3-Cushion
LOMMEL – The last few weeks, with all the preparations leading up to the opening of Salpho, the brand new billiard room in Malle, had taken a lot out of him. Frederic Caudron made no secret of that, on Friday evening.
He is the co-organizer of the Cuvino Superprestige, but because of Salpho he has had to leave much of it to Eddy Leppens and their large group of co-workers.
Frédéric Caudron can now focus on billiards again. And when the maestro is firing on all cylinders, there is no stopping him. Not even Eddy leppens could do much about it. As slow as the first two quarterfinals got underway, as fast were the next two out of the blocks.
Frédéric Caudron analysed it afterwards: ,,I solved two, three problems there, and they made the difference in the match. And I kept it going till the end. On Friday, against Philipoom, I was leading 24 – 10 and took my foot off the gas, got punished for that. Today, against Eddy, who never got anything easy to start with, I had both the feel and the focus right until the end.''
It resulted in the best match of the tournament sof ar: 40 -12 in 15 innings. ,,What an amazing match, said Leppens. ,,I make one huge mistake, missing the break-off with a bit too much english, and basically get punished for it the rest of the match. I scored only three times in 15 innings: 7-3-2. So 12 open innings, how weird is that. It tells you what I had to work with.''
Frédéric Caudron took full advantage, and scored whenever he could, to dominate the match. ,,It was like the snowball effect. I could not do a lot wrong, but the difference is always in a few small details. When Eddy defended well a few times, I could break through with a good bankshot. And when he ran the 7, I could answer with a 6, to keep the advantage.”
Peter De Backer, playing an excellent tournament, had a flawless start against Martin Spoormans, but lost the pace halfway. The middle of the match was hard for both, as they later explained, Spoormans even drawing out one of the critical positions.
The final stage of the match belonged to de Backer, who found his rhythm again and made useful little runs, to end it 40 – 27 in 24. ,,We have known each other for a long time, and I know how dangerous Martin can be”, de Backer said. ,,I am always on my toes when I play him.''
The semifinals are: (16.30)
Jef Philipoom-Frédéric Caudron
Eddy Merckx-Peter De Backer.