3-Cushion
LAUSANNE – Do billiard players peak when they are past forty, and can they be world class after they have seen Abraham? 51-year old Italian Marco Zanetti (10 April 1962, Bolzano) answered in the affirmative when he won the 1st Lausanne Masters today.
Third place finisher and 50 year old Torbjörn Blomdahl had the highest average of the field (2.021) and was a second living proof of the fact that 3-cushion does not only require talent, class and mental strength, but also experience and bottle. It is no coincidence that two famous players in their forties (Frédéric Caudron, 2nd and Dick Jaspers, 4th) made the podium as well.
Marco Zanetti is no longer used to 1st places, after his world titles in 2002 and 2008. He has slipped in the ranking to 10th place, and has been in danger of losing his coveted top-12 priviliges once or twice.
But the resilient Italian with his peculiar playing style always bounces back. He did it in Lima (made the final against Dick Jaspers), in Porto last year (lost the semifinal 40 – 37 to Choi) and in the Suwon World Cup (lost the final to Torbjörn Blomdahl), always in time to re-establish himself as a top player.
The Italian, who used to be an expert classic discipline player, first excelled as a 3-cushionist in the 1986 WC in Las Vegas, where he finished 4th behind Avelino Rico, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Raymond Ceulemans.
He won his first World Cup in 1990 in Palma de Mallorca, beating Raymond Ceulemans in the final, his second nine years later in Berlin, in a final against Martin Horn.
His biggest triumphs were the World Championship titles in Randers (Denmark) in a final against Dion Nelin, and 2008 in St. Wendel, in a final against Torbjörn Blomdahl.
His victory in the Lausanne Billard Masters is a new pearl in his crown. Marco Zanetti was cool as a cucumber, and once again showed his class: he started in his group against an unstoppable Caudron, lost that match, but from then on grew into the tournament.
He first beat Blomdahl in the semifinal, when he trailed 24–20 but ran out the home stretch with runs of 15, 1 and 4. The final against Frédéric Caudron was a carbon copy, won after a formidable final rush. The Belgian, his teammate in the Agipi star formation, was leading 29-22 when Zanetti exploded with runs of 12 and 5 in innings 15 and 16. He missed his matchball by a hair and semi-fluked it in the next inning; it was hardly a smudge on a magnificent display.
The numbers one (Blomdahl), two (Caudron) and six (Jaspers) of the world ranking were in the semifinals, the number ten ran away with the gold medal. Caudron took the silver, Blomdahl (who beat Jaspers in 16 innings, 40–21) took 3d place, Jaspers 4th.
Fifth in the final ranking was Jérémy Bury, sixth Martin Horn, seventh Rene Hendriksen, eighth and last Michel Boulaz.
Diane Wild, who organized this invitational event that was hosted in the beautiful Montbenon complex, was showered with praise for a flawless event.