Therese is winking at the trophy

NEW YORK - Two match points ahead, a much better average, only one more match to play, but still Therese Klompenhouwer is not sure of the victory in the Open Verhoeven. The European champion faces the Japanese Orie Hida in a few hours in the final round (15.00 US time). For the overall win, Therese needs a win.

When Orie Hida takes the win, both players have the same match points after eleven rounds. Then they will show up in a play-off, a match to 25 caroms to determine the winner.

These are the rules of the tournament: the match points are decisive for the final ranking, not the averages. And when the two leaders finish with same points (win of Hida), the final gets an extension.

Therese Klompenhouwer, nevertheless, is winking at the trophy. In the penultimate round, she showed again who is by far the best in the entire field. The Dutch lady defeated her compatriot and the Dutch number two, Karina Jetten, in an admirable one-woman show: she led 11-0 after five innings, made a run of 7 in the 17th inning (23-7) and let her opponent (who produced sixteen misses in 20 innings) far behind: 25-7 in 20.

The Japanese/Korean bump at the other table was much more exciting. Orie Hida and Su Ah Park, the revelation of the tournament, balanced until the end of the game. Then attacked Su Ah Park to victory: 25-23 in 31 innings.

Therefore Klompenhouwer was the only player who remained unbeaten in ten rounds. Hida lost once, the rest of the field has been outplayed with three or more losses.

Natsumi Higashiuchi, the 2013 world champion, couldn’t compete with the top two finishers in the final laps, Karina Jetten failed in the crucial matches against Hida and Klompenhouwer in which she scored only 11 and 7 points.