Four Spanish big guns for the title

ANTEQUERA - Four Spanish top players meet each other today in the semi-finals of the Open Euroqiona tournament in Antequera near Malaga, where 86 players battle it out for the final stage. Dani Sánchez faces Sergio Jimenez in the last four, Javier Palazón plays against Ruben Legazpi.

The only surprise in the tournament was Antonio Ortiz Torrent, who was the 2011 Spanish Champion and didn't show up for some years in the international tournaments. He reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to Ruben Legazpi.

In the first qualifying rounds, Ortiz was even the best with 1.200 (Monday) and 1.111, followed by Fernando Rodriguez (0.984). Some illustrious veterans, such as José Gómez Monuera were already eliminated.

Ruben Legazpi had a smooth start in the knockout stage where he defeated David Zapata in thirteen innings (3.076), followed by Javier Palazón in fifteen innings against Ricardo Garcia (2.666). The main favorite, Dani Sánchez defeated Faraco 40-24 in 23 innings.

Four champions of Spanish three cushion are left from the quarters and battle it out in the semi-finals. Dani Sánchez defeated David Martinez 40-32 in 26 with a high run of eleven. Ruben Legazpi outplayed Antonio Ortiz: 40-28 in 26, Sergio Jimenez bested Sergio Jesus 40-33 in 34 and Javi Palazón won the match against Raul Cuenca 40-22 in 38.

The two semi-finals are on Sunday at 10.00:

Dani Sánchez-Sergio Jimenez
Ruben Legazpi-Javier Palazón

The final will be played at 12.15.

Dani Sánchez and Sergio Jimenez face each other in the semi-finals