3-Cushion
NEW YORK - Two days before the end of the McCreery tournament, the world champion is on top and the all time champion closes the ranking in New York. The last two rounds in the man-to-man competition have made the separation, but not yet definitely determined which four players will show up in the final rounds on Saturday. The Belgians Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx are suppost to certainly join the final party. Dick Jaspers and Semih Sayginer are the other main contenders for the top-four positions. The fight in the last rounds feels like a knock-out. HaengJik Kim and Marco Zanetti, unexpected after his poor start, still have a chance to reach the finals. Dani Sánchez, Sung-Won Choi and Pedro Piedrabuena need a little miracle to make part of the best four.
In the outposts of the twelve-man field, the standings were turned into favour of the two Belgian world class players. Frédéric Caudron first outplayed Piedrabuena 40-31 in 21 and later Dani Sánchez 40-19 in 17. Eddy Merckx pushed Semih Sayginer from his high throne in a match in which the Belgian scored the best run (19) of the tournament so far: 40-34 in 21. And also against American Piedrabuena, Merckx shone in an outstanding and flashy match: 40-31 in 14.
Semih Sayginer quickly dealt with Merckx's knockout: after three losses in a row, the Turkish stuntman was on his best playing Dick Jaspers (40-37 in 21) and kept the chances in his own hands. Frédéric Caudron with 2.000 has the best average over nine matches, ahead of Dick Jaspers (1.913), Semih Sayginer (1.739) and Eddy Merckx (1.700). Merckx leads the best runs ranking with 19, followed by Caudron (18), Jaspers (16), Patiño (15) and Blomdahl (14).
The Round Robin (man-to-man with twelve) goes into the apotheosis with exciting matches, in which Zanetti and Kim still can threat the current top four. The Italian and the Korean need a flawless course in the last laps. The mutual collision (Zanetti-Kim, 17.00) can be decisive for the final show down. Zanetti first plays Choi, Kim meets Ceulemans in the first lap.
The top four crosses swords in an undoubtedly high level fight. The numbers one and two have met each other before: Merckx defeated Caudron.
The further traject of the top four:
X Frédéric Caudron still plays against Semih Sayginer and Dick Jaspers
X Eddy Merckx first meets Dick Jaspers and then Dani Sánchez
X Dick Jaspers plays against Eddy Merckx and Frédéric Caudron
X Semih Sayginer starts against Frédéric Caudron and closes against Pedro Piedrabuena.
What can happen within the top four in the last two rounds:
Frédéric Caudron is almost out of reach with his 14 match points and the best average (2.000). The world champion can only lose his top four position when he is overtaken by Zanetti or Kim (both 10 match points and a worse average).
Eddy Merckx also recorded 14 match points, a minor average (1.700), but is on fire and also seems out of sight for Zanetti and Kim.
Dick Jaspers scored twelve match points and 1.913. The Dutchman faces two tough missions, playing Caudron and Merckx. Two losses would make him vulnerable, but Jaspers is on his very best towards the end.
Semih Sayginer, also at twelve match points, with 1.739, has survived a setback and is facing the final rounds with a lot of power and confidence. The first obstacle is called Caudron, the last opponent Piedrabuena.
The bottom part of the ranking is led by Dani Sánchez, who saw his chances go up in smoke by losses to Caudron and Jaspers. Sung-Won Choi and Pedro Piedrabuena also gathered eight match points. The American dropped out of the top by losses to Caudron and Merckx.
The heat is on for the last battles in the three arena's of the tournament: the McCreery room, the Club room and the Salon. Twelve players, led by six referees, enter the final party. The six referees have shown their international high class: Jiwon Riu from South Korea, Nabil Salama from Egypt (head of the referees), Willem Hofman from the Netherlands, Hervé Lacombe from France, Stefan Andres from Germany and Martin Spoormans from Belgium.
The ranking after nine of eleven laps:
1 Frédéric Caudron 14-2.000-18
2 Eddy Merckx 14-1.700-19
3 Dick Jaspers 12-1.913-16
4 Semih Sayginer 12-1.739-13
5 HaengJik Kim 10-1.562-11
6 Marco Zanetti 10-1.442-12
7 Dani Sánchez 8-1.703-12
8 Sung-Won Choi 8-1.697-12
9 Pedro Piedrabuena 8-1.697-12
10 Hugo Patiño 6-1.385-15
11 Torbjorn Blomdahl 4-1.488-14
12 Raymond Ceulemans 2-1.064-7
The matches for today, Friday:
10.00 (American time):
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Hugo Patiño
Frédéric Caudron-Semih Sayginer
HaengJik Kim-Raymond Ceulemans
12.00:
Marco Zanetti-Sung-Won Choi
Eddy Merckx-Dick Jaspers
Dani Sánchez-Pedro Piedrabuena
15.00:
Eddy Merckx-Dani Sánchez
Semih Sayginer-Pedro Piedrabuena
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Raymond Ceulemans
17.00:
Sung-Won Choi-Hugo Patiño
Frédéric Caudron-Dick Jaspers
Marco Zanetti-HaengJik Kim.
The longest referee and the shortest: Willem Hofman (right) and Bilo Salama. The question: who is the chief referee?
Marco Zanetti in his run-up to the top positions. Can he still reach the finals after his poor start?