VILA NOVA DE GAIA - The contrast with his previous match, against Dani Sánchez on Friday, showed how freakish and how unpredictable matches are between big name players. Marco Zanetti had a smooth start against the Spaniard, flaunted with a big gap at the break, saw his opponent fight back and eventually won the match with one carom.
The strategy of the Italian, as far as we can talk about that in a three cushion match, (a kickstart, an early lead) he also handled in his quarterfinal match against Murat Naci Coklu. ,,I was very sharp again at the start and after some innings I saw that my opponent could not score at all,'' said Zanetti, who showed his fluency with a great start, took a 11-0 lead after ten sessions, ran out to 24-6, 35 -11 and won 40-20 in 22 innings.
The battle between Koreans Sung-Won Choi and Choong-Bok Lee was won by Choi after a dazzling start. Choi is in the semi final of the World championship for the second time after 2010 in Sluiskil.
The double world champion Marco Zanetti had a walk-over in his match with the player that finished with the best average after the preliminaries. Murat Naci Coklu arrived in a promising form in Porto, was the only Turk in the tournament after yesterday, but was outplayed in the quarterfinals: he couldn't show his fighting spirit and made a lot of painful mistakes.
Marco Zanetti finished on his routine and can now prepare for his next opponent: Sung-Won Choi.
,,I feel that I grow in the tournament,'' he concluded. ,,And I realize how important this is for me: last year I was in the finals in Lima against Jaspers. That means I have to defend a lot of points.''
Marco Zanetti earns 57 points with his semi-final place and is eagering for more than that.
Choong-Bok Lee had a spectacular start in the Korean collision with Sung-Won Choi. In his third inning, on a 6-3 score, he ran a fourteen, which took him to a 17-6 lead. His opponent countered with a six and was back in the match at the halfway point.
Choi repared the balance at 29-29 in 19 innings, both players were still together at 33-33, then Choi sprinted with seven to the finish: 40-34 in 22.