3-Cushion
The first finalist of last year, Dick Jaspers, had been killed early in the evening, the other, Frédéric Caudron, also wasted his chances winning the fourth edition of the Agipi Masters. The brother twist between two Agipi players, the Belgian and his teammate Marco Zanetti, finished with a victory for the Italian (50-39 in 22 innings). The director of Agipi and the tournament, mr. Claude Fath, ran into the arena with a big smile, but didn't know who he was cheering.
Frédéric Caudron is the frontman of his successful team that soon is playing again for the next European team competition. Marco Zanetti is the second man in the team, Jérémy Bury, who also develops himself spectaculary, the third man. The team looks unbeatable in Europe and the world, but nevertheless there is always a battle between the players.
For example, it was remarkable that Caudron and Zanetti never clicked at their cue for a wonderful carom of the opponent. The Belgian, usually a good loser, looked far from happy after the match when Zanetti ran with high-fives along his Italian fans. But that's the way it goes in prestige battles, Zanetti's joy was understandable.
He led almost the entire match and deserved the win. Caudron said afterwards: ,,I've never been in the match, I always was behind and couldn't fight back. So I didn't play well, I made a few costly mistakes.''
Zanetti made his first breakaway, with a run of seven, to lift the score to 42-32. Caudron responded with seven too, came up to 39, but then Zanetti finished at 50-39 in 22 innings.
Javier Palazón will play tomorrow against Jérémy Bury, Eddy Merckx against Sung-Won Choi.
Zanetti plays against the winner of Palazón-Bury, Kasidokostas against the winner of Merckx-Choi.