3-Cushion
Two beautiful cushion first shots in his last innings, a solid defense and a strong final of the match. Jef Philipoom survived in a thriller against Ruben Legazpi and may return in the tournament for his next match against Filippos Kasidokostas.
The winner of last year, in a final with Torbjörn Blomdahl, needed a liberating escape in a close finish, but at the end disrupted a completely Spanish party after the victories of Daniel Sánchez and Javier Palazón in the same session.
Jef Philipoom knows how important that is. The Belgian is after his victory last year and his second place in the Worldcup in Sluiskil still in the top twelve of the ranking, but he looses in Hurghada his ranking points of Sluiskil. He realizes that he must score and now gets the chance after his victory escape against Legazpi.
The young Spaniard has great talents, but seems at the moment mentally not yet strong enough to decide finals of a match. He also lost a match against Torbjörn Blomdahl in the Agipi Masters that he actually could not lose.
Against the Belgian he missed the win by giving away two easy balls in the last innings. Philipoom could eagerly benefit. Legazpi had the better overall average (1.634 to 1.341) Philipoom was simply the hardest fighter.