ANDERNOS - It is a bless in disguise that after two days at the Kozoom Cup Eddy Merckx is already the undisputed winner moving up to the final. The supremacy of the Belgian cannibal, who after the one-man show on the second day is unattainable for Dave Christiani and Maxime Panaia (12-3-1 in sets), paves the way for a quick-fire questions session for Kozoom viewers to Torbjörn Blomdahl, now that the tension is out of the game.
The Swedish three cushion world champion, who entertains the matches in the Kozoom Cup with his wonderful and expert commentary, invited the viewers on the Kozoom chat at the end of the second day of play: ''Tomorrow (Friday), I offer you a question/answer day, you can fire all kinds of questions at me, I will answer them all.'' That looks like bringing it all home for the Kozoom's chatters on Friday during the live broadcast.
Just like in the session with Dick Jaspers, who was unreachable for Peter Ceulemans and Rui Costa after the second day in his flight, Eddy Merckx already triumphed on the second day in the match with Christiani and Panaia. Two sets of ten in one inning and one in two innings (9 and 1), gave Merckx's impeccable exhibition even more lustre than the final score after two days shows.
At one short moment in the match, it even looked as if Merckx would end the day with a clean sheet, but Christiani, who never could reach his top level, snatched a set just before the final session with 10-8-5, with Maxime Panaia taking the eight points. All other sets turned into a one-man show of Merckx, who from the start of day 2 won six of the eight sets in a row, was beaten once by Christiani and in the last set of the day almost finished again in one inning turn. He missed the set ball due to a little kiss on the way to the point.
And of course Eddy Merckx hid a broad smile behind his mouth cap in the interview afterwards. The interviewer, French player/referee/journalist Jérémy Picart, asked him about his opinion on playing in a ten point set system:
''What is your feeling about this format being played in major championships, World Cups and big tournaments as well?''
Eddy Merckx repeated what he said on the first day: ''I know people want excitement, tension with these short sets, so I play what I am asked by an organisation. But if I should be honest, and I think all top players would say that, I prefer to play matches to 40 or 50 points.''
The set scores on the second day:
9th set:
Merckx 10, Panaia 9, Christiani 4
10th set:
Merckx 10, Christiani 4, Panaia 0
11th set:
Merckx 10, Panaia 7, Christiani 7
12th set:
Merckx 10, Christiani 8, Panaia 7
13th set:
Merckx 10, Christiani 3, Panaia 2
14th set:
Merckx 10, Christiani 5, Panaia 5
15th set:
Christiani 10, Panaia 8, Merckx 5
16th set:
Merckx 10, Panaia 0, Christiani 0
Ranking after 2 days:
1 Merckx 12-141-84-1.679-10
2 Christiani 3-81-80-1.013-7
3 Panaia 1-75-79-0.949-6
Eddy Merckx: two sets in 1 inning during the second day
Eddy Merckx, the serious focus during the game
Eddy Merckx, unreachable after two days and 16 sets
Dave Christiani, 3 set wins in two days, not his best level
Maxime Panaia (20), gaining experience in the Kozoom 3C Challenge Cup