LAUSANNE - The star player of the first day looked into the playing room and saw that it was good. Frédéric Caudron was undisputedly the strongest of ten players, coming out of the starting blocks for the Lausanne Billiard Masters. The Belgian, who must defend his world title in Seoul next week, has the maximum of points after two matches and 2,666 average!
Dick Jaspers and Dani Sánchez come pretty close to the leader with 2.222 in average, but the only played one match so far. Frédéric Caudron tops Group B, the toughest in theory, ahead of Dani Sánchez, Jérémy Bury and Torbjörn Blomdahl.
The former Agipi couple, Caudron and Bury, were opposed in the final evening session. The Belgian won, with his mother on the first row of the stands as a silent fan, 40-26 in 13 innings (3.076).
,,I was even more focused than in my first match'', said Caudron after his match. ,,My start was good, Bury came back strongly, but I was off again for a second attack.'' That was too much for the Frenchman, who defeated Blomdahl in his first match of the day, that made him live in an euphoria.
The showdown in this group is for tomorrow, Saturday, when Torbjörn Blomdahl and Dani Sánchez have to play three times and both will face Caudron. Jérémy Bury has to enforce his semi-final spot mostly against Sánchez and keep up his average.
The level was very high on the first day, despite the huge pressure. Only the fourth man in the group, Fernando Couto, can't play a significant role. The Swiss could be happy to make six in his last inning against Sánchez, he went down 40-10 in 18.
Marco Zanetti needs to climb his pink cloud again to save the tournament. The titleholder lost in the last evening session to Martin Horn, whom he only could threaten at the end of the match. That happened when the German, just like in his match earlier against Dick Jaspers, had a difficult finish (40-37 in 24).
Sung-Won Choi started the tournament very poor vs Rene Hendriksen, faced in the final phase even a small deficit, but finished with a flawless final sprint: 9 and 4 (40-33 in 25).
The battle is in this group is completely open: Dick Jaspers leads with two points out of one match, behind the Dutchman are Horn (two out of two, 1.857), Sung-Won Choi (two out of one, 1.600) and Marco Zanetti (two out of two, 1.132). The Swiss player Rene Hendriksen is off with two losses, despite an excellent performance against Choi (1320).
The ranks:
Group A:
1 Dick Jaspers 1-2-2.222-6
2 Martin Horn 2-2-1.857-10
3 Sung-Won Choi 1-2-1.600-9
4 Marco Zanetti 2-2-1.132-8
5 Rene Hendriksen 2-0-0.956-4.
Group B:
1 Frédéric Caudron 2-4-2.666-8
2 Dani Sánchez 1-2-2.222-7
3 Jérémy Bury 2-2-1.783-9
4 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1-0-1.625-9
5 Fernando Couto 2-0-0.735-6.
The first matches for Saturday:
10.00:
Zanetti Choi
Jaspers-Hendriksen.
12.15:
Caudron-Sánchez
Blomdahl-Couto.