3-Cushion
The guitar player in the background accompanied the end of the best match so far. Lütfi Cenet needed only two more caroms to win the duel with Nikos Polychronopouls and the bonus of 2.050 euros. The Turk took a timeout and then had an amazing finish: 50 in 19 innings (average 2.632) with runs of fifteen and eleven.
Three hundred euros for the match, 1250 for the runst of 15 and 11 and 500 for a match in less than twenty innings. Lütfi Cenet was the first player to pick up the big money so far. It's not really surprising. The Turk is, together with Sung-Won Choi and Jae Ho Cho, the player who threatens the current top twelve. The Koreans are already eleven and twelve, Cenet is only one place behind them.
He never played in the Agipi Masters before, because last year he preferred a national Grand Prix, where he could gather points for the Turkish title. The breakthrough finally is upcoming now: he already showed his strong performance in the World Cup in Vienna and with a few wins in Turkish Grand Prix tournaments.
With his stunning start in Agipi he has taken a serious option to reach the next round. It seems almost impossible that the young Frenchmen Cédric Melnytschenko and Pierre Soumagne can threaten him in the group for the first place.
Cenet defeated his opponent Nikos Polychronopoulos, the other chalenger for the win in this group, with an early breakaway in the 8th inning, when he came from 14-9 behind with a run of 15 to 24-14 on the lead. It was followed by another high run of eleven in the tenth: the Greek couldn't close the gap later in the match.
The French match at the other table ended in a draw that no one had expected. Pierre Soumagne had a very bad start against Cédric Melnytschenko. He looked up to a big disadvantage in the middle of the match. ,,At some moment, I had lost my confidence and wanted my opponent to finish. But with a run of ten, my first in the Agipi Masters, I still got chances to win.''
The multiple French champion in the classic disciplines was even the first at the finish and then there was a curious moment: Melnytschenko, who was 50-48 behind, missed the break-off and turned himself to congratulate Soumagne. The audience applauded for the winner, the referee also turned his back to the table. Lütfi Cenet, who watched the end of the match from the stands, was the only one in the room who saw the kiss of the cue ball and then touch the third ball.
,,Wait, wait,'' he shouted. Then everybody saw what happened: the carom was made and Melnytschenko had to return for his last. He scored again and equalized with a big smile: 50-50 in 43 innings.