3-Cushion
The 20-year-old Dutchman Glenn Hofmann took in the young group with Wilco van Wijk and Ruben Legazpi an advantage on his opponents. In his first performance the former European junior champion of 2009 defeated his compatriot Wilco van Wijk 2-1. Only in the second set Hofman lost his rhythm, then he won the third set 15-2, playing with a general average of 1.592.
The player from the Dutch residency The Hague did much better than his Delta team-mate Jean Paul de Bruijn. The player, who once was in the top five of the world, but now has dropped to 36th position, was punished for his cold start and probably can forget this tournament with one match to go against the strong Korean Heo.
The Dutchman lost by surprise to Belgian Dirk Muylaert, a player in the Belgian second division, who is unknown in the world circuit, but after 1-1 in sets, he defeated his opponent 15-7 in the deciding set. The win of Muylaert was very simple, because De Bruijn ended with a bad average of 0.744, far below the level on which he ever played.
Jérôme Barbeillon, with his high run of nineteen in the Agipi Masters a player in form, started the tournament with an easy victory on Badhr Hamdi. The Frenchman won in two sets 15-2 and 15-6 (average 1.363).