BORDEAUX - Emotion and passion simply erupted, the way you will only see in a billiard room when Marco Zanetti is playing. His shout of joy went across the stands and through the arena, not once or twice, but four times over. On the brink of being eliminated, the Italian pulled a rabbit out of his hat: he equalized with a run of seven, to draw with Xuan Cuong Ma and win his flight on average.
His equalizing run was a thing of beauty, and Zanetti once again showed he has nerves of steel. He found his perfect focus and juggled the balls as if he performed in the Russian State circus. Especially the last point was a gem: two balls were almost frozen to the rail but he found a way out. Then there was catharsis: his hands went up in the air and he kept celebrating, mouth wide open, turning to every corner of the room.
When the fireworks had died down and the applause was over, Zanetti confessed: ,,This was one of the most emotional moments of my career, never before have I shown my joy with so much expression. It should happen more often in billiards. Stands filled with people, joy, passion, that is what we need. Right now, I am still in the afterglow of all the congratulations that were showered on me.''
Dani Sánchez (in 18 innings against Christian Rudolph, 40-21), Frédéric Caudron (25 innings against Huberney Catano, 40-24) and Tayfun Tasdemir (in 24 against Arnim Kahofer, 40-20) were the other players in this session who secured a place in the knock-out stage.
The Spanjaard made the best impression so far: he ended with a 2.222 average. German champion Christian Rudolph never had a prayer, and could only watch how Sanchez ended the match with a run of ten.
Frédéric Caudron ended the high expectations of Pan-American champion Huberney Catano. Caudron, who has produced a plethora of high runs in the past weeks, has so far been a model of reliability and consistency.
Tayfun Tasdemir made the difference against Arnim Kahofer with runs of ten and nine, which left him with a comfortable margin at the end.