3-Cushion
ANTALYA - The stylish hotel near the Bay of Antalya was startled by a deafening ovation in the early morning hours. The Turkish audience cheered, clapped and yelled for his Crown Prince in the billiard room, who is back on top. Tayfun Tasdemir defeated the world's number one Frédéric Caudron in a magnificent battle and will play the final against the Korean Sung-Won Choi, who showed himself a strong fighter again in a great match against Dani Sánchez.
For years, Tayfun Tasdemir was the Crown Prince in Turkish three cushion behind the former untouchable Semi Sayginer. He is an extremely sensitive man, the 36-year, multiple champion of his country who, like many other Turkish billiard players, is living in Istanbul.
When he looked into the cameras of Kozoom in the Agipi Masters last year, Tayfun told an emotional story. He remembered to a difficult time, without going into detail, but you could see he was fighting to stop his tears.
Who else deserves it to be in the World Cup's final in Antalya to come back to the top. He had lost his top twelve position, is thirteen now, but can look on the bright side again. Tayfun Tasdemir belongs to the elite squad of three cushion world, he showed it in his match against Caudron.
The Korean Sung-Won Choi, champion of his country and second in the Asian championship behind Choong Bok Lee, was already in top twelve and will rise further after Antalya, maybe even to top five.
The normally slow starter, as he demonstrated on Saturday night in his match against Dong Kang Koong, was clearly awake on Sunday morning. He shone in his first set against Dani Sánchez with a lot of confidence (15-5 in 8), then crawled through the eye of a needle in the second, in which the Spaniard missed a set point at 14-9. Choi closed the gab to 14-14, Sánchez missed again and then the Korean could finish 15-14 in 11.
The decision in the match fell in a curious final phase. Sánchez missed another set point at 14-8, Choi grabbed his chance and finished with a final run of seven: 15-14 (averages 1.730/1.375).
Tayfun Tasdemir ran out to a 2-0 lead, his first set with a final run of five to 15-6, the second with a long bankshot as his last point for 15-12. Caudron started 5-0 in the third, Tasemir replied with ten and came at 10-5, but Caudron won after a missed match point of his opponent 15-14.
It was the prelude to a grand finale: the Turkish favorite took a 9-3 advantage, Caudron crawled back for one more time, made some wonderful points, but missed the winner for the set. The homeplayer then went to the table in the breathtaking last innings and played a perfect finish: 15-14 in 8 (2.815/1.807 averages ).
This afternoon at 14.45 (Turkish time) Tayfun Tasdemir and Chung-Won Choi play the final, live to be followed on Kozoom for Premium pass holders.