3-Cushion
HOOGLEDE - The top four from the Belgian ranking in three cushion was at the tables tonight battling for a place in the semi-finals of the Belgian Cup. Roland Forthomme and Eddy Merckx performed as the winners and meet Ronny Brants (Merckx) and Thomas Broux (Forthomme) tomorrow at 11.00.
The Belgian record holder victories, Frédéric Caudron, will remain at seven wins after he was outplayed by Roland Forthomme in the quarterfinals. The world champion and world's number can't show his class so far in tournament in his own country. He missed the Belgian title, the finals in the first BTS event and now misses the final battle in the Belgian Cup.
That is significant for how strong the competition is, because Eddy Merckx, the Belgian champion, also was in troubles today. Marc Celen was almost a stumbling block in the afternoon session when he was 13-12 ahead with 1-1 in sets, but Merckx had a strong finish and managed to escape.
The double world champion, who won the Belgian Cup only once (2004, against Caudron in the final) then had a flawless start against Eddy Leppens in the quarter finals with 15-10 and 15-11 in 11 and 9. Leppens came back on character (15-14 and 15-13), but in the decisive set was Merckx by far the best 15-2 in four innings.
Roland Forthomme showed his best in the trench war match against Caudron, whom he knocked down in the first set in a final sprint with 5 and 3 (15-13) and in the second with one carom (15-14 in 7). Caudron sparkled in the third (15-6 in 4) and then was beaten by the never-give-up man Forthomme 15-11 in 11.
Eddy Leppens had reached the quarterfinals by a 2-1 victory over Davy Havere (1.695/1.086). Frédéric Caudron defeated Yves Schiettecatte 2-0 (1.363/0.523) and Roland Forthomme bested Frank de Groof 2-0 (1.500/0.947).
The best matches were played by Eddy Leppens and Martin Spoormans (1.666), who lost against Thomas Broux.
The semi-finals for tomorrow:
11.00: Ronny Brants - Eddy Merckx
11.00: Roland Forthomme - Thomas Broux.