PAIPORTA - The seveneen times Spanish champion Dani Sánchez is the undisputed favourite to crown himself again as the best in his country. The start of the Catalan player in the knockout stages was certainly very sensational: Dani brought the Spanish high run record to 23 (!) in his match against Andrés Carrion. His highest run so far was 22.
The championship in the Valencian town has come to the eighth finals with the main competitors for Sánchez as Rubén Legazpi, Sergio Jiménez, Javier Palazón and the young guys David Zapata and David Martinez.
Dani Sánchez rules the three cushion championship in Spain since 1995, when he won his first title. From then, after a two years break, he won twelve times in a row. The winning streak was interrupted only by Javier Palazón (2010) and Antonio Ortiz (2011), in the next four years Sánchez was the best again. That brought Dani to a total of seventeen titles so far.
The run of 23 came for Sánchez after not such a good start. ,,I was leading 11-8 in 9 innings when I made the run and finished at 34-8 in ten. The next point, 24, was not too difficult, but I played it very slow with control to get position. When I was at twenty, I looked at the scoreboard and saw that I could come to 29 exactly. One point more than the world record. From that moment, I felt the tension growing.''
Sánchez made his highest series so far in the Billard Masters in Lausanne last year (21) and in the German bundesliga (22).
The best winner in the last round last night was Javier Palazón, who finished off his match vs the big great talent Carlos Anguita in 15 innings (40-18, 2.667 average). Rubén Legazpi shared the favorites fort he title by a victory over Jordi Martin (40-17 in 25), Armando Moreno won in 21 innings.
Carlos Crespo, who impresses at the World Cup, was eliminated by the strong starter Sergio Jimenez, who had a 21-3 lead after five innings. The match was closed at 40-29 in 24. Xavier Yeste had a great start against Rafa Garrida (21-11 at 8), but missed eight times in a row at the end: 40-37.
The matches for the eighth finals (10.00 Saturday):
David Zapata - Alberto Sintas
David Martínez - Jaime S. Faraco
Alfonso Legazpi - Xavier Yeste
Rubén Legazpi - Jesús Jiménez
12.00:
Sergio Jiménez - Juan A. Carrasco
Javier Palazón - Esteve Mata
Dani Sánchez - Luis Avallone
Armando Moreno - José Maria Má