jérémy Bury
Martin Horn-Dick Jaspers
Eddy Merckx-Roland Forthomme.
Vinh The Ly, the only Asians among seven Europeans in the quarters
Tayfun Tasdemir, another hig run: 17