WE’RE DOWN TO the final 16 in Italy as day three of the 2023 DYNAMIC BILLARD Treviso Open completed with some terrific matches. After multiples rounds of play, Germany are the most represented nation left in the competition with six players followed by Poland with five and one each from Hungary, Bosnia Herzegovina, Finland, Ukraine and Czech Republic.
The No.1 ranked player, Mieszko Fortunski, is still standing after a hard-fought 9-8 win over compatriot Wojciech Szewczyk. Fortunski can’t be now caught and will finish the year as top dog on tour. There were ten Polish players in the last 32 and that has reduced down to five in the round of 16.
Fortunski said, “That was a really tough match. I was 7-4 down and he played perfect. But I just kept focus on the game and did everything I could to win it. I like to play here in Treviso; I’ve won a Euro Tour here as well as a European Championship gold and I like the atmosphere.
“All the players from Poland practice a lot together. We play a lot of tournaments with each other and a lot of our players are at that very high level. I’m trying not to focus on my position of No.1. Of course, it’s really important for me but I want to just focus on the matches.
I’ve got Radoslaw Babica tomorrow and that’s all I’ll be thinking about.”
Germany’s Lars Kuckherm is a fast-improving player and he is now in the last 16 following an impressive 9-1 demolition of Marc Bijsterbosch. The 30-year-old first played on the Euro Tour when he was 18 but after a break, he has come back strongly and currently sits at No.27 in the rankings but with two events missing in his points tally, a high finish here will boost him up the table. He plays countryman Luca Menn in the round of 16.
He said, “Yes, I’m very with the best performance I’ve played so far in this tournament because in the winners’ qualification I played Mateusz Sniegocki and missed the 8 at hill-hill so I was very frustrated about that. In my losers’ qualification match I played really bad to be honest and I was really lucky that my opponent (Kestutis Zadeikis (LIT)) played worse than me.
“But against Marc I think I just made one error and everything went my way. From 2-0, I played perfect and for sure I’m very happy. I’ve known Marc for so long, we are playing on the same team for over ten years and now I’m looking forward to tomorrow. My very first Euro Tour was in Sarajevo ten years ago and I finished in fifth place at the age of 18.
It’s a goal for me now to reach the quarter-final stages and further,” he added.
Finnish youngster Jere Virtaranta delivered an impressive performance to knock highly-fancied Spaniard Jonas Souto out of the competition. The 21-year-old from Jarvenpaa has form in the juniors and, like a host of great young players, is looking to progress in the senior ranks. His best showing this year was 9th place in Tallinn and he will be looking to improve on that as he faces Sebastian Batkowski (POL) in the final 16.
Commented Jere, “My training and all that stuff is coming together now and showing on the table. In the youth European Championships, I have six medals so I’ve been there quite a few times and that also helps.
Mainly though, it’s not the results that I’m looking for, rather it’s how I play and what I’m going to focus on, those kinds of things.
Sometimes I let the frustrations come out but nothing serious! The better the player tomorrow and also the later the stage of the tournament, the more I enjoy it. I like those situations.”
The round of 16 matches commence at 9.00 tomorrow morning and play concludes with the final at 16.00.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live by visiting www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/ and clicking on the ‘LIVE’ button. This will take you through to viewing options. In addition, selected matches will be streamed on Facebook Live on the EPBF page.
Results, live scoring, and draw are available at www.epbf.com