Joao Grilo (POR) just eliminated #1 ranked player David Alcaide (ESP) from the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands, in the round of the last 32 players single elimination stage.
Grilo had a day of super performance today. He cleared Vladislav Shopik (BLR) 9:6 in the second winner’s round before losing 5:9 to local hero Marco Teutscher (NED) in the winner’s qualification round. Then, he took down Ville Hamalainen (FIN) in the loser’s qualification round 9:7 to qualify for the round of the last 32 players single elimination. He was drawn into the field and got the toughest of all draws: the current Euro-Tour ranking leader David Alcaide (ESP). What a heavyweight opponent for Grilo! But he managed to keep a foot in the door in the match. He never allowed Alcaide to force his game upon him and took his points when he had the chance.
David Alcaide (ESP)
After 6 racks, the score was all even at 3:3. Rack 7 turned out into a safety battle where actually Grilo had his nose in front and went ahead 4:3. He then took his time-out. Alcaide levelled the match again at 4:4 and took his time-out in turn. From then on, Grilo got a 2-point lead over Alcaide. 6:4, 7:5 and 8:6 were the intermediate scores in the match, all in Grilo’s favour. At 8:7, Alcaide received the maximum penalty. He broke the balls, had 2 balls in the pocket but no ball crossing the kitchen line. This meant it was an illegal break for Alcaide. Grilo accepted the gift and got to the table with a nice and easy layout in front of him and ran the rack, winning 9:7 over Alcaide and sending the Champion home from the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open.
Last 16 players line-up tomorrow morning
Joao Grilo (POR) v Jayson Shaw (GBR)
Albin Ouschan (AUT) v Maximilian Lechner (AUT)
Christoph Reintjes (GER) v Wojciech Szewczyk (POL)
Stephan Cohen (FRA) v Niels Feijen (NED)
Oliver Ortmann (GER) v Fedor Gorst (RUS)
Sergey Lutsker (RUS) v Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP)
Francisco Diaz-Pizarro (ESP) v Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS)
Marco Teutscher (NED) v Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer (SWE)
Maksim Dudanets (RUS) met long time ranked #1 player Mark Gray (GBR) in loser’s round 4. In that match, both players did not play up to their expectations and luck was a factor for both contestants. Alternatively, the won racks so none of them managed to get an advantage over the opponent. After 16 racks, the match was tied at hill-hill. Dudanets broke rack 17. He had the 1-ball down but no shot at the 2-ball. He played a push-out and hid the cue ball behind the 8-ball to go airborne and play a jump shot. He hit the jump but did not pocket it. However, he did not leave a possible shot for Gray. Some safety shots were exchanged. It was Mark Gray who left a possible shot on the 2-ball for Dudanets. The Russian went for it and made it, followed by a clearance of the remaining balls and won the match 9:8, elimination Mark Gray from the tournament roster.
An early out suffered Germany’s up and rising star Joshua Filler today. After having lost to his teammate Oliver Ortmann (GER) yesterday, he played Jakub Koniar (SVK) today. Koniar had the better start and rushed off with 7:2. At that stage, he played rock solid and could have provided an early end for the match. However, when he was leading 7:2, he started missing shots and allowed Filler back to the table. Still, Koniar struggled with his performance. Filler pulled back a few racks from Koniar and closed the gap a bit to turn the score to 6:8 from his point of view. Then, Koniar again had the chance to eliminate Filler. But he missed the 9-ball in order to win the match. Filler used his chances and made the match a hill-hill thriller. In rack 17, Koniar executed the break shot. The break was good, he had the 1-ball down and a good shot at the 2-ball. Since the layout was good he had the chance for a clearance but at hill-hill things are not always as easy as they are at 1:1. However, Koniar kept his nerves together and performed a picture postcard runout in order to win the match by a hair’s breadth with 9:8 and eliminate Filler from the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open.
Earlier today in winner’s round 2, a great comeback happened in the match between Marek Hajdovsky (CZE) and „The Czech Attack“ Roman Hybler (CZE). Hajdovsky was already leading big time in the match. The scoreboard displayed an 8:2 lead for him after 10 racks and Hybler was with one foot in the grave already. But then he started his quest and went for a „mission impossible“. He collected point after point by pulling rack after rack from Hajdovsky who suddenly started to feel the heat again in this match. He probably thought he had the match already in the bag but Hybler taught him differently. In the end, Hybler even managed to overpower Hajdovsky and tore the victory from his teammate’s hands, wining this epic thriller with 9:8 including a comeback of seven (7!) consecutive racks.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. 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 live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 23 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open.
The Dynamic Billard Dutch Open at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands will continue tomorrow morning at 10:00 CET with matches from the last 16 players single elimination. Additionally, the women’s event will start at 09:00 CET with first round matches.
The event is 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.eurotouronline.com visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].