3-Cushion
SUWON – The tournament must be tailor-made for him. Torbjörn Blomdahl won last year’s World Cup in Suwon, and it turned out to be the start of a spectacular comeback. The Swede became the overall winner of the World Cup and later triumphed in the Agipi Masters.
The most seasoned of all the current top players is like a dolphin in water, in Suwon. For three rounds he has been unchallenged, not a set lost, twice with an impressive average: 2.368 on Friday against Vietnamese Nguyen Nguyen, today 3.461 (!) against Raimond Burgman. Inbetween, he beat Vietnamese Xuan Cuong Ma with 1.363.
Three 3 – 0 wins and the confidence of a great champion, how is that possible after his performance on the WC in Porto?
The Swede did not even survive the first round there, played miserably against Portugese Manuel Santos Oliveira, losingt 40-30 with a 0.857 average. That is hard to understand, given his regained attitude over the last year.
There was plenty of confidence today (saturday) against Dutchman Raimond Burgman, runner-up in the last EC, who was sent home with a 15-4 (5), 15-0 (2) and 15-10 (5) scoreline.
Eddy Merckx had to work a bit harder against Filippos Kasidokostas, in a match that was only fascinating in the early stages. The Greek lost 15 – 2 in the 1st, pegged back to 1-1 (15-11 in 11), but was powerless in the remainder of the match.
The Belgian, who in a fortnight won the Superprestige in Lommel and the World championship in Porto, has held on to his sublime form His average was always around 2, and against Kasidokostas he scored close to that with 1.866.
Marco Zanetti in his match against Dani Sánchez showed his qualities like he did two weeks ago, but mostly the tenacity that has made him victorious in so many battles on the green cloth.
A quick start by the Italian (15-4 and 15-12 in 6 and 8 innings) was not enough to put the Spaniard away, because Sanchez fought back tor 2-2 with 15-5 and 15-10 in five and eight innings.
The confrontation between the two former world champions ended in an anticlimax. Zanetti had by far the most air in his lungs, and ran a 5 to finish the final set 15-15 in 4 innings (1.935/1.645).
Dick Jaspers and Jérémy Bury were the ones to turn off the lights in the Korean billiard room, in a high quality marathon match that had a delightful ending.
Jaspers was quick out of the blocks with sets of 15-8 and 15-1 (7 and 3 innings). Bury did not cave, survived a matchpoint in the 3d set (15-14 in 7) and cruised to a win in the 4th to make it 2-2.
Both players, known for their mathematical approach to the game, then went neck and neck to the finish.
Jaspers lead 7-4, Bury ran 5 to lead 11-9, but Jaspers showed to have the cooler head: he closed out the match with a 4: 15-10 in 6 innings (2.214/1.750).
The semifinals on sunday (11.00 and 13.30 Korean time):
Merckx-Zanetti
Blomdahl-Jaspers.
The final is at 17.30.