NEWS - 12-05-04 Costa del Sol Open – Upset in the final



Award Ceremony : Souquet - Tot - Hohmann - Diks

At the last tournament of this year’s Eurotour in Benalmádena, Spain, the IBP could welcome more than 200 players. The Hotel and Casino Torrequebrada was a very well suited venue for the closing event of the season.
After a walk-through, I faced K. Kralj from Croatia in round two and could win 9-1. I won the next match against J. Llanos from Argentina, after an intermediate score of 8-2, „only“ 9-6. Just one mistake made the difference of 4 racks. Against G. Esprit from Great Britain, the qualification for the final round of 32 players was at stake. Once more, I had a great start and thanks to my 9-2 qualified for the KO round.
Here, the draw made me play A. Worthington, another player from Great Britain. I could dominate the match for the most part and so, the final score of 9-5 was fully deserved. In the next round against „Paco“ F. Diaz from Spain, I looked like a loser for long. I was trailing from the beginning and had to run after the score. In spite of the intermediate scores of 2-5, 4-7 and 5-8, I had the feeling that I still could win the match. The player from Spain missed twice the opportunity to win the match and at the decisive moment of the match, I found the necessary composure. At 8-8, Paco had the break and a chance to win the match, but he missed this opportunity. I played a bad position on the second last ball and had to play the match ball 9 left-handed and very thin. After taking a deep breath, I made the match ball and won with a bit of luck 9-8.




Arena

I dominated my quarter-final against G. Smit from the Netherlands from the beginning and entered the semi-finals with a clear 9-2. Here, it came to the clash with T. Hohmann, the World Champion of 2003. Until 7-3, I played without any mistake in this high level match. Then I decided to play a safety, played it bad and Hohmann came back into the match. In no time, the score evolved to 7-7, because my break did not work anymore. At 7-7, the „Hitman“ had an opportunity to take the lead, but missed a rather easy ball. I took the lead at 8-6 and, at 8-7, could not pocket a ball upon my break. Hohmann equalled the score and had break to follow. He made the very difficult entry ball on the 1 ball, where he had to play a high bridge with counter English, and the problem was solved. But after a too straight 4 ball, he missed the 7 ball and placed it behind the 8 ball and the 9 ball. Now, I had two options and hopes. If I touch the 7 ball too thick, then the 8 ball has a good chance to fall into the corner pocket; if I hit it thinner, the 9-ball could fall directly into the middle pocket. I prepare my shot and play it very hard. I hit the 7 ball very thick and pocket the 8 ball in the corner pocket, and the 9 ball runs over one cushion in the opposite corner pocket, falls and I win 9-8. If it hadn’t fallen, I would have had to play a very long 7 ball and who knows if I had made it. But it was a great match and one player finally had to lose.

The final against S. Tot from Hungary started very well. I won the first two racks, but in rack three, I had to play a push-out. I won the safety battle, but then missed the 2 ball right in front of the pocket. The cue ball was close to the cushion and I had a bad position towards the ball when I played my shot. This mistake determined the entire match, since I had to wait until 2-5 before my next chance to pot a ball. With a rail shot, I could pocket the 5 ball and the 7 ball with combinations via the 1 ball, to find a position on the three ball, still using the 1 ball. The ball was full straight, so that my position on the 4 ball was not perfect. I missed this however well positioned 4 ball and the opportunity to come back into the match. Even if I won another rack at 3-8, the player from Hungary played very well and deserved to win. Third places went to T. Hohmann and R. Diks from the Netherlands. Diks had defeated the two German players O. Ortmann and T. Engert.

With his second title this year, S. Tot took the overall lead in front of M. Chamat from Sweden and enters the new year 2005 as the Number One. In spite of my runner-up result, I lost three ranks in the overall ranking, because I was the defending champion, and finish the season on the 7th rank.