Two miraculous caroms, two missed match balls each, a wonderful denouement on the billiard tables and some Korean shouts of joy in the stands. The match between Sung-Won Choi from Korea and Eddy Merckx from Belgium finished with an unbelievable apotheosis. The Korean performed a little miracle at the end. He fought back from a precarious position and defeated his opponent 50-49.
It was by far the worst match in the quarterfinals (40 innings), but due to the tension at the end it turned into a great match. Eddy Merckx led almost from the start, first 18-8 in ten innings, 26-13 in 17 and after a run of six 39-23 in 26 innings. The Belgian then crept slowly to the finish, took a 43-34 lead, jumped from 45-43 to 49-43. He missed his first matchbal and saw Choi, who had a lot of zero's in the defensive phases of the match, shine with a remarkable run of six to 49-49.
The Belgian missed two more times, then Choi grabbed the victory. The Korean just could dodge the small Korean invasion in the stands, Merckx disappeared as quickly as possible. ,,The balls didn't roll so well for me and at the end I couldn't finish, so I feel bad'', he sighed.
Jérémy Bury plays in the semifinals (18.30) against Marco Zanetti. Filipos Kasidokostas against Sung-Won Choi at 22.30.