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For
the first time, an international 9-ball tournament was organized on the
Caribbean island Aruba. The promoter, the Aruba Pool & Billiard
Federation, had organized two qualification tournaments for 26 spots in
the main field of 32 players. The remaining 6 spots had already been won
in Holland and Japan. The last stop of this year’s WPA World Tour
attracted some 60 participants to the beautiful island.
After
a walk-through, I had to play the owner of the qualification venue, J.
Petrocchi. He caught me off guard and sent me to the losers bracket –
7-5. My next opponent was K. Kelly, but he did not show up, because he had
already travelled home. Then I had to play M. Eberle (USA). For the first
time, I could play up to my capabilities and I won 7-3. The decisive match
for a spot in the main field was against R. Rampersaud from Aruba and I
managed to book a clear 7-1.
The
next day, the second qualification was played and I had a leisure day. On
Friday, the main field was to start in the Wyndham Resort & Casino.
Unfortunately, the organizers responsible for mounting the tables had
committed a big mistake and had mixed up the slate plates of the 4 tables.
The tables were already mounted, but it was hardly possible to play on
them. Uneven spots with gaps of up to 2 mm between the individual slate
plates could only make the balls jump. For this reason, the decision was
made to shorten the tournament to just two days.
The draw made me play
against L. Viera from Puerto Rico who lives in Orlando. The entire
tournament was played with changing break and so, a lot of tight matches
were expected. But the match against Viera was rather single-sided and I
entered the next round with a 11-5 win.
Once again, my opponent came from Florida, but this time from
Miami. M. Cruz, who is well known on the Florida Tour, could equal my 5-0
lead after a mistake of mine to quickly come back to 5-5. Then, I gained
back my former lead 10-5, Cruz came back to 7-10, but then I entered the
quarter-finals with a 11-7 win. Newcomer G. Owen (USA) played well until
the middle of the match, but then had to watch me take a 10-6 lead. A
black break, and all of a sudden the score was only 10-9, but finally I
managed to enter the semi-finals against Dutchman N. Feijen.
Recently, I had lost twice against him and once more, I could not benefit
from and early lead. Playing very well and three a bit lucky situations,
Feijen took a 9-6 lead. But then he missed his opportunities and I could
equal the score at 10-10. Feijen had the break in the last rack and potted
three balls. He had an open table, but missed his position on the 5 ball.
He still managed to pot the ball with a rail shot, but again had a
difficult position on the second last ball. He decided to play the 6 ball
very thin and over-cut it. He offered me the remaining two balls and I had
entered the final.
The final was pretty much the same. Against J. Mukai from Japan, I had a
quick start and took a 4-0 lead. Two wrong decisions and two black breaks
lead to the intermediate score of 4-4. In the next rack, I missed a ball
and was trailing for the first time. Then, the match went back and forth,
until the player from Japan could pot a rail shot from a safety position
and now he was leading with 2 racks (9-7). Thanks to a bad position of
Mukai, I could make the re-break and shot an ace to equal the score at
9-9. he had the break, but no position on the 2 ball. Instead of playing a
push out, he decided to play a jump shot, which he played successfully and
he took the 10-9 lead. Upon my break, I could pot one ball, but had a
difficult 1 ball to start with. Since the 9 ball was directly before a
pocket, and I sensed a chance for a combination with the two ball, I took
my chances on the 1 ball and missed it. But the 1 ball remained behind two
other balls in a safety position. Mukai played a double rail shot, hit the
1 ball and almost pot it in the middle pocket. The ball stayed on the
extreme edge. But with this angle, I could not position for the
combination and so I tried to get on the other side of the 2 ball.
I had a lot of trouble with a full straight position, the cue ball being
positioned right at the cushion. I could just so make use of the pocket
with to obtain a long position on the 3 ball. After potting the 3 ball, I
did not have any problems to equal at 10-10. As in the semi-finals, my
opponent had the break in the last and decisive rack. When playing the
opening shot, I had positioned my ball almost directly at the cushion, but
my opponent had managed to position his ball in the pocket and so he had
the advantage to break in the last rack. He potted two balls and then had
an open table. His first position was a bit too short, making the 5 ball
difficult. Still, he also mastered this problem and now, he was master of
his destiny. An easy 6 ball and 7 ball, but then he played it with a
little lack of concentration, leaving him with a too straight position on
the 8 ball. He hesitated and the decided to play a stop ball. Now, the 9
ball was app. 1 diamond behind the middle pocket and the cue ball was
almost parallel in the other table half. He missed the bank shot and
offered me a good chance to win the match and the tournament.
This time, the Gods of Billiards were on my side and after 5 frustrating
months, I finally could celebrate another title.
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