Fighting for the last chances in Lausanne

LAUSANNE - The final rounds in the group stage of the Lausanne Billard Masters will be contested with eight players still in the hunt for a place in the semifinals. Tayfun Tasdemir, Dick Jaspers and Eddy Merckx are the undefeated ones, Marco Zanetti, the twofold winner, needs a miracle to survive. He has already lost twice in his three matches.

Tayfun Tasdemir and Dick Jaspers are in the lead in the stronger of the two flights, with four match points. De Turk has averaged 2.424 so far, the Dutchman 2.162. Martin Horn is their main challenger.

In the other flight, Eddy Merckx is the only undefeated player, thanks to his miraculous recovery against Jérémy Bury. His second match was a leisurely victory over Fernando Couto (40-14 in 30), which puts him at the top of the table, ahead of Torbjörn Blomdahl, who has played one more match.

The Swede survived his crucial encounter with Sung-Won Choi on Saturday morning (40-37 in 26) and was relieved. He assessed his chances: ,,I know I will be in it with two victories, but I still have to play Merckx.''

His match against reigning world champion Choi turned into a real thriller in the final innings. ,,It was the last chance match for me, and the balls kept rolling awkwardly. He (Choi) is often really good at that, he's the better safety player when a match turns into a trench war. Luckily - for me - he was this time the one with the largest amount of bad luck.''

Marco Zanetti, in the flight with Jaspers and Tasdemir, first lost to Martin Horn on Friday night and then to Tayfun Tasdemir in the Saturday morning session (40-32 in 17). Dick Jaspers maintained his top position with a logical victory over Torsten Danielsson (40-7 in 19).

The drama will unfold in the next round, with the meeting of two powerhouses (Jaspers and Tasdemir) as the main attraction.

Standings with four sessions yet to play:

Poule A:
1 Tayfun Tasdemir 2-4-2.424-16
2 Dick Jaspers 2-4-2.162-10
3 Martin Horn 2-2-1.465-6
4 Marco Zanetti 3-2-1.558-7
5 Torsten Danielsson 3-0-0.850-9.

Torbjörn Blomdahl needs one more win to qualify for the final day

Poule B:

1 Eddy Merckx 2-4-1.403-10
2 Torbjörn Blomdahl 3-4-1.681-10
3 Sung-Won Choi 2-2-1.638-7
4 Jérémy Bury 2-2-1.543-9
5 Fernando Cousto 3-0-0.565-5

Matches that are still to be played:

Poule A:
14.30:

Jaspers-Tasdemir
Horn-Danielsson

19.00:

Zanetti-Jaspers
Tasdemir-Horn

Poule B:
16.45:

Bury-Couto
Merckx-Choi

21.15:

Blomdahl-Merckx
Choi-Bury.

Sung-Won Choi lost his match to Blomdahl and plays for the top spot against Merckx