In the first round of the 9-ball individuals at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors and Ladies in Tirana, Albania, Sami Karttunen (FIN) bested Tom Bjerke (NOR) 8:4.
The 9-ball individuals have started today in Tirana in the seniors as well as the ladies division. 77 seniors and 14 ladies are doing their best to get a shot at the coveted title of the European Champion. In the seniors division, Sami Karttunen encountered Tom Bjerke. Karttunen broke the first rack but came up dry on the break shot. Bjerke cleared the table and opened his account with 1:0. He took the next two racks as well to gain a nice 3:0 lead over Karttunen. The Finish did not get started yet and it looked like he had missed the beginning of the match completely. However, after 5 racks the score was 4:1 in favor of Bjerke. Suddenly Karttunen gained momentum and pulled back racks from Bjerke who seemed to be surprised by the „awakening“ of his opponent.
Three racks later, the scoreboard displayed a 4:4 tie in the match. From then on, Bjerke could not find his form from the beginning of the match. His safety shots were not good, he missed balls and ran out of position. That all allowed Karttunen to take rack after rack and in the end waltz quite easily into the next round on the winner’s side, taking the match 8:4. The next match with Tom Damm (GER) however stopped Karttunen’s flow on a dime. He lost 6:8 and finds himself now on the left side of the draw just like Bjerke who lost his second match in a row to Thomas Radakovits (AUT) 3:8 and is now terminated from the 9-ball individuals.
Sami Karttunen (left) and Tom Bjerke
Other remarkable results from today include defending Champion Henrique Correia (POR) routing Marko Hartikainen (FIN) 8:3 in his opening match in winner’s round 1. Maciej Trudnowski (POL) took down Jesper Schmidt (DEN) 8:5 and will next encounter Jan Keller (DEN) for a spot among the last 32 players single elimination.
In the ladies division, Karin Michl (GER) demolished Barbara Bolfelli (ITA) 5:0. Ann Sofie Löfgren (SWE) got the better of Monika Jarecki (GER) 5:2. Nathalie Rohmer (FRA) made it over Anne Nieminen (FIN) with 5:2 and will now deal with Cristina Moscetti (ITA) who had a walk-over in the first round.
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