Friday the 13th is unlucky for some, none more so than Norway’s Mats Schjetne. For some unknown reason, Mats failed to show up for his 2nd match today and gifted fellow Norwegian Emil-Andre Gangflot the win.
In what could arguably be the best match of the day, Spain’s David Alcaide beat former world champion Russia’s, Fedor Gorst 9-7. The match had everything you could want as a pool fan as David steamed into a 5-0 lead before anyone could catch their breath. Fedor took a time out and lost the next to trail 6-0 and seemed to accept he would lose this match. This helped to relax the Russian and at 7-2 up David also took his foot of the gas and before you knew it, Fedor had clawed back a couple of racks to trail now by 7-4. The next rack went to David, putting him on the brink of victory at 8-4 but Fedor had the crowd dreaming of a hill-hill match as he kept plugging away. With the score now 8-7 and David’s break, the fans held their breath again as David got hooked behind the 4-ball with the 1- ball close to the pocket and nowhere to hide.
Fedor Gorst｜Photo © EPBF
Fedor is known for his wicked jumping ability and was ready to pounce from anywhere but a clever shot from David left only a kick possible and forced Fedor to pass it back. David played a brilliant kick shot leaving Fedor in trouble. Out came Fedor’s jump cue for what was a very tough ask and after contact with the 1-ball the cue-ball dropped into the pocket giving David the run-out and a place in the last 32.
Fedor himself had one last chance when he played Norway’s Emil-Andre Gangflot to see who would join the elite in the single elimination and he did not let the Norwegian have it as easy as Mats did earlier in the day winning 9-7 to enter the fray once more.
Fedor will not be booking any holidays in Spain though as the last 32 draw paired him with another Spaniard in Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz. This time there was no close encounter as the Spaniard ensured a last 16 place at the expense of the Russian, winning that match 9-2. David Alcaide’s good form was ended by Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski 9-7 as fellow countrymen Konrad Juszczyszyn and Tomasz Kaplan joined Wiktor in the last 16.
David Alcaide｜Photo © EPBF
Other notable results saw Estonia’s Mark Magi beat Germany’s Ralf Souquet while Greece’s Alex Kazakiz beat Europe’s number 1, Albania’s Eklent Kaci.
The last 16 starts Saturday at 10:00h and you can watch all the matches live at www.kozoom.com with the results and schedule found at www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/