3-Cushion
HURGHADA - On one table Frédéric Caudron played a world class match against Dick Jaspers, on the other Lütfi Cenet and Jérémy Bury met each other in a Hitchcock thriller. The Belgian Caudron and the Turk Cenet will play the final of the Hurghada World Cup later in the afternoon (16.00).
The spectacle was provided by Caudron in the semifinals, the high-tension was on the other table. There Lütfi Cenet and Jérémy Bury battled for every point at the end and both players missed 4 or 5 matchpoints, one even more easy than the other.
The Turk had a formidable start (15-4/7 and 15-1/4), he saw himself already in his first World Cup final, but allowed Bury to come back and level the match to 2-2 (15-11, 15-14).
Then already Cenet missed his first match point of the game, a shot over six cushions missed by one millimeter. The Frenchman ran to 11-1 in five innings in the deciding set. At 12-10 in the 9th inning the match was back in balance.
The final phase, at 14-13 for Cenet and 14-14 brought the tension to an unprecedented height. Three or four times Cenet seemed to finish, after his misses Bury got some perfect chances to decide the match in his favor, but under an immense pressure both players could not score.
The Turk eventually showed his mettle, launched his last and final sprint and could raise his arms in triumph, a moment later kissed by his girlfriend.
He enters the final of a World Cup for the first time in his career, after last year's semi-final in Vienna. ,,I'm so happy,'' he repeated time and again. ,,And I look forward to this final against Frédéric Caudron.''
Frédéric Caudron controled the match against Dick Jaspers from the start, playing as a daredevil, showing himself the best in the Belgian/Dutch bump by distance. He started 15-6 in 5 (after a startin run of 7), ran out to 15-6 in 4, then had a small hick-up (15-6 loss in 9), but opened the deciding set with 9 and 4, with which he cracked his opponent in a world class match.
Dick Jaspers admitted: ,,I could not stop Frédéric from scoring, because I was not strong enough. And he was in a great form, I really must say that.''
Frédéric Caudron: ,,The balls were rolling very comfortable for me, I could start with some high runs in the sets and so decide the math in my favor.''
The final scores:
Caudron-Jaspers 3-1 (2.428/1.450)
Cenet-Bury 3-2 (1.842/1.289).