1-Cushion
SAINT-BREVIN-LES-PINS - How was it possible that Jean Paul de Bruijn, after his magisterial match in the early hours (150 in three innings, runs of 26, 1 and 123) suddenly lost his way in his next appearance? The Dutch top favourite needed 25 innings now to beat Dieter Steinberger from Germany. What happened to Torbjörn Blomdahl after two wins and a promising start. The Swede didn't even play so bad in his third, but was overwhelmed by a dazzling race of Swiss Xavier Gretillat.
Frédéric Caudron didn't look so infallible today after the flawless high class demonstration in the first rounds. The match against Alain Remond, with his opponent in an all-or-nothing battle, now took 18 innings.
The three main favorites took a run up to the next round, where eight players again are divided into two groups of four and all meet each other in a Round Robin. And after these Saturday matches, it comes to the semi-finals on Sunday at 10.00 and the final at 14.00. Which means that the new world champion needs a marathon of eight matches to 150 caroms in the title race.
The eight players who managed to place for the next four heats are:
The group winners:
Frédéric Caudron
Jean-Paul de Bruijn
Bernard Villiers
Torbjörn Blomdahl
The runners-up:
Xavier Gretillat
Johann Petit
Wolfgang Zenkner
Peter De Backer
Jean Paul de Bruijn remained undefeated despite a minor finish in his group. He was the second in average after Frédéric Caudron 13.235. De Bruijn (11.842), Villiers (10.975) and Blomdahl (10.944) also had over ten average.
The reigning champion Wolfgang Zenkner survived the toughest group thanks to a victory in the first round over Alain Remond and in his third match vs Czech Baca.
Frédéric Caudron was trailing in his match against Alain Remond until the 13th inning, but then turned the match in his favor: 150-120 in 18.
Johann Petit and Nicolas Gerassimopoulos showed up in a nek-to-nek race on the end of the day. Thanks to a nice final run, the Frenchman took the win.
Xavier Gretillat, who started with a poor loss against Vietnamese Tran, then made an excellent recover, first with a win over Japanese Yusuke Mori and in the last round against Blomdahl in 6 innings: 150-94.
The flawless performance of the little Frenchman Bernard Villiers brought him on top of the group with three wins in 15, 15 and 11 innings. Therefor he was the best of three Frenchmen at this WC.
The groups for the next round:
Group 1: Caudron, Blomdahl, De Backer, Petit.
Group 2: De Bruijn, Villiers, Gretillat, Zenkner.
The first matches Saturday at 10.00 am:
De Bruijn Zenkner
Villiers-Gretillat
Caudron-Petit
Blomdahl-De Backer.
All matches are broadcast live on Kozoom.