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I
won my first match against N. Veltan quite easily 9-1. The second
match against M. Ricciardella was more balanced at the beginning,
but then I scored a clear 9-3. In round three, I was opposed to the
T. chohan who had defeated Strickland. It went back and forth until
5-5, but then I could take a two rack advantage which I could carry
through to win 9-7.. My next opponent did not leave me the slightest
chance at the beginning and I was trailing 0-3 and 2-5. But two
mistakes by R. McCreesh offered me the possibility to come back into
the match. I finally won 9-6 and then faced in round 5 Y.-H. Jeong
from Korea. Last year’s runner-up had a quick start and took a 3-0
lead. But then he committed a few mistakes and I in turn took the
lead 7-3 and 8-4. But now it seemed as if I did not want to win –
I missed three 100 % opportunities to win the match. After my fourth
mistake at a score of 8-8, Korea’s no. 1 had only three more balls
to pocket, but then he missed, too. I accepted this unexpected gift
and entered the final of the winners bracket against F. Bustamante (PHI).
He seemed to have watched the previous match and played respectless
as if he was in a practice session. He succeeded in each and every
shot and I did not stand a chance when losing 2-9.
In
the final of the losers bracket, I faced the runner-up of the Reno
Open, S. Sambajon jr. (PHI).
And he picked the match up where Bustamante had been
before. Without the slightest mistake, he won rack after rack and I
could not even participate in the evolution of the match. At 0-6, I
was twice at the table to play out of a snooker and had missed one
push-out option. But then he made the mistake: upon the break, he
could not control the cue ball and committed a foul. I made use of
this chance to win a rack and then shot three aces in a row. At 4-6,
we played some safety shots and re-safes and I had the better end. I
could win the last 3 racks and enter the final against “Django”
Bustamante winning 7-6 (in the losers bracket, the matches are
played in races to 7).
But the scenario was
pretty similar to the previous match and I was rapidly trailing. I
managed to win two racks, but this only brought me back to 2-9. A
mistake by the player from the Philippines brought back some hope,
since I could come back to 6-9. But a black break in rack 16 seemed
to be the decision. But Bustamante played a bad position on the 5
ball and missed it. But
he had a lucky shot - the 9 ball found its way to the middle pocket
via another ball and this was the end. He cleared the remaining
tables and could defend last year’s title..
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