3-Cushion
The road to the main tournament lies open for Pierre Soumagne, but after his great start against Jean Reverchon (yesterday) and Jérôme Barbeillon (this morning) another tough obstacle is waiting for the French allrouner: this afternoon he meets one of the most capricious players in the three-cushion track: Roland Forthomme.
Two weeks of continuous playing, first in the French championship in all disciplines, now in Matosinhos, have sharpened the form of Soumagne. He reached the final in the French championship three-cushion, where he lost against Bury. This morning he played on a high level against Barbeillon: 15-12, 15-8 (1.764 average).
Javier Palazón was the fastest of four Spaniards in the same session. He defeated Faraco Jaime Sanchez 2-0. Ruben Legazpi needed very much time to beat Antonio Ortiz, Sergio Jimenez against Ronny Lindemann, just like Ramon Hamm against Can Capak played a marathon match in the early afternoon hours. Jimenez escaped from 13-8 behind in the third set, Capak won the deciding set 15-10.
Jean Paul de Bruijn (against Vagelis Moulos) and Glenn Hoffman (Paolo Andrade) booked two Dutch victories. Joel Switala is almost certainly out of the tournament after his defeat by Sameh Sidhom.