ANDERNOS - The young French talent Gwendal Maréchal has taken a stunning lead over world champion Torbjörn Blomdahl in Group G on the second day of the Kozoom Challenge Cup. With 5 sets won on the second stage and a 4 sets lead over Blomdahl, Maréchal has launched himself as the big contender for the final win in this group. Ronny Lindemann won two sets on this second day, Torbjörn Blomdahl could only win one set, the first of this second day. The intermediate score at the start of the final day: Maréchal 9, Blomdahl 5, Lindemann 2.
Torbjörn Blomdahl started the second day promisingly with a win in the first set, but in the remainder of the session, Maréchal was the player who excelled and took an option for group victory.
After his 2,000 on average on the first day, in which he and Blomdahl finished with four sets won, the Frenchman ended the second with a 1,591 against 1,163 for Blomdahl and 1,068 for Lindemann. Marechal now has a four-set lead over his direct rival for the final matchday.
The German Lindemann shone in sets 13 and 14, which he won despite tight scores (10/7/6 in 6 innings and 10/8/8 in 7 innings), finally giving the BCC Witten player a nice feeling.
With two sets left to play, the return into the match from Blomdahl was expected. However, a little luck was with the Frenchman, who won the penultimate set and took a three-set lead. Visibly shaken by his disappointing level of play, Blomdahl could not turn his ambition into a win in the last set. Maréchal led 9-3 and despite the threat of Blomdahl, who came back to 9-8, the French player was able to score the winning point.
The world champion played on this second day only half the average of the first day. In the interview, Blomdahl did not look for excuses. Ronny Lindemann slightly raised his average, but remains far below his usual level. As for Gwendal Maréchal, he played very well again with almost 1,600 on this second day, although not without luck to score some important points. Don't forget to conclude that Marechal is on 1,753 average after two days, about the same average as Merckx, Legazpi and Jaspers, who qualified earlier with averages that were hardly better after three days.
The Frenchman only has to counter Blomdahl's attacks to reach the final round with 8 players. Tomorrow, Friday, is the third and decisive day of play from 17.00 for Premium subscribers.
The set results on the second day:
Set 9: Blomdahl 1,667 (4-1-2-0-1)
Lindemann 7, Blomdahl 10, Maréchal 5
Set 10: Maréchal 2,500 (0-1-3-6)
Blomdahl 4, Lindemann 5, Marshal 10
Set 11: Maréhal 10,000 (10)
Maréchal 10, Lindemann 0, Blomdahl 0
Set 12: Maréchal 1,250 (0-0-2-0-5-3)
Lindemann 6, Maréchal 10, Blomdahl 5
Set 13: Lindemann 1,667 (0-1-1-3-1-4)
Blomdahl 6, Maréchal 7, Lindemann 10
Set 14: Lindemann 1,428 (1-3-2-0-2-1-1)
Maréchhal 8, Blomdahl 8, Lindemann 10
Set 15: Maréchal 1,428 (3-1-2-0-3-1)
Lindemann 6, Blomdahl 9, Maréchal 10
Set 16: Maréchal 1,667 (0-0-2-5-1)
Blomdahl 8, Lindemann 3, Maréchal 10
The ranking after the second day:
1 Gwendal Maréchal 9-128-73-1,753-10
2 Torbjörn Blomdahl 5-115-72-1,597-10
3 Ronny Lindemann 2-72-70-1,029-5.
The French player Gwendal Maréchal stands out as the favorite after two days
Torbjörn Blomdahl looking desperately for a better form to step on to the finish
Ronny Lindemann, better, but still not on his normal level