In a dramatic winner’s round 1 match at the Dynamic Billard Austrian Open in Alpina Wellness & Sports Hotel, St. Johann i.Pg., Austria, between the two grandmasters Ralf Souquet (GER) and Stephan Cohen (FRA), Cohen remained the upper hand and bested Souquet by a whisker with 9:8.
The first half of the match belonged to Souquet. The German dominated at the table and Cohen struggled to get going. After 13 racks, Souquet was on the hill leading 8:5 over Cohen. At that point in time, the odds for Cohen were close to zero. But Cohen came back. He took some racks an the pressure was on for Souquet. With Souquet being in the lead 8:6, both players went for a time-out. When they got back to the table, it seemed to have worked better for Cohen. The frenchman took the next two racks and turned the match into a hill-hill thriller at 8:8. Rack 17 was won by Cohen who had managed to turn the tide in the match and performed a marvellous comeback in the tournament. With this victory, Cohen marched on into the next winner’s round where he overpowered Kim Laaksonen (FIN) 9:4. Cohen has booked his seat in the winner’s qualification round while Souquet needs to find his fortune on the loser’s side of the event.
#1 ranked player on the Euro-Tour ranking is currently David Alcaide (ESP). The Spaniard needed to do some serious work today. In his first match, he just made it 9:8 over Miguel Silva (POR). The next round was not easier for the #1 player. He encountered Abdullah Al-Youssef (KUW) and needed another 9:8 victory over the full distance to get his foot in the door of the winner’s qualification round.
Silva’s teammate Joao Grilo (POR) was a bit luckier today. He faced local hero Mario He (AUT) in winner’s round 1 and took the Austrian down unexpectedly clear with 9:4.
Today seemed to be not a good or easy day for the top ranked Euro-Tour players. Alcaide won his two matches with 9:5. #2 ranked player Joshua Filler (GER) lost 8:9 to Sergey Lutsker (RUS). „I did not have a break shot at all“, commented Filler after the match, „my break simply wasn’t there. That was the main reason for my defeat“. Also long time ranking leader and current #3, Mark Gray (GBR) could not make it through the winner’s side today. After defeating Piergiovanni Davy (ITA) 9:1, he fell 8:9 to unheralded Mariusz Skoneczny (POL).
Probably the most surprising comeback of the day was performed by dark horse Thomas Fjaeran (NOR). The Norwegian was trailing 1:8 after 30 minutes to Mieszko Fortunski (POL), the winner of the Dynamic Billard Italian Open in February 2016. Things looked over for Fjaeran. But the Scandinavian hung in there and started his amazing comeback. Never looking back, Fjaeran took it step by step and managed to realise the impossible, winning the match with 9:8 over a devastated Mieszko Fortunski!
Today’s feature match which was broadcasted LIVE on the EPBF Facebook page was the clash in winer’s round 2 between Denis Grabe (EST) and Oliver Ortmann (GER). The match went up and down. In the beginning, Ortmann looked like the clear winner, taking a 4:1 lead after five racks. But Grabe came back. Additionally, Ortmann’s break shot left him and no wonder Grabe managed to close the gap and even overtake Ortmann, leading 6:4 after the next five racks. However, Ortmann survived that critical phase and found his game back, taking the next racks and getting on the hill at 8:7. Grabe played a safety in rack 16 which was not good enough for Ortmann. The former World Champion from Germany went ahead and cleared the rack, winning the thrilling match with 9:7 over Denis Grabe.
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard Austrian Open in Alpina Wellness & Sports Hotel, St. Johann i.Pg., Austria, will continue at 09:00 CET with matches from loser’s round 2.
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 20 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 Austrian Open starting Thursday 18th May at 09:00h
The events 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].
Stephan Cohen (left) and Ralf Souquet
2017年第三站歐巡賽 – 奧地利公開賽昨日在奥地利蓬高聖約翰 (St. Johann i.Pg.)的Alpina Wellness & Sports酒店拉開序幕。男子組率先開打，女子組則將在本週六上午開賽。在首日一場龍爭虎鬥中，法國頭號球星Stephan Cohen 9-8逆轉德國名將Ralf Souquet，報了去年歐錦賽8球項目的 “一箭之仇”。
開賽後，Souquet主宰了大半場比賽，13局結束後，便取得8:5聽牌優勢領先Cohen，當下對Cohen而言贏球機率近乎於零，然而Cohen並未放棄比賽，在追回一局8:6後，也讓壓力隨之回到Souquet身上。双方暫停過後，局勢似乎轉向Cohen，不僅連拿下2局，更將比賽帶到8:8搶尾盤。第17局輪到Cohen開球，最終Cohen就以衝球後一桿清台逆轉贏得勝利。Cohen在下一輪比賽則以9:4輕鬆制伏芬蘭的Kim Laaksonen晉級到勝部資格賽。而不幸被逆轉擊敗的Souquet則進入敗部。
首日的比賽對排名前三的選手來說似乎過得並不輕鬆! 目前歐巡賽排名首位的西班牙名將David Alcaide的頭兩場比賽分別碰上葡萄牙的Miguel Silva與科威特的Abdullah Al-Youssef。Alcaide兩場比賽都打得不輕鬆，均以9:8驚險擊敗對手，進而挺進勝部資格賽。而Silva雖不幸落敗，但他的隊友Joao Grilo則是在勝部第一輪以9:4出乎意料地打敗地主好手Mario He。排名第二的德國年輕好手Joshua Filler則是8:9敗於俄羅斯的Sergey Lutsker。落敗後的Filler於賽後說道: “我的衝球發揮得很不理想，這也是今天輸球的主因。” 最後位居第三的英國名將Mark Gray在9:1輕取義大利的Piergiovanni Davy後，下一場勝部則是8:9不敵波蘭的Mariusz Skoneczny。
昨日的所有比賽當中最讓人驚奇的非挪威選手Thomas Fjaeran莫屬。他的對手是來自波蘭的Mieszko Fortunski，Fortunski曾在2016年拿下義大利公開賽冠軍。開賽30分鐘後，Fjaeran 以1:8的比數大幅落後波蘭好手。隨後Fjaeran開始展開猶如不可能任務般的絕地大反攻，Fjaeran一局接著一局的拿下，最後9:8逆轉，徹底擊垮Fortunski拿下比賽。
最後在昨日EPBF於Facebook專頁直播呈現勝部第二輪的比賽。由愛沙尼亞好手Denis Grabe碰上德國名將Oliver Ortmann，雙方你來我往互相取得領先。開賽5局後，Ortmann取得4:1領先，然而Ortmann衝球並不理想，也讓Grabe抓住機會反超以6:4領先。Grabe在第16局一記安全球不理想的情況下，給了這位德國的前世界冠軍Ortmann機會清光檯面，Ortmann最終就以9:7擊退Denis Grabe。
在賽事直播視頻方面，一如既往地將由 Kozoom 提供付費制的視頻直播服務。EPBF 每日將會提供一場比賽在其EPBF Facebook上直播，讓所有Facebook用戶及球迷們，除能觀看比賽之外，也可藉此體驗Kozoom長期以來提供給付費會員的高畫質視頻。
登入Kozoom網站 (https://www.kozoom.com/en/pool-billiard/) 先加入會員後，即可線上購買會員通行證 (Premium Pass) 成為Premium會員。Premium會員啟用後，即可觀看所有歐洲撞球協會舉辦的賽事，如歐錦賽、歐巡賽。賽事結束後，還可觀看影片庫中過往所有比賽視頻。
Alison