Gandia - He couldn't believe his eyes playing such a bad finish after a promising start. Dani Sánchez was punished for his failure at the end and allowed Jose Antonio Carrasco to tie from the equalizer. That's why Casino Cartagena won the match against Coral Colon 5-3 and eventually Cartagena was the new leader in this group.
The triple world champion Dani Sánchez spoiled a big lead, couldn't make his matchball, needed some innings to finish, but saw his opponent make the draw with four, playing an excellent bankshot to 40-40 in 26.
David Zapata and Alberto Sintas completed the success for Casino Cartagena at the other tables. With two wins and one draw the match ended in a 5-3 win for Cartagena. Coral Colon, that won his first match, was surpassed on the rank by Cartagena.
That should lead to an exciting final round, because Casino Cartagena now leads with three points out of two games, Coral Colon and Paiporta follow by one point and Casino Alcantrilla has a little chance to qualify with one point.
Coral Colon plays in the last match against Alcantrilla, Cartagena against Paiporta.
Dani Sánchez played pretty well until he came closer to the finish. Then he lost his way, missed some easy shots and couldn't make his matchball as well. Jose Antonio Carrasco could creep closer and eventually take a draw, good for the full win of his team and fatal for the number one contender in this group.
David Zapata had a whirlwind start against Josep Maria Mas (two runs of eight in the first ten innings), ran to a 27-6 lead in ten, but couldn't continue on that high level. He needed 32 innings to come to the finish: 40-18.
Alberto Sintas was a bridge too far for Ricardo Garcia (40-27 in 32), so that the result in the fourth party didn't determine the final score. Carlos Crespo made his 40 points, when David Martinez had 37 on the board. The young Spaniard scored only the break shot but then missed an easy round the table ball.
Paiporta won earlier in the group match 6-2 against Alcantrilla. Javier Palazón scored for Paiporta against Alain Hernandez (40-27 in 29), Ruben Legazpi defeated Adrián Legazpi (40-34) and Francesco Unguetti took the win against Diego Jose Guirao to 40-33.