VIENNA - Two players were only one carom away from the maximum run until now, only the Dutchman Dave Christiani succeeded today to make a run of fifteen from the break-off in his match against Dick Jaspers. Frédéric Caudron stumbled at one point last night, Dani Sánchez did the same in the third set of his match against Kouji Funaki this afternoon.
The Spaniard had an artistic solution in his mind for the difficult last shot. The balls were close to the corner in a very complicated position. ,,I couldn't make the carom with a flat cue''', Sánchez said later. ,,The only possibility was to make a bankshot with a massé, to touch the long cushion first, then short and again long. The gap between ball and cushion was very small and when I pushed for the stroke, my ball made a jump, that's why the carom failed.''
Sánchez was stabbing at fourteen, in a match he won 3-0 with an average of 3.000 the best so far in a match. Caudron missed his last point from the break-off last night, also with a bankshot. ,,The ball came very close'', he concluded, ,,but the carom was very difficult to make. I didn't see any other solution.''
Dave Christiani was the only player who made the fifteen until now. That was the second time in a World Cup this year. Antonio Ortiz, the Spanish champion, did the same in the qualifying rounds in Suwon.
Torbjörn Blomdahl and Dani Sánchez made runs of fourteen in Trabzon, Caudron put a thirteen on the score board in Matosinhos, just like Hyung Kon Kim in the qualifications in Suwon and Zanetti yesterday and Sung-Won Choi against Caudron this afternoon in Vienna.
Caudron and Choi played another great match, which was won by the Belgium in five sets (11-15, 15-8, 15-8, 0-15, 15-3), averages 2.333 for Caudron, 2.130 for Choi. ,,We made every time high runs from the break-off'', Caudron said. ,,And in every set we both grew to a high level.''
That marks the tournament so for. Nikos Polychronopoulos also shone in his match of today, in which he let Roland Forthomme no chance. The Greek player started with 15-6, 15-5, Forthomme had one revival in the third (15-8 in 6), but it wasn't enough to attack his opponent in the last part of the match. Polychronopoulos finished 15-2 in 4 and averaged 2.304, against 1.272 for Forthomme.
Lütfi Cenet swiped the Colombian Julian Morales off the tournament with a regular win: 3-1. The Turk started slowly, lost the first set and then won the three others 15-4, 15-9, 15-2 (average 1.368).