BRANDENBURG AN DER HAVEL - Reigning European champion Marco Zanetti missed the spirit to capitalize on his strong start to the tournament when he faced tough draw Adnan Yüksel. Frédéric Caudron had a big lead against Nikos Polychronopoulos, but the Greek was unfazed and made a comeback. The Saturday evening in the Stahlpalast in Brandenburg an der Havel starts with eight players, three of those expected to be in that line-up: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dick Jaspers and Eddy Merckx. The other five are surprises (Adnan Yüksel, Nikos Polychronopoulos and Christian Rudolph) or even sensations: Martin Bohac and Murat Tüzül.
Marco Zanetti and Frédéric Caudron, the two actors in the historic semifinal of 2013, are out. The Italian lost to Yüksel (40-27 in 23) and the Belgian lost from a 29-16 lead when Polychronopoulos went into overdrive. The two top players, former Agipi teammates, both lose important ranking points. Blomdahl, Jaspers and Merckx will make progress on the ranking. Two outsiders have provided the tournament with the spice of the unknown so far: Martin Bohac, a 37-year old scientist from Brno, can be called the revelation of the Championships, having beaten both Daniel Sanchez and Jeremy Bury. The Frenchman could never even make an impression and lost 40-31 in 28.
Murat Tüzül, the congenial billiard room owner from Istanbul, qualified like Bohac did, then beat his reputed countryman Tayfun Tasdemir, and on his way to the quarterfinal the Greek Filippos Kasidokostas, who has known better years but is now in a world ranking free fall. Will Christian Rudolph be able to repeat his performance of 2013, when he reached the final and ended runner-up to Marco Zanetti? The only German left in the tournament was trailing against Roland Forthomme (20-13 after 10), but repaired the damage and cruised to victory.
Dick Jaspers, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Eddy Merckx had no problems surving the evening round. The Dutchman got the better of Eddy Leppens, who could not make a fist (40-22 in 23). The Swede beat Jean Reverchon, who was happy to even be playing at that stage (40-23 in 26) and Eddy Merckx was not threatened at all by Jean Paul de Bruijn, who had exhausted himself in the earlier round and looked spent (40-15 in 16). The quarterfinal matches at 18.30: Adnan Yüksel-Martin Bohac Torbjörn Blomdah-Nikos Polychronopoulos Eddy Merckx-Murat Tüzül Dick Jaspers-Christian Rudolph.
Christian Rudolph, the only German player left in the tournament.
The matches for the quarter finals at 18.30:
Adnan Yüksel-Martin Bohac
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Nikos Polychronopoulos
Eddy Merckx-Murat Tüzül
Dick Jaspers-Christian Rudolph.
Torbjörn Blomdahl and Jean Reverchon look at the score board after their match.