At the Dynamic Billard Portuguese Open in Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal, total underdog Thomas Lindloff (GER) upset Fedor Gorst (RUS) in winner’s round one with 9:8.
The writing for the match was on the wall. Lindloff, an amateur player from Germany who participates in his second Euro-Tour versus Gorst, a young, hungry and talented two-time European Champion in the Under 17 division. Nobody really expected the match to become thrilling or even exciting at least. All odds were in favour of Gorst. But, as often, life has surprises. One of them happened today. Lindloff managed to win the first two racks and drew first blood against the Russian who took his time-out already when the scoreboard displayed 2:1 in favour of Lindloff. When he came back, he won the next rack and levelled the match at 2:2. But again Lindloff managed to escape with a two-point-lead, making it 4:2. It took ten racks before Gorst was all square with Lindloff and tied the match at 5:5.
Now again the odds were all in favour of Gorst. But to the astonishment of the audience Lindloff continued his strong performance and even got to the hill with an 8:6 lead after 14 racks. Rack number 15 was opened by Thomas Lindloff. He executed a nice break-shot, had two balls down and everything speed out nicely in front of him to clear the table for is possible victory. He played a good safety shot on the 4-ball and forced Gorst to commit a foul. With ball in hand, Lindloff approached the table and had all the chances in the World to finish the match. But his nerves left him and he scratched while pocketing the 5-ball which now brought Gorst to the table. The Russian used his chance and pulled the rack back from Lindloff. 8:7 was the small lead which was left for Lindloff. Then Gorst showed nerves of steel and ran the next rack with his own break shot to tie the match at 8:8. What a dramatic finish. Again, the odds were in favour of the Russian since the pressure on Lindloff went through the roof. The German again had two balls down and a nice layout in front of him. Would his nerves let him down again or would he be able to stand the heat? This time, Lindloff took the chance and ran the rack, clearing the table for an amazing 9:8 victory over favoured Fedor Gorst.
Thomas Lindloff (left) and Fedor Gorst
„It was a tactical victory for me“ stated Lindloff after the match, „and Lady Luck was more on my side than his.“ „Gorst was probably not shooting at his best level“, Lindloff added, „so I think routine defeated class today“. This victory was his second today already since he defeated Avelino Madeira (POR) in the first round with 9:8. Lindloff will be up in winner’s round two tomorrow at 09:00 GMT against Vitaliy Patsura (UKR), last year’s European Champion 8-ball men’s division.
Today, the featured match on the EPBF Facebook page was the clash between Quang Trung Le (VIE) and Sebastian Staab (GER). Both players played on an equal level with Staab being a bit more on the lucky side in the end, winning the match with 9:7 over Le.
Other remarkable results from today include Nr. 1 seeded player David Alcaide (ESP) winning his opening match by a whisker over unheralded Kenneth Rognstad (NOR) with 9:8 only. Former World 9-Ball Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) had the same problems and sneaked through past Andrey Seroshtan (RUS) with 9:8, having trailed 1:5 and 5:8 in the match already. Eklent Kaci (ALB) once again took down Oliver Ortmann (GER) 9:6 in winner’s round one. Ralf Souquet (GER), winner of the recent Euro-Tour in Treviso, Italy, wasted no time with Polish top player Tomasz Kaplan (POL) smashing him 9:1.
In the women’s event, Monika Zabek (POL) outplayed Sara Rocha (POR) 7:5 and proceeded to the next winner’s round while Rocha needs to seek her fortune on the loser’s side. Marta Tavares (POR) overmastered Kristina Grim (GER) 7:6 and handed her an unexpected defeat in winner’s round one. European flagship of women’s pool, Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) won both her matches today without bigger efforts. She took down Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED) 7:2 and then Yini Gaspar (SUI) even 7:1.
The Dynamic Billard Portuguese Open in Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal will continue tomorrow at 09:00 GMT with matches from winner’s round 2 in the open event and matches from loser’s round 1 in the women’s event.
Every day, one match from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches on up to 24 tables live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page around noon every day. Results and schedule can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Italian Open starting Thursday 30th March at 09:00h
The event will be hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epbf.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].