3-Cushion
The final of the World Cup in Hurghada this afternoon (15.00, Paris time: 14.00) will be played between Frederic Caudron and Filippos Kasidokostas. The Belgian defeated in the semifinals this morning the Frenchman Jérémy Bury 3-1. The Greek won 3-1 against the Japanese Kouji Funaki. By his final place Caudron still has chances to win the World Cup 2010. He must win the final to pass Dick Jaspers in the final ranking.
Do not make Filippos Kasidokostas angry, as revealed in this morning's match with Funaki, because the revenge can be sweet. The Japanese had his opponent for one set in his power and treated the audience to a demonstration in two innings (15-0) with a run of thirteen as a highlight. Three sets later Kasidokostas was the winner (15-10, 15-5, 15-7), the Japanese revelation of the tournament ramained with empty hands.
Those players who didn't act over two average in this World Cup, they had nothing to look for in the final rounds. The level of the semi-finals, from the breakshot to the end, was really exceptionally. Kasidokostas made his 45 caroms in 17 turns with an average of 2.647. His opponent was defeated, but he can be prowd with his performance: a wonderful place in the semi-final, loser against Kasidokostas with an average of 2.312.
He came to the main tournament from the poule with Jean Reverchon and Huub Wilkowski, then defeated Nikos Polychronopoulos (3-1), Martin Horn (3-1) and in the quarterfinal Dick Jaspers, whom he defeated after a 2-0 deficit in sets.
Filippos Kasidokostas, the world champion last year, who lost many ranking points at the World Championship in Sluiskil, has deployed a new rise in Hurghada. He won two World championships as a junior and one among the big champions in three cushion, but a Worldcup tournament he hasn't won until now.
Frédéric Caudron's more refined, he is the most experienced player in the final this afternoon. The Belgian defeated this morning Jérémy Bury, who lost the control at the end of the match. Caudron started 15-9 (7 innings), Bury equalized fot 8-15 with a run of eleven (4 innings), then Caudron was unstoppable with 15-13 and 15-6 in six and ten innings.
Je'rémy Bury played a great tournament with victories against Gerhard Kostistansky, Emilio Sciacca and especially a great performance against Korean Kyung-Roul Kim, the number two in the world ranking.
Caudron and Bury know each other very well. They play together in Agipi with Marco Zanetti and Jean-Christoph Roux in the world's most succesful team with six European titles. Bury is the third man man now in the team, which says a lot about the strength of Agipi.
He climbs with his semi-final place in Hurghada one place in the world ranking, from eleven to ten, leaving Sung-Won Choi behind him and only one point behind Tayfun Tasdemir.
Caudron this afternoon of course wants to take first place in this tournament, but is also focused on the overall victory in the World Cup. Dick Jaspers went into the tournament with a big lead. The Dutchman was defeated by Funaki and now is not so sure about winning the cup. Caudron showed himself the big challenger, he only has to beat Kasidokostas to be the glorious double winner.