Marco Zanetti on a new mission?

BRANDENBURG – Will Marco Zanetti be able to show up as a major contender for the European title after his two victories in a row in Lausanne and in the Agipi Masters? The Italian maestro certainly started off very impressive: he not only defeated the Czech Radek Novak (40-25 in 17), but also obtained the best average of 32 players in this round: 2.352.

That was better than Frédéric Caudron, who had his famous whirlwind start against Tonnie Carlsen with sixteen points in three innings, better than Dick Jaspers as well, who first had to catch up Markus Domer after a furious start and then beat his German opponent in a strong final: 40-31 in 27.

Better even than Filippos Kasidokostas, the Greek who defends his title and started 40 in 20 innings against Giorgio Mancini. And then Sánchez, Cenet, Horn and the other favorites for the title.

Two competitors are already outplayed: Tobjörn Blomdahl and Eddy Merckx, but of course the battle for the title will be very tough without these two great players.

Two sessions with sixteen players have been played: in the second session Lütfi Cenet defeated Jef Philipoom thanks to a run of fourteen in the 14th inning: 40-23 in 25. Dick Jaspers closed the gap with Dömer at the end. Marco Zanetti made the difference in the middle of the match against Novak. Martin Horn was much stronger than Andreas Niehaus (40-17 in 21) and Jérémy Bury disturbed the dreams of the German Cengiz Karaca.

Jean Paul de Bruijn defeated Adnan Yüksel, but faces a big showdown in the next round: Frédéric Caudron. Jérémy Bury plays against Murat Naci Coklu, who eliminated Brian Knudsen in an excellent match (24 innings).

The matches for the next round (18.30):

Kasidokostas-Barbeillon

Costa-Hofman

Rudolph Sidhom

Forthomme-Sánchez

Jaspers Cenet

Zanetti-Horn

Bury Coklu

Caudron-De Bruijn.