LAUSANNE - In a real classic match between two European top gun from the low lands, Dick Jaspers took the trophy in the Lausanne Billard Masters. The Dutchman was the best in the final where he defeated Frédéric Caudron 40-24 in sixteen innings. For Jaspers it was his second victory in five years in Lausanne. The world champion, Caudron, couldn't win his first in the prestigious tournament in the wonderful Swiss capital of the Olympic committee. The podium was completely completed by Dani Sánchez and Marco Zanetti. Dick Jaspers earned 2000 Swiss francs (1800 euros) with his victory.
The European billiards president Diane Wild announced at the end that the next edition of the tournament will be played from 23 to 25 November 2018. And of course, a main part of the world top will be invited.
The amount, payed by the sponsor Merck to the MS association, is 7935 Swiss francs.
The final match in the great and crowded venue in the Casino Montbenon, was a high-level match. Jaspers already was launched by a run of ten in the second inning, but at 20-13, Caudron turned the score to his favour (22-20) after a run of 9. The finish was again dominated by Jaspers, who first ran out to 33-23 and was no longer in danger: 40-24 in 16.
Two hours after his victory, Dick Jaspers already arrived at the airport to return to the Netherlands. There, he looked back on his successful tournament. ,,I am very happy with this victory, because lately, I couldn't win so much. This is a tournament that counts, although there are no ranking points to win. But I have defeated some greats opponents, like Caudron and Zanetti. That gives me a nice feeling.'
Before the final match, Jaspers said, he had no high expectations. ,,Caudron is in top form and lives in a euphoria. I still remember my own world titles: it is the best title you can win and after that, it seems like you can handle it all. In the semi-finals against Zanetti, actually I was the underdog, because Marco had played a five-average match the night before. But in both of these matches, against Zanetti and Caudron, things were running better for me and luckily I managed to beat them.''
Anyway, it feels as a kind of revenge for the World championship, where Jaspers already was knocked out by Eddy Leppens in the first session. Jaspers: ,,The start was very strange for all of us. We travelled to come there almost two days, for that one, most important tournament in a season. Then you come there and it looks like the World championship can be cancelled. The tables were not there yet, the venue had to change. But luckily, the could manage it right in time. And let me say, it is no excuse for me. We must adapt when we have to play a World championship in those countries. It is what it is. I just ran into a fantastic Eddy Leppens and was out after one knock-out match.''
The Dutch final winner made an end to Caudron's victory series: the Belgian lost his last match in the final of the World Cup in La Baule against Torbjörn Blomdahl on October 29. From then, he started his triumphal race at the billiard in the Belgian league on November 4, followed by seven victories at the World championship and five in the Lausanne Masters. Thirteen matches the world champion seemed to be invincible, including amongst others two wins against Marco Zanetti and two against Dani Sánchez.
On Sunday morning, the Belgian defeated in Dani Sánchez in the semi-finals 40-23 in 19 innings with runs of 8, 5 and 4. The Spanish star player, after a few weeks have been not on his best, showed in some matches that he is on the way back again, but was out of chance against Caudron.
Dick Jaspers eliminated the Italian stuntman from Saturday night in the other semi-final. Marco Zanetti, who played the best tournament match against Jérémy Bury (40-8 in 8 innings, 5.000 average), was outplayed by Jaspers one match later. The later winner started with runs of 5 and 8, leading 18-5 in six innings. With a 7 in the second part, Jaspers paved his way to victory: first 23-9, then 34-11 to 40-15 in 19 innings.
The final ranking at the Lausanne Billard Masters 2017:
1 Dick Jaspers
2 Frédéric Caudron
3 Dani Sánchez
3 Marco Zanetti
5 Torbjörn Blomdahl
6 Jérémy Bury
7 Jae-Ho Cho
8 Nikos Polychronopoulos
9 Dong-Koong Kang
10 Ten Muy Ma
11 Michael Boulaz
12 Fernando Couto.
Jaspers and Caudron before the start with the referees
The Lausanne podium with Caudron, Jaspers, Zanetti and Sánchez