VIENNA - The top three of the ranking (Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron and Torbjörn Blomdahl) will come back for the next round. Daniel Sánchez also joined the contenders for the main prizes, but for many other top players was the first day of the tournament the day of the early departure. The conclusion can be that more and more players from the subtop can threaten the real top players.
The Japanese player Kouji Funaki, for instance, had a more than impressive start against Marco Zanetti. The match between the two had a flying start. The Italian was trailing 8-0 after the second inning when he answered with a run of thirteen. Nevertheless, he was defeated by 15-14 in that set.
.
But it was even worse for Zanetti: he looked a bit later to a 2-0 disadvantage by a lost set 15-11 in 11 innings.. The Japanese, who beat Dick Jaspers in the World Cup of Hurghada in 2010 after trailing 2-0, seemed unstoppable.
Zanetti, however, has the class to grow to his top in such situations. At the moment that many people had left the building, the score was already 2-2 in sets after 15-13 and 15-6. The deciding set was very exiting again: the Japanes took a 13-1 lead and 14-5, Zanetti fought back to 15-10, but then was defeated in the eleventh inning.
The battle was just in the opening phase, when Frédéric Caudron, the whirlwind, had already stored his cue after a demonstration of his class against the Spaniard Ruben Legazpi. The Belgian awarded his opponent in the first two sets some points (15-11 and 15-6), but seemed to finish in the third set from the break-off. He only missed his final point by a hair on a difficult bankshot.
Daniel Sánchez had almost his traditional slow start with a lost set. His second and third set against Kostistansky, who doesn’t look so friendly at the billiard, Sánchez finished with runs of eight (15-1, 15-12), then the party was over. The Spaniard finished 1.617 average.
Jef Philipoom, who fought in his well known style for every carom, was trailing almost the whole match against Sung-Won Lee, who he only could beat in the second set 15-14 in a close finish to 1-1 in sets. The Korean closed the job with 15-5 and 15-11 (averages 1.685/1.147).