3-Cushion
LOMMEL - The pressure is on in the last session of the evening: after four matches in Group D, there are three players left who're fighting for a place in the quarter finals of the Superprestige. Jef Philipoom is unbeaten after two matches in the last preliminary round, Frédéric Caudron and Peter Ceulemans each have two matchpoints. Philipoom plays his last match against Ceulemans, Caudron against Ronny Brants.
Jef Philipoom had two close finishes in his matches so far. He defeated Ronny Brants with four points and Frédéric Caudron with two caroms.
The battle between Philipoom and Caudron had two faces. Caudron took an early lead (21-13 in fifteen innings), but he saw Philipoom pass through with a run of twelve to a score of 36-26.
The end of the party was a thriller. Philipoom needed nine innings for his last four caroms, Caudron scored only five in that phase of the game. When Philipoom finally finished, Caudron had four points to go in the equalizer. He got the help from the public, when the referee announced a miss, but he missed himself at two points of the end.
Jef Philipoom is undefeated, but has an average of 1.111, lower than his two rivals in the last session. He can not afford a loss against Peter Ceulemans, who has two match points now and an average of 1.272. Caudron, who also gathered two match points in two matches, averaged 1.418, the highest of the group so far.
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