Carom
VIENNA - Two of the big favorites, Andreas Efler, the titleholder and Arnim Kahofer, who was is such a good form, are already eliminated in the 69th Austrian championship. Efler was beaten by good old Franz Stenzel, Kahofer los against Andreas Hovath.
Today the semi finals are sceduled. Andreas Kronlachner faces Franz Stenzel, Georg Schmied plays agains Andreas Horvath. The final is at 16.00.
There was already a lot of tension in the last matches of the group stages in the Billardsportclub Augarten in Vienna this Saturday as the last matches of the group stage on Saturday.
In Group A Andreas Horvath won all matches despite a terrible start in his first match against Franz Gmeiner. He survived three match points in his 2nd group match againts a strong fighting Karl Makik and finally won againts Andreas Efler in the final group match. Elfer however was already set for the quarter finals after two solid wins against Makik and Gmeiner.
In Group B 70 years old Franz Stenzel had to win in his last match agains Arnim Kahofer to stay in the tournament, as he lost against his team mate Gerhard Ralis in the first match by the narrowest of margins, 14-15 in the 5th set. Stenzel, Kahofer and Ralis all won their matches against the 4th player in this group, Kurt Mastny. And Kahofer was the stronger player against Ralis. Stenzel managed to win the deciding match in his typical aesthetic style but Kahofer was also trough to the quarters by better sets than Ralis.
In Group C Herbert Szivacz was the strongest player. He won all his three matches 3-1 in sets against Georg Schmied, Manfred Müller and Thomas Riml. The 2nd ticket for the quarters in this group was picked by Georg Schmied, who won against Riml and Müller.
In Group D Gerhard Kostistansky was the big favourite and he covered this role impressively. He was never in real danger and gave away only two sets. Andreas Kronlachner was lucky to grab the 2nd rank in this group. He lost his 1st match surprisingly 2-3 against Alexander Weiss and after a 3-0 victory over Werner Proske he had to hope for help from Proske. Proske himself won 3-0 against Weiss and so Kronlachner, despite two losses settled for the quarter finals.
The quarter finals brought the following matches
Kostistansky - Kronlachner
Horvath - Kahofer
Efler - Stenzel
Schmied - Szivacz
After his loss in the group match, Kronlachner took bloody revenge from Kostistansky. After one hour and ten minuts playing time the result was 3-0. Kronlachner was averaging 1.956, the best performance so far in the whole tournament.
Andreas Horvath after a fast 2-0 lead saw Arnim Kahofer coming back in the 3rd set. A good starting run of eight for Horvath in the 4th set was already the half rent but Kahofer again showed good fithing spirit, came back and at a 13-11 lead had a good chance to level the sets. A small miscue ended hís hopes. Horvath closed the game with four.
Andreas Efler and Franz Stenzel played a stunning 5 setter to the delight of the audience. The first 4 sets went with the break shot - set 2 and 3 however were only decided by 1 resp. 2 points. In set 5 Efler had the better start but small mistakes brought Stenzel back into the match. At 11-11 Stenzel solved a very tricky position and ran out with four, so there was a big applause in his home club for this really extraordinary performance! Stenzel averaging 1.375, Efler 1.291.
The last quarter final between Herbert Szivacz and Georg Schmied also took five sets but not at the same level as Efler against Stenzel. In the end Georg Schmied kept his nervers and ended the title dreams of Szivacz with a 15-9 victroy in the final set, Schmied 0.971, Szivacz 0.911.
The semis will be played at Sunday 13:00 as follows
Kronlachner - Stenzel
Horvath - Schmied
The final is scheduled for 16:00.