SCHILTIGHEIM - The French player Jean Christophe Roux is the only one of ten players who has already qualified for next round in the Agipi Masters. The last three sessions have started off this morning. Jean Christophe Roux lost against Dion Nelin last night, but with six matchpoints out of four, he can join the crowd in the arena and watch the battle for the top two finisher.
There are still three players struggling for that second spot in Group 1.
1 Jean Christophe Roux excited his own arena and is leading with three victories (against Palazón, Burgman and Burgman), he finished the preliminaries with 1.303 average.
2 Dion Nelin has the best chance, but with just a slender advantage. He has four match points out of three games (averaging 1.388). The Dane plays his last match at 14.00 against Roland Forthomme, who is eliminated; Nelin has control over his own fate, but needs one more win to be sure.
3 Javier Palazón needs another elbow grease and knows he is under pressure in the last match, because he played a draw against Forthomme last night (50-50 in 36 innings). The Spaniard took three match points and 1.299 average.
4 Raimond Burgman just has a little chance to qualify: he needs a win himself against Javier Palazón, but with a minor average after three games (1.163), he has to win in a short match to finish higher in average then Dion Nelin (current average 1.388/1.163).
5 Roland Forthomme, one of the stars in the first editions of the Masters, has been outplayed. The Belgian giant could not show the level from recent weeks. He has only one match point out of three games and averaged 1.269 with a run of 12.
The matches this afternoon (Sunday) at 14.00:
Palazón-Burgman
Nelin-Forthomme