THE PREDATOR DUTCH OPEN completed day two to leave 16 players standing, as the tournament gets set to enter the business end on Saturday morning. Taking place at the De Bonte Weever Hotel in Assen, Netherlands, there are two Dutch players left in the competition, carrying home hopes.
One of those is Marc Bijsterbosch, who is playing only his third Euro Tour of the year, but is well-placed to make a big impact with a potential four matches to go. The rangy Dutchman enjoyed a great period in 2023 and ‘24 when he reached his first Euro Tour final as well as reaching a semi-final and a couple of quarters.
He beat Poland’s Hubert Lopotko 11-6 and can look forward to facing Karl Gnadeburg for a spot in the quarter-finals tomorrow morning.
He said, “It felt fine because reaching the last 16 is very nice. I lost my first match yesterday in the first round so it was a long way for me. So, I think I played five or six matches in total to get here so it feels very nice.
“I’m still improving, playing a lot, travelling a lot but we can do better and we always aim for bigger goals. It’s always nice to live very close to where you play pool because normally, we travel the world. What a lovely title if I can win the Dutch Open here – that would be amazing for me!”
Another playing looking to build on some recent form in Turkey’s Ramazan Akdag who defeated Holland’s Joel Kartowikromo 11-6. Akdag reached a similar stage last time out at the Kamui Slovenian Open and has every chance over the final day.
He said, “I felt very confident. I had tough matches yesterday and then this morning I played good, I didn’t feel nervous and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’s more routine playing the Euro Tour, I feel I’m not getting nervous and that’s what was missing in previous years. It’s just match-by-match as it’s too early to think about anything beyond that. Hopefully I can get to the quarter-finals and then we can look forward,” he concluded.
On Table 3, Germany’s Dennis Laskowski got the better of Yannick Pongers (NED) to advance in a match that started perfectly for him before turning into a bit of a dogfight. In the end, Dennis ran out an 11-7 winner.
“I started out really well to go to 6-0 but then I lost my break a bit and Yannick came back into it but then he struggled with the break and I was lucky in the end to get the win. But those are the kind of matches that can be the most important. I’m looking forward to the rest of the tournament and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
Play resumes on Saturday morning at 10.00 with the last 16. The semi-finals are at 15.00 then 17.30 with the title decider coming at 20.00. Streaming of Tables 1 and 2 for all Euro Tour and European Championships events can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel – https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit https://www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/information/
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